Hard
Oxidized red (5YR 5/8)
Sparce red sandstone and iron ore and white, heat-altered limestone, all up to 10mm.
Abundant angular or subangular quartz and sparse chert or flint and plagioclase felspar 0.1 to 0.2mm across. Smaller than 0.1mm there are few inclusions except sparse quartz and white mica c. 0.02mm.
Ashton Keynes kiln waste; M794- 7. Cirencester; M754. Gloucester; M301, M304.
File corrupted from here on ....
hard
reduced with oxidized reddish yellow surfaces (5YR 6/6) refires to red (2.5YR 5/8).
Two distinct fabrics are found; one used to make cooking pots and the other tripod pitchers. In the glazed ware the main inclusions are limestone and oolitic iron ore. The limestone includes fossiliferous fragments, oolitic limestone with a sparry matrix, white microfossils and calcite. The iron ore is mainly oolitic but includes some fragments with quartz inclusions. The limestone fragments can be up to 3.0mm across whilst the iron ore is usually less than 1.0mm. The cooking pot fabric contains the same inclusions with added quartz sand. Clear and red, polished quartz grains up to 1.0mm across are moderate and larger grains up to 2.0mm are sparse. Sparse inclusions of red chert and red sandstone (containing quartz, felspar, and white mica) are also found.
Sparse angular quartz and white mica.
Bath; M361-2. Box; M72-3. Chepstow; M884-6.
The cooking pots and tripod pitchers probably come from the same source and the differences between the two are probably due to the addition of sand tempering to the cooking pots. The limestone and iron ore are of Jurassic origin (the limestone, for example is similar to that in Minety-type ware) whereas polished quartz tends to come from the Greensand or other cretaceous measures. Distribution evidence points to a source in central West Wiltshire.
Handmade squat pots with curving walls and slightly sagging bases. Two rim forms found at Box, plain everted and 'T' shaped, thickened inside and out.
Handmade vessels very similar to Minety examples. Features found include tubular spouts, with a thumbed strip at the neck, and handles made from two twisted strands of clay with a third wrapped around them (in the Minety examples the handles usually have untwisted strands).
One example from Great Somerford with an everted, thickened rim.
Although not the most common fabric at any site yet found, the highest proportion of Box B comes from Box itself. Some of the vessels found were stratified in a probably 12th century group. The remaining find spots for the cooking pots are Bath (very rare), Bradford-on-Avon, Potterne, Lacock and Great Somerford (much less frequent than Gt. Somerford type ware). The tripod pitchers have been found at Bath (fabric H, in 12th century contexts), Box and Chepstow (fabric LE, only four sherds found, one in a 12th century context and one in an early 13th century context).
Vince (1979b and forthcoming e)
Soft to hard
Reduced core with oxidized reddish-yellow margins and surfaces (5YR 6/6)
Moderate ill-sorted rounded inclusions of clear, milky and red quartz up to 2.0mm across, red iron ore and rounded voids (limestone?) up to 1.0mm across. Sparse inclusions of white and red sandstone up to 01.0mm and a silicified sandstone with clear quartz and opaque (iron or glauconite?) inclusions in a microcrystalline silica matrix.
Very fine. A little white mica but very little quartz.
Bath?; M69. Bath; M357. Boreham; M732, M733. Cheddar; see Peacock (1979). Trowbridge; M1217.
Unknown. The most distinctive inclusion type is the sandstone with a microcrystalline silicious matrix. This could be formed by induration of a cretaceous glauconitic sandstone. Distribution evidence suggests that Trowbridge and Avebury are on the northern borders of the distribution area but insufficient sites are present to locate the source any more precisely at present.
Small wheelthrown or rotary smoothed vessels, probably with a squat profile. The method of manufacture may accord with that suggested for Ipswich ware, handforming with a finishing stage on a tournette. Steeply sagging bases and curved walls, which are often quite thick, c.6-7mm. Rims are rounded and everted.
Dated from the mid-10th to early 11th century at Cheddar on coin evidence. No better dating evidence is found at the other findspots. At Cheddar the ware is found alone but at Bath, Trowbridge and possibly at Avebury it is associated with other wares, to which a 10th to 11th century date has therefore been applied (see Ch. 6). The remaining occurences are all unstratified. Avon; Bath, Saltford. Somerset; Cheddar. Wiltshire; Avebury, Box, Boreham, Potterne, Marten, Stonehenge, Trowbridge, Wilton.
Peacock (1979), Rahtz (1974, 1979)
Hard
Reduced light grey with an oxidized light yellowish brown outer surface (10YR 6/4). Refires to red (2.5YR 5/8).
Moderate angular and subangular quartz up to 0.7mm across, porous brown-stained chert with very irregular outlines, angular fragments of sandstone with subangular quartz grains up to 0.3mm in a brown silica matrix and dense red clay pellets.
