Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex

by **heygarth54** August 10th 2010, 3:43 pm

I purchased this small jug today, it is 3in tall, I wondered if it was possible to date Rye Pottery from the type of trademark ?

by **big ed** August 10th 2010, 7:08 pm

I have a similar mark in my book ,but just says IDEN at the top and Sussex athe bottom , then Iden Pottery, 1961- Townsend, D & Wood, J.H. studio potters( moved from iden to rye in 1963)

by **Oldmagpie** March 21st 2013, 8:45 pm

Iden Pottery

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex DSC_5534

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex DSC_5536

Post 1978 mark

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex DSC_5319

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex DSC_5322

Pre 1974 mark

Details of Iden to save me typing it Happy

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=133

by **NaomiM** April 14th 2013, 8:25 pm

Two hand decorated pin dishes with Iden Rye stamp on the base.

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Dscn9830

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Dscn9831

by **NaomiM** April 15th 2013, 1:26 am

Anyone know if these dishes were decorated (or designed) by Dennis Townsend?

by **NaomiM** April 15th 2013, 7:58 am

Seems Dennis Townsend set up Iden Rye after being apprenticed at Rye Pottery with David Sharp.

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=134

For those of you old enough to remember the BBC TV 'Interlude' footage of a potter's wheel, Dennis's hands were the ones throwing the pot.

by **Eclectic-Dorset** April 15th 2013, 8:34 am

Naomi he usualy marked his pieces but not always , i feel the Iden factory work is extremely undervalued as they done some quality work , over shadowed by the other Rye pottery a real shame i think.

by **NaomiM** April 15th 2013, 10:35 am

Yes, definitely undervalued. I always assumed it was the commercial part of Rye Pottery with David Sharp doing the best pieces. How wrong I was!
One of the dishes has a red dot which seems to be Townsend's personal mark.

by Dunc April 24th 2013, 9:56 pm

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Img_0510

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Img_0511

https://servimg.com/view/17051368/34

The pot is about 5 inches high and is clearly marked as shown on base.

by **NaomiM** April 24th 2013, 10:06 pm

Very pretty. Just getting to know Iden Rye after picking up a couple of pin dishes this month. I believe the mark above the backstamp indicates this is a piece decorated by Dennis Townsend himself.

There's more info here.

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=134

I'm afraid I can't give an exact date, but my feeling is it's from the 70s.

by **NaomiM** April 24th 2013, 10:07 pm

I don't think there's a name for the design. Wouldn't surprise me if it's a one off piece.
Edited to add, I have a pin dish with this pattern

by **studio-pots** April 24th 2013, 10:49 pm

Hi Dunc,

It is the regular backstamp that was used by the Iden Pottery from 1965 until the late 1970s. The Iden Pottery was started by Dennis Townsend in his home in the village of Iden when he left the Rye Pottery in 1959. This mark was used when they moved to larger premises in Rye and does contain a DT at the centre but that does not mean that it was decorated by Dennis Townsend, as that is on the bottom of every piece.

Occasionally, decorators did initial pieces they had done but these tended to be larger one-off items.

I am not aware of pattern names, as there has not been any detailed research, but the patterns tended to be more colourful, so taking longer to do, earlier rather than later.Therefore I think that your vase is more likely to be from the 1960s rather than 1970s.

by **NaomiM** October 18th 2014, 2:52 pm

Iden Rye lamp base

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Idenry10

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Idenry11

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Idenry12

by **hercules brabazon** January 6th 2015, 12:44 am

Colourful small vase:
Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex 049-0010

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex 051-0010

by DAVID24/5 July 15th 2015, 4:53 pm

Couple of recently acquired 60s/70s Iden dishes.
Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Iden16

by **denbydump** August 14th 2015, 4:13 pm

They get more like Poole 49s each time!

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex 100_2557

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex 100_2558

by sasajohoro September 25th 2015, 11:33 pm

NaomiM wrote:One of the dishes has a red dot which seems to be Townsend's personal mark.

Looks like these are Townsend ones, then:

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Yj03owvl

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex 0srVqT4m

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex YhGtMAzl

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex GUi3NSmm

by **brin mcardle** July 6th 2016, 8:26 pm

Two Lovely little vases...i dont think they are Dennis Townsend ?? Any idea of age,pattern Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Copied29

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Copied30

by 20thcenturyfan October 10th 2016, 7:03 pm

I have also just bought an Iden dish, but mine was from the Hospice charity shop near my mum. I loved the depth of the green glaze but the base and marking looks so clean and fresh I'm struggling to work out how old it is. Would be grateful for any input.

Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex Dsc01710