Craven Dunnill

Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. (formerly Hargreaves & Craven, then Hargreaves, Craven Dunnill & Co.) was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powell Dunnill (1821–95), at Jackfield, Shropshire, England. The firm was to become one of Britain's leading producers of ceramic tiles.

Initially based in old buildings in Jackfield, the firm relocated to a nearby new factory, known as the 'Jackfield Works', on 25 February 1874 (grid reference SJ 686029). Designed by Charles Lynam (1829–1921), an architect from Leek, Staffordshire who specialized in industrial buildings and also worked on Croxden Abbey, Craven Dunnill's Jackfield Works was constructed in the Gothic Revival style with a characteristic 'long and thin' plan, enabling raw clay to enter at one end, and finished products to emerge at the other. Lynam was the architect of two other 19th century Victorian era tile works – those of Mintons Ltd of Stoke-on-Trent and Hollins, Staffordshire (built 1869), and Maw & Co., Jackfield, (built 1883).

Craven Dunnill became well known for its encaustic tiles, in imitation of medieval originals. Decorated with inlaid patterns of different-coloured clays, Craven Dunnill encaustic tiles were extensively used for church tiling schemes, from parish churches (such as Kemberton church, in Shropshire) to cathedrals (Chester Cathedral and Shrewsbury Cathedral, for example). The firm also made decorative mosaic, photographic, painted, lustre, transfer-printed, and relief-moulded tiles. A small quantity of art pottery was produced by Craven Dunnill, decorated with relief-moulded patterns and lustre glazes.

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