Medieval Ceramics Volume 22-23: Journal of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

Editorial of Medieval Ceramics 1989-1999

This paper is a review of pottery production in Staffordshire during the late 9th- to 11th-century. It is based on a lecture given at the Medieval Pottery Research Group conference in London in May 1998. Within Staffordshire the main type of pottery of the Late Saxon period is Stafford-type ware. Stafford is the only place where evidence for its production has been found – almost a metric tonne of pottery and the remains of four kilns and their associated pits and structures. However, Stafford-type ware was first characterised in Chester, and is known by other names: Chester ware, Chester-type ware, Stafford ware and West Midlands early medieval ware. The variety of names may cause confusion and it has never been confirmed that they all apply to pottery made at the same production source. These issues are not addressed here. Until the industry has been fully researched archaeologists should be wary of applying undue significance to the identification and dating of a Stafford-type/Chester-type/West Midlands early medieval sherd. The pottery produced in Stafford has a sandy, hard-fired fabric. Small jars and bowls with convex bases were the main forms. Large jars, pedestal cups, lamps and bowls with socketed handles also occur. The vessels show a range of techniques of manufacture and finish; some are decorated. Stafford-type ware was well-made, but there are variations in quality and finish.

Excavations between Hallgate and Wood Street, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, revealed a medieval pottery kiln and small waster dumps. The site was close to that of a later kiln excavated in the 1960s by the staff of Doncaster Museum. The new kiln (Hallgate 95) proved to be somewhat earlier in date (mid 11th to early 12th century) and to have been used for firing vessels in a range of different fabric types, probably simultaneously.

Pottery from eight late medieval and Tudor pit groups excavated in central St Albans is considered here and integrated with that considered in a previous article. Most of the pottery appears to be of local origin, with smaller quantities of wares from surrounding counties and the continent.

Five brickware objects in the collectionsof Kingston upon Hull City Museums and Galleries have been identified as being of Low Countries origin; these are the first examples known to the authors of a class of brickware objects, dated conventionally from the 13th to the early 16th centuries (with a floruit in the 14th and 15th centuries), to be recognised in Britain. Four of the Hull examples appear to be fragments of candlesticks, whilst the fifth is a spit-support; however, a wider range of contemporary objects was produced by the same brick- or tile-makers. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to these finds, and to place them in their wider European context. Such finds are now known from a wide area of North-Western Europe, stretching from Scandinavia to Northern France; the Hull finds are unlikely to be the only British examples in existence, and the publication of this paper may help other researchers to recognise further examples of such brickware objects, particularly in the ports and settlements adjoining the eastern coast of Britain.

Although the effects of reduction and oxidation on medieval pottery are easily recognized, the technical means of producing them are less well understood. The present paper will look at some aspects of body and glaze reduction and reduction firing in open-topped kilns. Grimston reduced glazed pottery, medieval unglazed greywares and Cheam whitewares will serve as illustrative examples.

This paper presents a summary of the results recently published of a national conference which was held in France, in Mont-Beuvray, in April 1998. The aim of this conference was to discuss the different methods used for quantitative studies of pottery and to confront the methods used in contemporary studies. We needed a common method which would be accepted by most archaeologists, which was scientifically as sound as possible, and which would also be the simplest, the most efficient, and the least time-consuming. This approach is not new. It is simply the adoption of minimum common standards to permit relevant comparisons between different regions, periods and settlements.

Publication review

Publication review

Publication review

Publication review

Publication review

Medieval Pottery Research Group Annual Bibliography 1998

Notes on the Financial Statements, Year Ending 1998

Regional Group Reports 1997-9

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