Japanned ware must stand second if not first in the manufactures of the town. It is produced on the largest scale, and in a surprising variety and value of articles. Although the island itself is supposed to have been called after the tin of Cornwall, imported and used by the Phoenicians, it would be difficult to ascertain how the metal was worked into articles of use or ornament. For a thousand years or more it was probably used only as britannia, or melted and cast into moulded utensils. The plating of sheet iron with it is comparatively a recent invention. It was first introduced into England in 1665 from the Continent, and constituted a considerable trade in South Wales, especially at Pontypool. About a century later Wolverhampton became the principal seat of the manufacture. It was introduced into New England about the time of the American Revolution, and became the leading business of several towns in Connecticut.
The most interesting, if not most extensive establishment for the manufacture of this white and black ware is that of Messrs. F. Walton & Co., at the Old Hall. While standing in the massive-walled, low-jointed counting-room of this grand old Elizabethan mansion, I was impressed very vividly with the movement and mutation of the industries of the town and district which it represented. Here was the central, manor mansion of
