Smelly Pots
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The Dorset perfume trade
From 1905 there was a lavender farm at Corfe Mullen, pretending that Dorset
was the south of France by growing 60 acres of lavender, herbs and roses.
Perfume and lavender oil was distilled and pot pourris produced. Verwood
supplied tiny costrels for the lavender oil, which were sold at fancy London
shops like Liberty's. They also made bowls to take the pot pourri. Sadly
all the smell has gone from the surviving pots. The lavender farm closed
in the early 1920s.
Verwood must have enjoyed making smelly pots because from the late
1920's they produced a cheaper version - the perfume brick, which was soaked in
lavender or other perfume and then used in linen cupboards. Again,
surviving examples don't smell any more. They look like tiny bricks, and
have PERFUME BRICK moulded into them.
One of the tiny
Verwood costrels used for lavender oil, marked on the bottom with its
registration number and the shop it was sold in - Liberty. (Both images link
to larger pictures.)
History : Smelly Pots
