About

A few notes by the webmaster

I was born in 1942, the eldest son of Harry and Joyce Barker, who was the youngest of Samuel South(2)'s eight children, and lived at "New River House", 139, Devonshire Hill Lane, North Tottenham, with my parents and grandparents. My mother kept the wages ledgers for Samuel South & Sons and made up the wage packets for distibution to the employees on Fridays. I moved from Devonshire Hill Lane in 1966.

In my younger days I regularly visited the South Pottery and once, during the school holidays, worked in the yard to earn some holiday money. Of course, living with Samuel(2), the Pottery was a dominant factor at home. There was a telephone extension from the Pottery to the house, and orders for pots, primarily from nurserymen, were  received frequently at unusual times.

My grandparents received frequent and regular visits from their children, grandchildren and other members of the family. Because of this, I saw more of the family than, for example, my many cousins. Samuel(2) and his family had moved to the former River House, Devonshire Hill Lane, in 1917 and I was intrigued  by the family chatter about the "old house" and how the South children walked to school through the surrounding fields.  

For some time after the Pottery closed in 1960, I thought that the closure of a firm that had traded locally for almost 100 years should not pass without some record and, at last, in 1996, started to remedy this omission. My interest has expanded into the history of the South family (see family chart below); the development of the area around Devonshire Hill Lane which was, arguably, the last tract of rural Tottenham; and the history of the North London Pottery Industry.     

The website was launched in October, 2000, and has been succesful in attracting new contacts and information. Many thanks to those who have contributed and I look forward to hearing from anyone with further information however large or small.

Ken Barker

About