Village Pottery, New London, PEI

 As Village Pottery in New London, PEI has operated since 1973 there have been a number of potters who have worked there. A variety of those potter's signatures have been documented in this blog including:

• Daphne Large - Village Pottery, New London
• Christine Campbell - Village Pottery, New London
• Barb Graham - Village Pottery, New London
• Christopher Dahn - Village Pottery, New London
• Kathy Ethridge - Village Pottery, New London
• Patti Hawkins - Village Pottery, New London
• Suzanne Scott - Potter's Daughter & Village Pottery, New London
• Ian & Jack Scott - Village Pottery - Charlottetown & New London
• Bethany Galbraith-Village Pottery New London
• Maddie Aderson - Maddie Made Pottery & Village Pottery

In the summer of 2025, Suzanne Scott, who is the current owner and daughter of Daphne Large and Ian Scott decided to move to a "smooth bottom" approach as carved signatures can produce a rough surface in some cases. To achieve this she has shifted the production work to a stamped potter's mark using an oxide stamping pad and a rubber stamp which provides a permanent mark once it is fired in the kiln.

It includes the words Village Pottery and Prince Edward Island.

New London's Royal Welcome to Wee Willie The Prince of "Wails"

With the expected visit to PEI of Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton, we remember pictures of the summer he was born. It was on July 3, 1982 that New London welcomed Wee Willie The Prince of "Wails" in fine style with a commercial note that Transportation Provided by Village Pottery. He had been born two weeks before so his newsworthy arrival was still a current topic in both London and New London.

We marked the birth of Prince William in a unique way that year. With a proper British pram as the Village Pottery float in a local parade we began the 'up hill and down dale' hike pushing the heavy pram through the rolling hills of New London through the mile-long rural parade route.


It was the Saturday of the Canada Day weekend and the parade included fire trucks and a convertible car, commercial entries and floats with dignitaries and people dressed up in period costume. The parade marshal was our beloved postmistress, Kitty Cotton who had operated a general store in the Village Pottery building prior to the shop opening in 1973.


The four of us made it to the end of the route okay although Daphne had just given birth to a real baby three weeks before. Our summer helper, Guy LeBlanc was the official standard bearer marching ahead of us announcing the arrival of the royal pram with a sign, wearing a police hat of uncertain origin.


The baby in the pram was not our newborn, Andrew but our three year old Rob, who - wise beyond his years - was uncertain what he was doing playing a baby in a pram but went along with the venture willingly. We tried to gather what British effects we could and a supply of pristine Canadian red ensigns located at the family cottage added colour along with loads of lupins that grew near our pottery shop.


New London has a share of British history with the initial colony being located near the shore led by Robert Clark, an English Quaker merchant who arrived in 1773 with grand plans of building a settlement rivaling his native London. Patterson, the Governor of the day described Clark vision as

“hoped to make New London a place for the recovering of sinners.”

By 1800 it was clear that Clark's commercial visions would not be realized and the estate had been sold and the houses torn down or moved; the dream of a Quaker colony on St John’s Island was at an end. Yet today the family names of the district include those of the early colonists who can trace their roots back to the original group of settlers generations ago.

It was during the reign of George III and Queen Charlotte, that New London began and it was fitting to welcome their great-great-great-great-great-great grandson into the world in 1982 as it is fitting to welcome he and his bride in 2011.

So from those of us in New London - a hearty welcome to Prince Edward Island - now that you are not so wee.

A Visit with Daphne at Village Pottery

New London Village Pottery is featured in a new video produced by Joey Weale for ArtisanPEI

Pottery Marks of Prince Edward Island - New London Village Pottery - Christine Campbell

Updated July 6, 2025

The potter with the longest connection to New London Village Pottery, beside the founder, Daphne Large, is Christine Campbell. Christine began work as a summer sales clerk in the 1970s while attending school and would bicycle to work from Kensington on occasion.

Pottery became her passion and she eventually trained with Daphne as a potter. A quick learner, she was able to advance her skill level through self-instruction and practice, and returned to Village Pottery as a studio potter, once her three sons were old enough for her to work full time in the 1990s. She is also a fabric artist and established her own fibre mill to produce wool from raw fleece. 

She relocated to Ontario in the 2020s, but during an extended stay on PEI beginning in 2024 she has returned to Village Pottery once again as a producing potter.

Typically her work is signed with "Village Pottery - PEI - ACC" (being her initials).

Pottery Marks of Prince Edward Island - New London Village Pottery - Large

New London Village Pottery has operated since 1973, and has trained and employed a number of potters over that time. Started by Daphne Large following her graduation from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, she has typically signed all her work since with "Large - Village Pottery - PEI", as well as including the year.

Staff would find it humourous in the early days when customers would repeatedly pick up items all marked Large and say - "Do you have things in any other sizes ?"

As other potters joined the operation they would also sign their work "Village Pottery - PEI" but often add their own initials or name.

Confusion existed with a business in Nova Scotia which had opened around the same time also called Village Pottery. The addition of New London to the name helped but it was a long name to place on every piece of pottery. The Nova Scotia business eventually changed their business name which solved the issue.

In 1973 all work was in a red earthenware, but in the late 1980's a transition was made to a white clay body. In 2010 some work is made with a reddish clay but the majority is based on white.

Pottery Marks of Prince Edward Island - RLP - Burlington Pottery

Ruth and Leigh Paynter, of Burlington Pottery in Burlington PEI, played a pivotal role in establishing the handcraft industry in the North Shore tourist region during the 1960's. Located on the family farm which was next to Woodleigh Replicas, a British theme park with scaled down castles and gardens which was once the largest tourist attraction west of the Cavendish-National Park region, they had sufficient traffic during the summer to establish a viable business on the family farm with visitor traffic coming and going to Woodleigh.

Young people, seeing the viability of pottery as a career choice discovered that there were new opportunities within the tourist industry. Daphne Large, of Charlottetown began work with the Paynters one summer and decided to switch her major to pottery at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. She graduated in 1973 and opened New London Village Pottery in the same general North Shore region.

The work of the Paynters included both wheel thrown, hand-built construction, and some that was slip cast as well using moulds that they designed. All the work was in a red earthenware clay body, typical of native clay bodies on the Island. Ruth signed her work with both the studio name and PEI as well as her three initials RLP.

Their glaze experimentation was most notable and many of their glazes continue to impress potters today.

Ruth in retirement, was a respected local historian and author of From the Top of the Hill. A chapter of the book was later published in the Island Magazine as Here Comes the Travellin' Man. A talented woman with a rich memory and generous spirit she passed away peacefully in 2009.

PAYNTER - Ruth L. (Moase) of Clinton and formerly of Burlington on Nov 26th, 2009 at age 92. Born in New Annan, the daughter of the late Harry and Mary (Burrows) Moase. Wife of the late Leigh M. Paynter


The property that had housed Burlington Pottery was purchased in recent years by Harry Carr, his son had a strong interest in pottery.

Opening for Season

---- Opening for 2009 on May 1 ---

New London Village Pottery

Come see the new pottery work for 2009 by Christine Campbell & Daphne Large.

Fabric Art by Margaret England, paintings by Geraldine Ysselstein,
felting and weaving by Louise Lortie & Elaine Schuller in gallery.

(902) 886-2473 VillagePottery.ca

ArtisanPEI.com Launches

It is official the new ArtisanPEI.com launched this week. Representing 36 Prince Edward Island artisans the site celebrates the finest studio artisans in the province as we celebrate Craft Year 2007 in Canada.

Check out the profile for New London Village Pottery on the site.

Opening in May for our 35th Season