Special Collection

The founder of the Museum – Lavender Beard, née Groves,  was a renowned potter who, along with her husband Mark, opened Upton Pottery in Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire, in 1970 .

They moved to Upton in the 1960s from Essex – she was an artist, a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and a potter. Mark was a viola player from a distinguished musical family.

They specialised in creating unique, one-off pieces, often featuring special drawings for birthdays, weddings, and other occasions  Lavender’s designs frequently included themes such as pets, wildlife, heraldry, birds, pedigree bulls, and zodiac signs. Mark, on the other hand, created musical themes on fiddle dishes, some with faces and famous quotations.

Lavender Beard’s work is highly regarded in the pottery community, and her pieces are often sought after by collectors. For example, a studio pottery saucer-shaped dish painted with Aborigines on a brown ground by Lavender Beard was recently sold at auction. Additionally, her hand-painted trinket dishes, which bear the incised signature “Groves” on the base, are considered charming vintage pieces.

They closed the pottery due to rising rates and Mark’s failing health, and set up the Museum at No16 Church Street, known as “The Tudor House”, which housed her collection of glass, china and pottery. In addition, as a keen collector, she added household goods and kitchenware, an extensive gallery of photographs of Upton and its surrounding areas, together with numerous “idiosyncratic” artefacts.

Lavender died at home in Upton Upon Severn on 15^th September 2013 aged 80.

As part of the Museum’s heritage , we have created an “homage” to Lavender just past reception on the right hand side, displaying not only her own pottery  eg “queens Beats, and the chess set she made for Mark, but also some of the stunning Staffordshire Blue pottery and ceramic ware that had been part of her own collection.