By far the most arduous part of this thesis was the establishment of a relative and absolute chronology of the wares. This is because evidence had to be drawn together from all possible sources, from stratigraphy to association with dated artefacts. In areas such as the City of London these methods are not needed, since large independantly-dated groups exist (Vince, 1982).
The results of this synthesis are patchy, being very variable between areas and periods. Despite this, there is now a secure relative chronology for the region. Problems still exist with this framework but these are mainly due to the slow rate of change in pottery forms and fabrics at some periods and could not be solved by more fieldwork or a more detailed examination of the pottery.
The potential for giving an absolute chronology to this relative sequence has not been completely exhausted. This is because useful associations of pottery with other datable items are rare. Excavation, especially in deeply stratified or briefly occupied sites, would undoubtedly improve the absolute chronology. For periods earlier than the 13th century precision obtained at one site would not be transferable to many other sites because of the limited amount of cross-dating between areas.
The methods used in this thesis are described below, followed by a period by period description of the results.