Tunbridge Ware at Amherst Antiques

Some General Information on Tunbridge Ware

The term Tunbridge Ware is applied, for the most part, to a process of wood mosaic developed and largely practised at Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Whilst the heyday of the industry was the Nineteenth Century Tunbridge Ware took its origins from a much earlier time. Wood turners of the district had been famed since the Seventeenth Century and as Tunbridge Wells developed as a fashionable spa in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries so visitors expected to purchase souvenirs produced by local craftsmen.

The forerunner of the Tunbridge Ware mosaic produced in Victorian times were simple turned wooden wares which were often painted or decorated with printed paper labels. In the Nineteenth Century the techniques known as stickware and half square mosaic were developed together with the tessellated mosaic technique, which resulted in the elaborate designs, produced in the second half of the century.

Stickware and half square mosaic were produced by assembling and gluing prepared sticks of contrasting woods in bundles, often round a central plain wood core, which could be removed subsequently to produce hollow wares. The tessellated mosaic technique involved assembling slips of woods in bundles, following patterns drawn on squared paper. These were then glued and sliced transversely, reassembled into secondary blocks, which could be cut into a series of identical veneers and applied to the item being produced.

The Tunbridge Ware manufacturers had a good selection of local woods available such as oak, holly, yew, sycamore and maple which they combined with a number of foreign timbers and were able to achieve a range of colours including green which was obtained from oak trees attacked by fungus. All kinds of items were produced in Tunbridge Ware including sewing and writing accessories, toys, jewellery, pictures and furniture, but the most usual object was the box. These were made in all shapes and sizes: for tea, snuff, stamps, gloves, handkerchiefs and matches - to name but a few.

Tunbridge Ware incorporated a whole range of designs. Many of the geometric patterns are associated with the earlier part of the Century but popular designs continued to be produced over a long period. A large number of floral patterns were used, often adapted from Berlin woolwork. Animals were also popular, including deer, dogs, birds, butterflies and moths. Occasionally human figures were incorporated into designs and other motifs such as shells or the Prince of Wales Feathers.

For the more expensive end of the market topographical views were used. At least fifty different views were included featuring both local scenes like The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, Eridge, Penshurst and Hever Castles and tourist attractions further afield such as Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Windsor Castle and The Capitol (probably intended for export to The United States).

Alongside the widely recognised Tunbridge Ware designs other types of veneer decoration were also developed. The distinctive work produced by Robert Russell in the 1850’s introduced designs very much like abstract jigsaw puzzles and others used veneer made from compressed wood shavings to produce a marbled effect.

There were a number of important makers of Tunbridge Ware in the Nineteenth Century. Families by the names of Wise, Burrows and Fenner were producing Tunbridge Ware over a long period and they all made claim to have been the oldest company or to have invented the technique. Edmund Nye, Thomas Barton and Henry Hollamby were well known makers in the second half of the Nineteenth Century and produced exceptionally fine work.

Tunbridge Ware was produced into the Twentieth Century but had been declining since before the turn of the Century. By 1927 production in Tunbridge Wells had ceased.


Dianne Brick
Amherst Antiques 2004.


For further information:
Shire Album 130 Tunbridge Ware. Margaret A.V. Gill.
Tunbridge Ware & Related European Decorative Woodwares. Brian Austen.