| Irish Pottery as a gift never fails. From retro | | | | architect Robert Williams Armstrong and Dublin |
| Celtic to current modern day Belleek Pottery or | | | | merchant David McBirney. In setting up a pottery |
| the slightly more modern Nicholas Moss Collections. | | | | business, Bloomfield managed to get a railway line |
| Pottery from Ireland is unique and always | | | | built to Belleek so that coal could be delivered with |
| appreciated by those who are the lucky recipients | | | | which to fire kilns. |
| of such treasured gifts. | | | | Building started on the pottery in 1858. Initially |
| If we take a look at the history of perhaps one | | | | starting with domestic products, it wasn't until |
| of Irish Pottery's best latter day success stories | | | | 1863 that small amounts of the Parian porcelain |
| then we can get an idea of just how the art and | | | | for which Belleek is famous for to this day, was |
| craft of the potter has survived in Ireland. | | | | successfully produced. By 1865, the prestige of |
| So to Belleek | | | | the company had increased enough that its |
| Pottery in the region began around 1849, after | | | | market included Ireland, England, the United |
| John Caldwell Bloomfield inherited his father's | | | | States, Canada and Australia, and clients included |
| estate. Seeking to provide employment for his | | | | the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria and the |
| tenants, who had been affected by the Irish | | | | nobility. |
| potato famine and, being an amateur minerologist, | | | | As we have stated, Irish Pottery is always |
| he ordered a geological survey of his land. On | | | | innovative and attractive and is highly |
| finding that the area was rich in minerals, | | | | representative of its Celtic traditions and roots. |
| Bloomfield went into partnership with London | | | | |