Sparse very fine angular quartz up to 0.02mm.
Chepstow; M887, M925.
Unknown but probably West Country rather than S. Wales. This may, in fact, be the same ware as the tripod pitchers found in Ilchester and the S. W. to Exeter, but the fabrics have not been compared.
(not illustrated)
Only clear glazed, handmade body sherds are known.
Two sherds from Chepstow site VI (F2 and L2) and some recognised from Bath (after their publication as 'Glazed Bath Fabric A').
Vince (forthcoming e)
Soft to hard
Usually yellowish red (5YR 5/6) to red (2.5YR 5/6) with a grey or brown core.
Cirencester; M744-747.
The ware is quite similar to that of Minety-type ware but has a higher iron content in the clay and has a different matrix (no small limestone fragments but angular quartz). Iron ore is also not common in Minety ware. However, a source in the same area is likely since the two sites with large quantities of this ware are at Cirencester and Ewen.
Globular vessels. handmade but rotary finished, sagging bases with an obtuse base angle. A few examples have glaze on the inside of the rim.
Curving walled, handmade vessel with everted rim.
Handmade.
Handmade, clear glazed.
Slab-built with a rectangular plan, and soot- coated exterior.
Wheelthrown, clear glazed vessels.
At Ewen this ware is associated with Bath Fabric A cooking pots and no glazed wares. A late 11th or early 12th century date is therefore likely. At St. Johns Hospital, Cirencester, it is the most frequent ware in a small group stratified in the construction levels of the 12th century Hospital (including a pitcher sherd) and likewise is the most common ware in the construction levels of Cirencester Abbey (C. Ireland and D. Wilkinson, pers. comm.). Of the minor forms, none are stratified but the large bowl and 'west country vessel' should be 12th or 13th century whilst the dripping pan and jug should be at least early 13th century, and on analogy with Minety ware probably late 13th century or later. By this date most of the pottery found in Cirencester is Minety ware
Cirencester-type ware has been tentatively identified at Alton Barnes, Blunsden, Cricklade, Great Somerford, Highworth, Swindon, and Wooton Bassett, all of which are in north Wiltshire.
Vince (forthcoming c), Ireland (forthcoming b).
Crockerton is known to be a potting community from the late 12th century to the late 13th century, and there is archaeological evidence for post-medieval pottery production. There is, however, great difficulty in isolating any Medieval Crockerton wares (which presumably include vessels treated here as 'Bath Fabric A'). A Late Medieval glazed ware is tentatively identified as a Crockerton product and the post- medieval redware is known from a sample collected from Crockerton personally. No examples of the ?late 16th century kiln waste found by Algar have been examined.
Hard.
Oxidized with a reduced core.
Sparse fragments of chert.
Warminster; M1208, Newbury (Newbury fabric 47); M1175.
Probably Crockerton. The ware is the most common glazed ware in a lare medieval assemblage from Warminster.
(not illustrated) Jugs. Wheelthrown, clear glazed.
Possible examples from the Orange Grove site in Bath, Warminster, Salisbury, Newbury (one sherd only), and Trowbridge Castle. The description of some of the late 14th to 15th century vessels from Budbury suggests that it may be a common ware at that site. At Trowbridge the ware was stratified in a late 15th to early 16th century assemblage, associated with Raeren Stoneware.
Smith, R. (forthcoming a).
Hard
Oxidized
Sparse rounded iron ore fragments (altered glauconite?) up to 0.4mm.
Crockerton waste; M1034-1038.
Crockerton. The samples were taken from a deposit of broken pot sherds, including obvious pot waste, revealed in the side of a path in the present village. Algar excavated the site of a kiln in 1967, which he dated to the late 16th century. This was a single-flued circular structure with a central sandstone plinth. Fire-bars bridged the gap between the plinth and the kiln walls.
(not illustrated) Algar lists the following products of the 1967 kiln - large pans, wide-mouthed jugs, rectangular 'meat dishes', floor and ridge tiles.
No attempt has been made to plot the distribution of this ware, which, although distinctive in thin-section because of the the high quantity of rounded iron ore, is easily confused visually with South Somerset and Wanstrow wares.
Hurst (ed. 1968), 187 fig.61
Soft to hard.
Mainly reduced with oxidized surfaces but some completely oxidized reddish yellow (5YR 6/6).
Langley Burrell; M799-803.
Langley Burrell, near Chippenham. Two kilns have been found at the site by R. Wilcox.
(not illustrated)
Wheelthrown vessels with sparse glaze and bung holes. Jugs. Wheelthrown, strap-handled vessels with plain, sagging bases.
With flanged rims.
