In the mid-1920s, Shadwell co-founded the Broadstone Potters—a small but influential producer of studio pottery with links to some of the most important figures in British ceramics.

He was born into a family of distinguished legal scholars, amongst whom was the renowned Sir Lancelot Shadwell (1779–1850), barrister, Member of Parliament, and ultimately Vice-Chancellor of England.

In 1909, he wrote a short children's story entitled Curly's Trip to Toyland and his Visit to the Clockmen, which was issued as part of the popular monthly series, Books for the Bairns, and illustrated by Irish artist Brinsley Le Fanu and A. G.

In the second half of the story, Curly visits a fantasy world of bearded elves and paper cut-out people, which he enters through the narrow door of his family's old grandfather clock.

Boy, will the blood of your Viking sires, Pulsing through your eager heart, Kindle the flame of wars' desires And nerve you well to play your part?

Boy, be this your endless striving When shall come your battle day, And the winds of Fate are driving Your young soul upon its way: Think of the blood, and toil, and sorrow, That mark the triumph of England’s race, And swear to God that, dying, living, You will stand in your rightful place!

He also contributed to the troupe's subsequent repertoire by supplying what Division chronicler S. Gillion described as "... the light, topical, frivolous comic matter, so dear to the average Briton".

Though production levels at the Broadstone Potters continued to grow into the following decade,[13] by 1933 the studio's workforce, which had once numbered 15, had shrunk to just three: Shadwell, Longbottom and a young Harry Clemens Davis (1910–1986) who would later come to be known as one of the most celebrated and influential ceramic artists of the 20th century.

By 1933, the business was on its last legs and Davis, along with Shadwell and Longbottom, had moved to the newly established artists' colony of St Ives in Cornwall.

There, Shadwell worked with and lived on the compound of Bernard Howell Leach (1887–1979), widely regarded as the father of British studio pottery.

The Broadstone Potters closed its doors for good on Christmas Day, 1933, and seven months later, Shadwell and Longbottom were married in a small civil ceremony in Southampton.

In it, he writes that “Not all may see the fairy folk at play / nor hear the patter of their tiny feet... / But you have seen them many times before / And heard their pipes ere revelries begin / So when my verses knock upon your door / I am sure that you will let them in!”[19] In 1937, Shadwell and his new wife retired to Kingston Deverill in Wiltshire where they built a modest home, Barley Close, overlooking the ancient ford over the River Wylye.

[21] Rifts in the Storm is a short anthology of his poems, some of which had been previously published in the Daily Telegraph, Morning Post and Montreal Star.

Rodney's death also inspired Shadwell to convert Kingston Deverill's former Methodist Chapel into a community workshop for producing crafts for charity.