Earthenware includes non-industrial pottery usually associated with small country potteries. The output was mostly plain functional ware which served local (usually rural) communities. However there were also some “country” potteries which operated within cities (Bristol for example). The wares were intended for daily use and thus very little survives due to breakages.
   Alongside these utilitarian wares some potters also produced special one-off pieces such as pottery cradles and moneyboxes etc., to celebrate births, marriages, and other events. These commemorative pots were often made for the potter’s own family and friends and are very rare.
   Later in the C19th some country potteries sought to survive the growing industrialisation of pottery production by producing art wares. 
   Earthenware as a potting term refers to pottery that is fired to below porcelain or stoneware temperatures; typically earthenware would therefore mean any ceramic body fired up to a maximum of around 1150 degrees centigrade (about 2100 degrees Fahrenheit) that has not vitrified.
   Most country pottery was usually lead-glazed over a terracotta type body but may include slip decoration or agate ware (mixed coloured clays) or incised (sgraffito) decoration etc..