On analogy with the near-by industry at Minety, a late 15th to early 16th century date might be suggested for Langley Burrell. All the forms present at Langley Burrell were, however, being made in Coarse Border ware by the late 14th century and a mid-late 14th century archaeomagnetic date has been obtained from the earlier kiln (A. Musty, pers. comm.). Only one late 15th to 16th century group has been excavated in Wiltshire, at Trowbridge Castle, and no Langley Burrell wares were present. An unstratified bung-hole from a Langley Burrell cistern was found at Wooton Bassett but no other unstratified examples have been seen.
Wilcox (forthcoming).
Hard
The tripod pitchers are either oxidized very pale brown (10YR 7/4) with a dark grey core (10YR 4/1) or have reduced light grey surfaces (7.5YR 5/0). Later wheelthrown wares are similar but the core is usually light grey and the oxidized margins thicker. Refires yellowish red and red (5YR 5/6 and 2.5YR 5/8)
Barry Island; M230-3. Bath; M364-5. Bristol; M158, M296. Caerleon; M204, M208-9. Chepstow; M851-2. Dublin; M373. Flat Holm; M262. Gloucester; M177-8, M193. Hereford; M517. Kenfig; M227. Kidwelly; M269. Laugharne; M264. Llantwit Major; M246-7. Minety waste; M62-5. Winchcombe; M906, M908.
Minety. A waste heap was excavated by Musty (1974) but collection of waste from this site began in the 1930's and is still continuing. Most material is housed at Swindon Museum. Further waste heaps have been identified by M. Stone of Swindon Museum. All of this waste is of wheelthrown wares, probably of late 15th century to early 16th century date, but the similarity in forms and fabric allows us to take the origin of the industry back to the late 13th to early 14th century, when the first wheelthrown wares are found. It is possible that the 12th to mid-13th century tripod pitchers are from another source but the fabric is so similar that this source can only be a few miles, at the most, from Minety. Clay samples from Minety and Somerford Keynes produce an untempered fabric with very little quartz silt in the matrix and sparse inclusions of red iron ore, limestone and subangular quartz, all probably intrusive from the overlying soil. A sample from a stream bed at Ashton Keynes was heavily limestone-tempered, although the limestone was much coarser than that found in the pottery
Musty states that Minety was at one time at the heart of the Forest of Braydon and that other production sites have been found elsewhere within the bounds of the Forest. The evidence for these sites being production sites is dubious. The collection in Devizes Museum from a 'kiln' at Hunts Mill, Wooton Bassett, contains examples of several different wares, including Minety ware. The bounds of the Forest of Braydon are shown in the Victoria County History ( V.C.H. WILTS IV, 445).
Handmade, probably by coiling, with a globular body and sagging base. Four distinct types are known, differing mainly in their spouts and handles. The earliest type is best typified by an example from Winchcombe and is very large with two or three rod handles. Applied thumbed strips are found at the neck, the girth and form triangles in between. The base of this example is flat with a series of triangular sectioned strips radiating from the centre. The spout is tubular. No other large fragments of this form are known but applied thumbed strips and rod handles may be characteristic of this form only.
The second type is smaller and has one handle, formed from two strips of clay wrapped around by a third strip and stabbed (abbreviated to 'complex handle'). A narrow tubular spout is found often secured to the rim by a strip of clay. Decoration consists of wide grooves around the neck, which were possibly added as part of the construction process, combing and applied triangular sectioned strips on the body. One common design consists of horizontal bands of straight and wavy combing on the shoulder and diagonal combed lines on the girth. There is no complete vessel on which to see the way that the applied strips were arranged, but they probably formed a diamond grid, in which the spaces between the strips were filled with combing. The third type differs only in the handle, which is a wide, 'U' sectioned strap handle decorated with diagonal slashing. The fourth type has the same handle as the third type but a simple pulled spout.
One complete profile is known of a jug with the same features as the type 4 tripod pitchers but with a thumbed base taking the place of the three feet. One bridge spout is known and may come from a similar vessel. Storage jars. Two vessels are known with the same profile as the later tripod pitchers but with two opposed strap handles and no spout. One example, from Gloucester, is sufficiently complete to be certain that there was not a spout at right angles to the handles. This vessel is decorated with vertical combing. Baluster Jugs. Wheelthrown with a flat base and acute base angle. One example from Cirencester has a very wide base and a deep pulled spout (pulling out the whole rim of the vessel rather than making a pouring lip). Other Cirencester examples have applied strips decorated with nicking. Squared-off rims and strap handles are found. Standard Jugs. These vessels have a cylindrical rim and a bulbous body. The neck angle is often quite sharp and emphasised by a cordon. Bases are either sagging with intermittent thumbing (on large vessels) or flat, sometimes with a foot-ring (on small vessels). Rims are squared-off and can have a cordon or thumbed band just below the rim. Slashed strap handles are the norm. Decoration is rare but can consist of horizontal bands of straight and wavy grooves. The clear glaze is often applied only as a bib.
