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The Wrens of Oxshott

The Oxshott Pottery was one of the most celebrated potteries in England. Denise and Henry Wren, along with their daughter Rosemary, were potters who now have their work in international collections and museums.

 

Denise Wren, nee Tuckfield, was born in Australia in 1891; she emigrated to England with her family in 1899. Denise studied under Archibald Knox at Kingston School of Art, bought her first pottery kick-wheel in 1912, and married Henry Wren in 1915.

 

Setting up their own pottery in Oxshott in 1920, Denise and Henry Wren were very active in promoting the craft; Denise was instrumental in setting up the Craft Potters Association. Their daughter, Rosemary Wren, was born at the pottery in 1922 and became a well renowned potter in her own right.

 

After WWII, Denise switched from producing vessels to creating craggy clay elephants. Working with animal forms would be something Rosemary would also do. Denise produced work and exhibited extensively until her death in 1979.

 

Relocating the pottery to Devon in the late 1970s, before moving to Scotland in the 1980s, Rosemary held a large collection of her mother’s work until her own death in 2013.

 

Elmbridge Museum holds a number of pottery pieces by both Denise and Rosemary, as well as copies of paintings by Henry, and a number of photographs of the family working together at Oxshott Pottery.