"I am delighted to participate in the 2026 Wemyss Ware® Cat Trail run by the Kirkcaldy Lottery.

 

The Griselda Hill Pottery Ltd. has made Wemyss Ware® pottery cats in Fife for over forty years, and I understand the importance these moggies have for so many people. The enthusiasm for this project is a tribute to their iconic status, and I wish it every success.

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Wemyss Ware cats were first made at the Fife Pottery in Kirkcaldy in the 1880s. Although they are quite distinctive, there are some similarities to contemporaneous tin glazed cats made by Emile Galle in France. They were among several animals and numerous other shapes created by the Bohemian designer Karel Nekola, and are characterised by their humour and beautiful hand painting. Two early Wemyss Ware cats can be seen on display in Kirkcaldy Galleries.

 

The Fife Pottery was one of several potteries in the thriving industrial town of Kirkcaldy in the late nineteenth century. The very upmarket Wemyss Ware was produced from 1882, and was widely promoted by the local Wemyss family in whose honour it was named. It was, and remains, much favoured by our royal family. Glorious pieces of hand painted ware were made in Kirkcaldy for over forty years, until the Fife Pottery was forced to close in 1932. For a while it was made in Devon, but Wemyss Ware pottery returned to Fife in 1985 when I revived it in the beautiful village of Ceres, seventeen miles northeast of Kirkcaldy."

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- Griselda Hill