There are two main types of cooking pot; handmade vessels and wheelthrown ones. The handmade cooking pots have rotary smoothed rims, often sharply everted and a hook or undercut on the outside. They are globular with sagging bases and usually combed on the shoulder and sometimes on the inside of the rim. A thin glaze is often found on the inside of the rim, and more rarely the inside of the base and the external shoulder. This form was first described by Dunning in the Selsley Common report and it often known as 'Selsley Common ware'. The wheelthrown vessels have a similar profile to the handmade ones but sometimes have a distinct ridge around the girth and are almost straight-sided below this. The typical rim form is sharply everted and quite short. Other forms, for example everted with an internal bevel or everted, squared and lid-seated, are most common in the late 15th to 16th century and occur with wheelthrown straight and wavy grooving. Glaze is usually restricted to the inside of the rim. One wheelthrown cooking pot from Cirencester has two opposed strap handles and applied thumbed strips, both vertically and around the girth.
Wheelthrown curving walled vessels, somtimes with one or two strap handles. Internally glazed.
These wheelthrown vessels have straight sides and a flat-topped flange, sometimes decorated with wavy combing. They are internally glazed.
Oval slab-built vessels with a pulled spout and internal glaze.
Wheelthrown vessels with a similar rim and shoulder to the later cooking pots, two opposed strap handles, a sagging base, three oval-sectioned feet and a bung hole. A complete example from Cirencester has a cordon around the girth. Some examples are lid-seated.
Wheelthrown vessels with applied thumbed strips and strap handles. Both Glazed and unglazed examples are known.
Usually unglazed, flat-topped with flaring walls.
One example, from Cirencester Abbey, internally and externally clear glazed, similar to Malvern Chase examples.
One wheelthrown example from Gloucester.
clear glazed, sometimes combed with hand-formed crests with thumb impressions on either side. Some if not all have an oval hole along the ridge.
Globular finial, possibly wheelthrown and luted on to a ridge tile. The finial has a hole in the side.
The earliest context to produce this ware is at Bristol Castle, where sherds of a tripod pitcher (probably type 2) were found in the filling of the Castle Ditch. This filling is thought to be deliberate prior to the construction of a stone keep over the ditch in c.1125 (M. Ponsford, pers. comm.). Elsewhere an early to mid-12th century starting date agrees with with the evidence from Gloucester and Cirencester. It is possible that type 1 tripod pitchers are earlier, perhaps late 11th or early 12th century. Examples have been found at Winchcombe, Gloucester and Chepstow but not in well-dated contexts (fig.2.86). Type 3 and 4 tripod pitchers are probably early 13th century in origin and the majority of finds are of these types (especially type 4). This type reaches a maximum popularity in the mid-late 13th century, (ie. associated with Worcester jugs). Other forms of similar date are the handmade cooking pots, the two-handled storage jars and the dripping pans. Handmade jugs are uncommon but both the complete example and the bridge spout were found in Gloucester in mid-13th century contexts.
The early to mid- 13th century is probably the high point in the distribution of Minety ware (fig.2.87). The distribution map of tripod pitchers does not distinguish 12th from 13th century examples but where it is possible to check stratigraphically then examples west of the Severn are in 13th century contexts (with the exception of one sherd from Chepstow). The distribution of contemporary handmade cooking pots is more limited. They are found only in North Wiltshire and the Stroud and Cirencester areas of Gloucestershire (fig.2.88).
The late 13th to early 14th centuries saw a retraction of the distribution area. Wheelthrown cooking pots were undoubtedly made at this time but are not found at all at Gloucester. They do occur at Bristol and at other sites in the Bristol area and this must be partly due to the absence of cooking pots as a regular part of the Bristol ware range of products (fig.2.90). Baluster jugs must be of this date but have only been noted at Cirencester (fig.2.89).
In the later 14th to 15th centuries the distribution of Minety ware increases again (figs.2.91, 2.92). Most unstratified wheelthrown jugs and wheelthrown cooking pots are probably of this date. With the exception of a single jug from Newport Castle, Gwent, all of the finds are from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Avon and the extreme south- west of Oxfordshire. All these are areas which could only be reached by land from Minety
Most late 15th century to early 16th century forms are the same as those found in the late 14th to 15th centuries (fig.2.93). There are three exceptions: cisterns, which only occur at Gloucester in association with Tudor Green ware; flanged bowls, which do not occur at Gloucester at all, and the chafing dish. The distribution of these types differs. The cisterns occur over a similar area to the cooking pots and jugs and include one example from Wallingstones in S. W. Herefordshire. The flanged bowls on the other hand are found mainly in the immediate area around Minety, for example Ashton Keynes, Oaksey, Cricklade and Highworth. There is one exception, from Devizes. The chafing dish is from Cirencester
The evidence from Gloucester shows wheelthrown Minety wares first occuring in the late 14th to early 15th centuries and remaining at a fairly constant 30-40% of the pottery used until the early 16th century, which was presumably the end of the industry. The distribution of flanged bowls might show that this type was later except that Ashton Keynes ware probably began production in the early to mid-16th century and there is unlikely to have been much overlap between two industries so close together.
