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Pottery from Pirton Test-pits (PIR09)-2 LIB: ‘Belgic’. Latest Iron Age pottery made in England, so-called because was originally thought to have been made by refugees from Caesar’s invasion of Gaul. Wheel-thrown and kiln fired, usually in a wide range of highly decorated vessels. 50BC – AD50. RB: Roman Greyware. This was one of the most common types of Roman pottery, and was made in many different places in Britain. Many different types of vessels were made, especially cooking pots. It was most common in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, but in some places, continued in use until the 4th century. EMS: Early/Middle Saxon hand-built wares. Range of simple and somewhat crude pottery made without the use of a wheel. AD450 – 850. STAM: Stamford Ware. Made at several different sites in Stamford in Lincolnshire between AD850 and 1150. The earliest pots were small, simple jars with white, buff or grey fabric, or large jars with painted red stripes. By AD1000, the potters were making vessels which were quite thin-walled and smooth, with a yellow or pale green glaze on the outside, the first glazed pots in England. These were usually jugs with handles and a spout, but other sorts of vessel, such as candle-sticks, bowls and water-bottles are also known. It appears to have been much sought after because it was of such good quality, and has been found all over Britain and Ireland. SN: St Neots Ware. Made at a number of as-yet unknown places in southern England between AD900-1200. The early pots are usually a purplish-black, black or grey colour, the later ones brown or reddish. All the sherds from this site date to AD1000 or later. The clay from which they were made contains finely crushed fossil shell, giving them a white speckled appearance. Most pots were small jars or bowls. EMW: Early Medieval Sandy Ware: AD1100-1400. Hard fabric with plentiful quartz temper. Manufactured at a wide range of generally unknown sites all over eastern England. Mostly cooking pots, but bowls and occasionally jugs also known. MS: Medieval Shelly Ware. AD1100-1400. Made a several different places in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. The clay that the potters used has a lot of small pieces of fossil shell in it, giving the pots a speckled appearance. Sometimes, in acid soils, the shell dissolves, giving the sherds a texture like cork. Mainly cooking pots, although bowls and jugs were also made. HED: Hedingham Ware: Late 12th – 14th century. Fine orange/red glazed pottery, made at Sible Hedingham in Essex. The surfaces of the sherds have a sparkly appearance due to there being large quantities of mica, a glassy mineral, in the clay. Pots usually glazed jugs. HG: Hertfordshire Greyware, Late 12th – 14th century. Hard, grey sandy pottery found at sites all over Hertfordshire. Made at a number of different places, with the most recent and best-preserved evidence being from Hitchin. Range of simple jars, bowls and jugs. HGW: Hertfordshire Glazed Ware. 14th – 15th century. source, usually highly decorated. Glazed jugs from an unknown MP: Midland Purple ware. Made and used between AD1450-1600. Very hard, red to dark purplish-grey in colour, usually with a dark purple to black glaze. Wide range of different pots made such as jars, bowls and jugs. LMT: Late medieval ware. 1400 – 1550. Hard reddish-orange pottery with sand visible in the clay body. Pale orange and dark green glazes, wide range of everyday vessel types. GRE: Glazed Red Earthenwares: Just about everywhere in Britain began to make and use this type of pottery from about AD1550 onwards, and it was still being made in the 19 th century. The clay fabric is usually very smooth, and a brick red colour. Lots of different types of pots were made, particularly very large bowls, cooking pots and cauldrons. Almost all of them have shiny, good-quality orange or green glaze on the inner surface, and sometimes on the outside as well. From about AD1680, black glaze was also used. TGE: Delft ware. The first white-glazed pottery to be made in Britain. Called Delft ware because of the fame of the potteries at Delft in Holland, which were amongst the first to make it. Soft, cream coloured fabric with a thick white glaze, often with painted designs in blue, purple and yellow. First made in Britain in Norwich around AD1600, and continued in use until the 19th century. The 17th century pots were expensive table wares such as dishes or bowls, but by the 19th century, better types of pottery was being made, and it was considered very cheap and the main types of pot were such as chamber pots and ointment jars. SS: Staffordshire