Page 12 - Oundle Life October 2021

OUNDLE MUSEUM
Clay tobacco pipes
In your garden have you ever found fragments of white clay tubes with a very small hole through the middle?
If so then you have possibly found the remains of one of the shortest lived trades in Oundle Clay Tobacco Pipes.
Clay pipes were probably made in England during the 16th Century after the discovery of tobacco and pipes in America, where they were used by the Native Indians.
The first pipes consisted of a small bowl for the tobacco and a short stem. They were made from clay from Northamptonshire pits. Later clay was imported from far and wide.
In the 18th Century, as tobacco became cheaper and changes in manufacture developed, the stem lengthened becoming 36 inches (90cm). This pipe was called a Churchwarden.
Bowls became larger and were decorated with whatever the makers were capable of producing such as patterns, animals, and even famous faces. As smoking became more popular, they were used to advertise – especially public houses where simple pipes were available to pick up for free from the counter, and so encouraged more smoking and drinking.
In Oundle there were several master pipe makers making the pipes by hand using a mould. It was often a family business at home in a workroom at the back of their cottage.
Robert Wilson and Francis Street who was a master pipe maker, both worked in West Street at different times around 1824-1841. Other employees were usually local, and apprentices
were taken on for seven years including Daniel Houghton, a poor boy from Wellingborough, and 12 year old Samuel Oliver from Kettering 1797.
Clay pipe making was virtually over in the county and country by 1914.
Fragments still turn up, so one day you may find a piece of Oundle’s history!
Julie Chapman, Oundle Museum
The Museum is now open to the public weekends Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 2-5pm until the 31st October; we look forward to seeing everyone. www.oundlemuseum.org.uk
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