Musty (1973), Dunning (1949), Barton (1969a)
Hard.
Reduced grey core with oxidized inner surfaces.
Abundant inclusions of clear and milky quartz, up to 1.0mm across. Many grains have polished surfaces and most retain a red haematite coating. Moderate angular and rounded fragments of iron ore. In thin-section many of these have quartz inclusions and therefore merge into a ferruginous sandstone, others have an oolitic structure. Large ferruginous sandstone fragments up to 3.0mm long are rare. They contain quartz grains up to 0.1mm across. Organic inclusions are rare and usually burnt out. Rounded clay pellets are visible by eye but not seen in thin-section. Chert is present as rare fragments up to 0.3mm across with brown mottling
McCarthy identified two fabrics at Nash Hill, fabric A contains inclusions up to 1.0mm across while fabric B is smoother textured with inclusions up to 0.4mm across. The range of inclusions found, however, is identical
The white slip used as a general cover on most jugs was not thin-sectioned but contains abundant quartz and sparse white mica.
Abundant quartz silt, mainly less than 0.02mm across.
Nash Hill kilns; M118-120 (fabric A), M121-6 (fabric B). Bath; M359. Box; M79?
The Nash Hill kilns were situated east of the River Avon between Lacock and Sandy Lane. There is documentary evidence for potters in the area in the late 13th century (McCarthy, 1974, 100-101). Excavations by M. McCarthy revealed four stratigraphically related kilns, phases 1 to 4. Phase 1 was a tile kiln, phases 2 and 3 pottery kilns and phase 4 another tile kiln. On stratigraphic evidence the phase 3 and 4 kilns could be contemporary.
Fieldwork by the Trowbridge Library and Museum Archaeology Department has shown that the area of potting activity is extensive and possibly covered a longer period of time than that represented in the excavation.
(all described in detail in McCarthy, 1974).
Curved wall vessels with everted rims. Some internally glazed.
Internally glazed vessels.
Internally glazed with horizontal handles.
unglazed.
Squat vessels with a globular body, sagging base and everted or cylindrical rims, usually with some moulding.
These vessels vary from squat shaped to taller forms. The bases are flat or slightly sagging with thumb impressions. The handles are straps, rods or even of triangular section. Stamping and slashing are common decorative techniques. White slip was used extensively, for applied strips and pads, as painted lines or as an overall slip through which rough designs were scratched.
Two examples were found at the kiln site, neither stratified. They are in an unusually fine fabric.
The date of the excavated kilns are their products is given by their relationship with the inlaid tile production. This is dated by Eames to the late 13th century. However, there is no reason why the industry should not have a much longer life. Evidence for an earlier origin is difficult to find. Nash Hill ware is not found, for example, at Bath, Citizen House, where early 13th century contexts were excavated. There is better evidence for the Nash Hill industry still being in operation at a much later date, notably the presence of bung-hole pitchers and lobed cups amongst the unstratified pottery found in the excavation. This should indicate that the Nash Hill industry survived at least into the late 14th century, possibly into the late 15th to 16th century. Smith is of the opinion that a Nash Hill jug from Trowbridge Castle is contemporary with Raeren stoneware and other types of the early 16th century (Smith, R., forthcoming a)
The distribution of Nash Hill ware varies from type to type. The unglazed wares have only been identified at sites within 15 miles of the kiln site (fig.2.94). The internally glazed wheelthrown bowls and cooking pots have a similar distribution (fig.2.97) while the jugs and ridge tiles are found over a much wider area (figs.2.95, 2.96). Even these vessels do not travel as far as the floor tiles, some of which have been recognised as far away as Tintern Abbey and Gloucester, Blackfriars (see Ch.3).
McCarthy (1974), Eames (1974)
Hard.
Very dark brown with black surfaces.
Moderate inclusions of angular light brown flint up to 3.0mm across. Subangular and rounded clear and milky quartz grains up to 1.0mm and sparse fine-grained limestone fragments up to 0.5mm.
Fine textured with sparse iron ore pellets, angular quartz and, rarely, white mica larger than 0.02mm across.
