Midlands purple and Cistercian-type wares in the west Midlands in the 15th-16th centuries
Susan M Wright, Derek Hurst, 2011. https://doi.org/10.5284/1010824. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service, Bordesley Abbey Project unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Derek
Hurst
Post-excavation Manager
Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service
Woodbury
Worcester University
Henwick Grove, Worcester
WR2 6AJ
England
Tel: 01905 765908
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1090
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1010824
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
This project aimed to develop understanding of a major ceramics industry, its products being some of the commonest wares on late medieval to post-medieval ('transitional') sites though it is an industry whose origins, dating and distribution are not sufficiently well understood. The core of this project is characterisation of the main centres of early production of Midlands purple coarse and Cistercian fine wares in the west Midlands (here, south Derbyshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire). The results of a variety of characterisation techniques (standard fabric characterisation methods alongside chemical (ICPS) and petrographic analyses) were compared with data obtained by the same techniques using ceramics from key consumer sites with stratified early material as a test case (viz Austin Friars Leicester, and Bordesley Abbey, Worcestershire). This is the first study of this west Midlands industry on a region-wide basis. The outcomes of this pilot study can be used to inform future curatorial and managerial strategy for both production and consumer sites. The project also has the potential to inform further research: it lays the foundations of a broad knowledge base and indicates how that might be developed. The results will also be disseminated through a specialist journal (Medieval Ceramics).
