Coal, and iron and pottery have made its name, and its Elizabethan Hall is a farm, keeping company with a colliery, now closed. But its pottery works, founded in 1809 are still thriving, and of course its products are known world-wide. The skills of the potter have been handed down from generation to generation and have been used at the Denby Pottery Company since the pottery was founded nearly two hundred years ago. Some pieces are still thrown on the traditional potter's wheel by their master throwers. Denby pottery is renowned for its striking colours and glaze effects. The company has been inviting visitors to tour and visit their pottery now for over 30 years, and today's visitors are able to experience the atmosphere of an authentic working environment.
Here one can trace the colourful history of the pottery in the museum, together with an audio visual presentation which brings the whole process to life.
It is in the old part, a mile away, that we find its little church, in a churchyard lovely with trees.
It is charming both outside and in, save for a gallery which it pleased the 19th century to build in place of a 15th century arcade unfortunately. The round arches and pillars of the south arcade come from the late 12th century.
The richly ornamented bell given by Patrick Lowe in Shakespeare's time still rings in the tower, and in the chancel Patrick and his wife kneel under canopies. He is in armour, she in cap and ruff with a triple chain round her neck. Behind them are a boy and girl, and two other children with their heads covered by one hood, an odd way of showing that they died before their parents.
Here lies Sir Drury Drury-Lowe, who was buried here in 1908. He fought at Sebastopol, saw the closing scenes of the Indian Mutiny, and in the Egyptian War of 1882 made a daring moonlight cavalry charge which saved Cairo from destruction. Here also was born in 1646 John Flamsteed, a poor boy who became the first Astronomer-Royal, starting his great career among the stars, at a salary of £100 a year, in the new Observatory at Greenwich.