Newbury; M1150-2, M1157, M1160. Silbury Hill; M1185-7, M1205.
Unknown. Distribution evidence points to the Upper Kennet Valley and the apparent continuity of forms with Newbury group B may indicate a source on the northern borders of Savernake Forest, the suggested source for the latter ware.
Wide shallow handmade vessels.
Thick walled handmade vessels, some decorated with combed swags.
Newbury A cooking pots have been found at both Netherton (Netherton Fabric A7) and Silbury Hill in early 11th century contexts. At both sites the vessels were not common and these sites were peripheral to the 11th century distribution area. At Netherton the ware first appeared later than c.990 (J. Fairbrother, pers. comm.)
At Newbury, Bartholomew Street, Newbury A cooking pots and a few dishes were the main pottery types in use prior to the construction of the first houses on the site (period 1, pre-c.1080's). Newbury A remained the most common ware at Newbury throughout the early 12th century (period 2 phases a and b). The vessels in these periods were small everted rim cooking pots, some of which had thumbed decoration on the rim. In the mid-12th century there was a typological development in the ware, the cooking pots were larger and have thickened rims, also sometimes thumb-decorated, while storage jar sherds were found for the first time (period 2 phase c)
This is the latest phase at Newbury in which it is certain that Newbury A ware was current. From the late 12th century onwards there was a change from Newbury A to Newbury B vessels. Observation of this change is hampered by some definitely residual pottery. Newbury A lamps are found in this phase, as are crude, handled cooking pots (period 3, phase a)
It is therefore possible to distinguish two phases in the typology of Newbury A vessels, the first lasting from the early 11th to the mid-12th century and the second being a brief phase in the mid-late 12th century. Most pottery cannot even be this closely dated, since it consists of body sherds
Newbury A wares are present on sites in the Upper Kennet and Lambourn Valleys. The latter sites are represented by field scatters only and the total quantity of 12th century or earlier pottery from each is therefore small. However, Newbury A vessels form most of the 12th century pottery known. They are not present however at Reading and surrounding sites and are present but rare on sites in north Hampshire, although at Netherton the later types of Newbury A ware are the most common types in the early 12th century (Netherton Fabric P; J. Fairbrother, pers. comm.). A large fragment of a late cooking pot is present in a collection from Devizes Castle and a single sherd is known from a 12th century context at Gloucester North Gate (period 8A).
Vince (forthcoming b).
Hard.
Usually reduced light grey, sometimes with oxidized surfaces. Sometimes black throughout.
Abundant inclusions of rounded clear quartz, mainly up to 1.0mm across with a few fragments up to 3.0mm across. Moderate red and white angular flint fragments up to 4.0mm across. Rounded fragments of fine-grained limestone up to 4.0mm across and sparse angular iron ore fragments up to 2.0mm across.
Anisotropic with sparse rounded iron ore fragments up to 0.1mm across.
Cirencester; M742. Newbury; M1153, M1159, M1167.
The distribution of this ware, although exceptionally large, is centred in east Wiltshire and west Berkshire, where some collections are found in which all of the pottery was of this fabric
Within this area there is one reference to medieval pottery production, the placename of a locality just to the east of Marlborough. This was called 'Crockerestrope' (Thorp or hamlet of the crocker or maker of pots) in c.1257 (Gover et al.,1939, 301). A small hamlet of this name is shown on a 16th century copy of an early 14th century map of Savernake Forest (Cardigan, 1949, 54).
Curved walled handmade vessels, typically with the widest point at the base. A series of complete profiles of this form shows that as the vessel increased in size the body became proportionally larger than the rim, so that estimation of vessel size from rim diameter would have been misleading. Rims are usually everted and thickened, some with thumbed decoration. A moderately common form of decoration is a row of 'dimples' around the shoulder. Unglazed jugs. Handmade vessels with rounded bodies and a flaring rim. Most vessels are decorated on the upper half of the body and on the neck with combing and stabbed combing. Broad strap handles are found, most of which are heavily decorated by combing and stabbed combing. Some plainer examples are known. Dishes. Wide shallow handmade dishes are common, usually undecorated. Some examples have decorated socketed handles.
Large handmade bowls with everted rims. Most are decorated with combing. Examples of this form from Netherton appear to have been used as curfews (Fairbrother, pers. comm.).
One thick-walled body sherd from Newbury has external decoration covering a change of angle. It may be part of a curfew. 'Chimneys'. Two examples of cylindrical handmade vessels pierced with holes, c.10mm diameter. Dunning has published them as chimneys but one at least seems too narrow and neither has any internal sooting or traces of mortar (Dunning, 1961 b).
Bung holes are rare in Newbury B ware and yet two complete cisterns have been found, one at Churchill, Oxfordshire, and the other at Netherton, Hampshire. Both vessels have the same shape body as the cooking pots, with combed decoration but are much larger than any cooking pot. They do not have handles, feet or a lid-seated rim and are therefore not typologically very similar to the late medieval to Tudor cisterns in Malvern Chase, Minety or Coarse Border ware.
Newbury B vessels were first found at Netherton c.1160 (Netherton Fabric D). They quickly became the most common coarseware type at that site. A similar development is shown at Newbury. Apart from a small quantity of glazed wares at both sites, all of the 13th and early 14th century pottery was of this ware, with very little development either in the forms present or in their typology and method of manufacture. Similarly high proportions of Newbury B vessels are found at Popham, near Basingstoke and at sites in the Vale of Pewsey. Outside of these sites was an area in which Newbury B vessels were used alongside other cooking wares, for example in northern Wiltshire at sites in and around Swindon and Cricklade. The latter sites are very close to Minety and it may be that Newbury B ware had a more limited period of use in that area, being replaced by Minety cooking pots in 13th century. However, there is no stratigraphic proof for this suggestion and the ware is found at sites in Oxford and south Oxfordshire (the Vale of the White Horse) even though there were pottery sources much closer to Oxford. At Seacourt D.M.V., the excavators recognised a rise in the relative frequency of Newbury B ware in the late 13th to 14th centuries
Even further afield Newbury B vessels occur as sparse 'strays', including sites throughout Oxfordshire, eastern Berkshire, southern Hampshire and south-east Wiltshire. A single vessel is known from Cirencester but no examples are known from the Avon or Severn valleys
The presence of cisterns in this ware might suggest a late 14th century or later date, since they have not been found in the Hampshire-Surrey border industry until this date. However, the Netherton example is definitely present before 1356 and the excavator would date its context to the late 13th century (J. Fairbrother, pers. comm.). It is therefore more likely that these cooking-pot shaped cisterns are earlier than the jar or jug shaped examples
The end of the Newbury B industry is later than the mid- 14th century, since the ware was in use later than the deposition of two coins of this date from Newbury. At Netherton the ware was still being used when the site was abandoned in c.1356 but was no longer in use when the site was re-occupied in the early 15th century, c.1418 (Fairbrother, forthcoming). At Oxford, a smashed unglazed jug of Newbury B ware was found in a well associated with a late 14th to early 15th century Oxford AM jug (Haldon & Mellor, 1977; Fabric AQ)...
Jope (1947), Haldon & Mellor (1977), Ivens (forthcoming), Vince (forthcoming b), Hinton (1973)
Hard.
Oxidized with s grey core.
Principal Inclusions
Moderate fragments of rounded oolitic limestone up to 2.0mm across.
A fine-textured matrix with no quartz or white mica inclusions.
Silbury Hill; M1180.
The precise source is unknown. Distribution evidence suggests a source in north-west Wiltshire or north Avon. The petrology of the fabric is very similar to that of Gloucester TF41b, although Great Somerford-type ware does not have the micaceous clay matrix of the Gloucester fabric.
Handmade vessels with curving walls and cylindrical rims.
Handmade, unglazed vessels with strap handles.
A single cooking pot of Great Somerford-type ware was found at Silbury Hill, in association with other wares thought to be of early 11th century date. A pit group from Great Somerford contains mainly Great Somerford-type cooking pots, a 'west country vessel' in Box fabric B and a Minety-type tripod pitcher. The latter types date the deposition of this group to the 12th century (Thompson, 1970)
Other collections containing Great Somerford-type ware are unstratified, nor are there any stratified later medieval assemblages from the area in which Great Somerford-type ware is found to provide a terminus ante quem for the end of the industry
Unglazed, handmade jugs of the type made in this industry are found in Penhow ware and Newbury Group B from the late 12th century into the 14th century. It is most likely that the ware disappeared during the 13th century but a much later end date would not be surprising.
Thompson (1970)
Four distinct fabrics are found, the cooking pot fabric is a red-firing clay, although usually incompletely oxidized; the tripod pitcher fabric, early jug fabric and Salisbury- Laverstock jug fabric are all made from light-firing clays but differ in the texture of the predominantly quartz sand tempering.
Hard.
Variable from black to grey and oxidized reddish brown (5YR 5/3).
Subangular and rounded milky quartz, including a few grains with a red coating, up to 1.0mm. Rare rounded fine-grained limestone fragments and angular flint up to 1.0mm.
Anisotropic, fine-textured and laminated.
Laverstock kilns; M66-7.
Hard.
Reduced black or oxidized white core (10YR 8/2) with pink or light brown surfaces.
Angular or subangular quartz, up to 1.3mm. Sparse light brown angular cloudy chert or flint, rounded iron ore, up to 0.2mm across. These inclusions form a well-sorted coarse sand temper which gives the interior surface of the vessels a 'goose-flesh' appearance.
Sparse angular quartz and white mica. The clay is anisotropic and variagated with yellowish red spots and streaks in a lighter coloured matrix.
Bristol; M297. Chepstow; M835, M883, M905. Devizes; M50-5. Dublin; M372.
Hard.
Oxidized light brown.
As for the tripod pitchers but finer.
Newbury; M1163.
Hard.
No visible inclusions.
Fine angular quartz up to 0.1mm.
Laverstock; M68. Salisbury M56-7.
Some vessels in the cooking pot fabric were made at Laverstock, to the east of Salisbury. However, the start of the industry must predate the excavated kilns at Laverstock by over 150 years, and also predates the foundation of the present town. A general south-east Wiltshire source is certain. The main product of the Laverstock kilns were in the fine fabric and samples from a kiln found at Salisbury were thin-sectioned and were identical to the Laverstock ware. If the two can be distinguished it is only by typology, and, since the Salisbury material is not yet published, it is only possible to identify vessels as Salisbury/Laverstock type.
Handmade vessels with a rounded base and thickened, added rim, normally of rolled-out form. The exterior of the vessels is covered with rough fettling (fig.2.104).
Clear glazed, handmade vessels with a rounded base and three circular sectioned feet. The rim is cylindrical and between one and three rectangular-sectioned handles is typical. The vessels are either decorated with vertical combing or rectangular-toothed roller-stamping. Applied thumbed strips occur with either type of decoration. Tubular spouts are the rule (fig.2.105).
Wheelthrown vessels, often with combed decoration and a clear glaze (fig.2.106).
Wheelthrown vessels often highly decorated with applied strips and stamping (fig.2.107)
A late 11th century date or earlier for the start of the south-east Wiltshire industry is undoubted, since a pit group was excavated at Old Sarum which contained a barely worn penny of William I together with south-east Wiltshire cooking pots and tripod pitchers. At Winchester, much earlier dates are suggested for the inception of tripod pitcher production, in the late 10th century (Biddle & Barclay, 1974). Most of the vessels identified by Biddle as his TPW (tripod pitcher ware) are in fact south-east Wiltshire vessels. However, the author has not examined any of the supposed pre-conquest tripod pitchers, which may therefore be made in a different fabric. Biddle and Quirk have published a typical south-east Wiltshire tripod pitcher from a context dated pre-1100 and in more recent excavations in Winchester south-east Wiltshire tripod pitchers appear in the late 11th century, distinguishing post- from pre- conquest groups (Biddle & Quirk, 1962). It should also be possible to date the inception of this ware at Southampton, since south-east Wiltshire vessels have been seen there by the author. However, the type has not been distinguished by Platt and Coleman-Smith (1977)
Therefore, the possibility exists that this was the earliest centre producing tripod pitchers in the country, but conclusive evidence for a pre-conquest origin has not yet been published. Biddle and Barclay argue that this ware coexisted with Winchester ware, giving rise to 'hybrid' vessels in which techniques and forms more common in one fabric are found in the other (Biddle and Barclay, 1974). Even if this is so, the interchange of styles could have taken place in the late 11th century
Stratified examples of south-east Wiltshire cooking pots and tripod pitchers are not present in the study region until the 12th century, possibly not until the second half of the century, and are never common (fig.2.108). A distribution route can be traced from the Salisbury area to the north- west, through Warminster to Bath (where the tripod pitchers are found in 12th century contexts), Bristol and Chepstow. No other examples are known from south Wales but the ware is relatively common in Dublin, including a complete tripod pitcher. A single vessel has been seen from Lady Lane, Waterford (fig.2.109)
Distribution to the north and north-west of Salisbury is surprisingly limited in the 12th to 13th centuries. The ware is found at Devizes, Ludgershall and Netherton but is not common at any of these sites. At Newbury a single vessel in the early jug fabric has been found in an early to mid-13th century level. Rare examples are known from collections in Salisbury
Salisbury/Laverstock ware vessels are probably not as widely distributed as the tripod pitchers, although since they have no distinctive inclusions only typological features can be used to identify them (fig.2.110). These features are mainly those found on the highly decorated jugs from the Laverstock kiln site and many plainer products might go unnoticed. However, the quantity of light coloured green- glazed jug sherds of any kind in west or east Wiltshire is minimal so that it is certain that little south-east Wiltshire glazed ware was reaching those areas. The Salisbury/Laverstock potteries may have had a larger market to the south-east since there are documentary records of pottery being transported from Laverstock to Winchester (Musty et al., 1969)...
Biddle & Quirk (1962), Stone and Charlton (1935), Musty et al. (1969).