Slipware. Made between about AD1640 and 1750. This was the first pottery to be made in moulds in Britain since Roman times. The clay fabric is usually a pale buff colour, and the main product was flat dishes and plates, but cups were also made. These are usually decorated with thin brown stripes and a yellow glaze, or yellow stripes and a brown glaze. SMW: Staffordshire Manganese Ware, late 17th – 18th century. Made from a fine, buffcoloured clay, with the pots usually covered with a mottled purple and brown glaze. A wide range of different types of pots were made, but mugs and chamber pots are particularly common. EST: English Stoneware: Very hard, grey fabric with white and/or brown surfaces. First made in Britain at the end of the 17th century, became very common in the 18th and 19th century, particularly for mineral water or ink bottles and beer jars. SWSG: Staffordshire White Salt-Glazed Stoneware. Hard, white pottery with a white glaze with a texture like orange peel. Made between 1720 and 1780, pots usually table wares such as tea bowls, tankards and plates. CRM: Creamware. This was the first pottery to be made which resembles modern ‘china’. It was invented by Wedgewood, who made it famous by making a dinner service for the Queen of Russia. Made between 1740 and 1880, it was a pale cream-coloured ware with a clear glaze, and softer than bone china. There were lots of different types of pots which we would still recognise today: cups, saucers, plates, soup bowls etc. In the 19 th century, it was considered to be poor quality as better types of pottery were being made, so it was often painted with multi-coloured designs to try and make it more popular. VIC: ‘Victorian’. A wide range of different types of pottery, particularly the cups, plates and bowls with blue decoration which are still used today. First made around AD1800. RESULTS Test Pit 1 TP 1 1 Context 3 4 EMW No Wt 1 MS No Wt 1 24 GRE No Wt 1 5 SMW No Wt 1 1 EST No Wt 1 8 6 Date Range 1100-1750 1100-1200 This test-pit did not produce very much pottery, but the range of types present indicates that the site was occupied from the early medieval period onwards. The lowest layer produced just one sherd of pottery, which is early medieval, and indicates that the layer was an undisturbed medieval horizon. Test Pit 2 TP 2 2 2 2 2 2 Context 1 2 3 4 5 6 GRE No Wt 2 10 17 95 18 108 7 40 3 60 1 4 TGE No Wt 2 15 SS No Wt 1 4 1 35 13 2 EST No Wt MGW No Wt 1 1 3 16 8 2 1 1 CRM No Wt 27 4 VIC No Wt 4 10 81 163 20 33 4 1 Date Range 1550-1900 1550-1900 1550-1900 1550-1785 1550-1750 1550-1700 This test-pit produced a wide range of post-medieval wares, which indicate that the site was occupied throughout the period. The 17th and 18th century pottery, specifically the TGE and Creamware, is very lavishly painted, and would have been expensive at the time, suggesting the household which occupied the site was a wealthy one. Test Pit 3 TP 3 3 3 3 3 3 Context 1 2 3 4 5 6 LIB No Wt 1 RB No Wt 6 3 2 57 3 SN No Wt 1 2 3 1 1 9 15 2 EMW No Wt 2 5 14 48 MS No Wt 2 1 10 1 HG No Wt 1 3 2 4 1 2 HGW No Wt GRE No Wt 2 1 8 VIC No Wt 2 2 6 9 2 2 6 This test-pit produced a very wide range of pottery types, which indicate several periods of activity at the site. The LIB sherd is very worn, and may well be evidence of the area being fields at the end of the Iron Age. The Roman pottery is in better condition, and seems more likely the result of domestic activity rather than manuring. The site then appears to have been abandoned until the later part of the late Saxon Date Range 1200-1900 1100-1650 50BC-1900 100-1400 100-1200 900-1100 period, and was then occupied until around the time of the Black Death. It was then abandoned again, and seems to have been largely marginal until the present day. Test Pit 4 TP 4 4 4 4 4 Context 1 2 3 4 5 SN No Wt 1 7 1 15 EMW No Wt 5 6 1 12 21 7 HG No Wt 1 1 2 6 9 6 GRE No Wt 2 2 1 14 7 29 MGW No Wt 1 1 VIC No Wt 6 14 13 59 1 1 Date Range 1800-1900 1200-1900 900-1900 1000-1650 1100-1200 This test-pit produced pottery which indicates that the site was occupied from the late Saxon period until around the time of the Black Death. It was then abandoned, and may have been fields until the Victorian era. Test Pit 5 TP 5 5 5 5 5 5 Cntxt 1 2 3 4 5 6 RB No Wt EMS No Wt 1 2 11 5 SN No Wt 1 1 1 1 2 4 EMW No Wt 1 3 1 14 1 4 60 1 MS No Wt HG No Wt HED No Wt 1 14 1 1 GS No Wt 1 SS No Wt 5 2 4 1 40 2 VIC No Wt 4 5 9 18 1 10 3 This test-pit produced a very wide range of pottery types, which indicate several periods of activity at the site. The Roman pottery is in reasonable condition, and seems more likely the result of domestic activity rather than manuring. The single sherd of Anglo-Saxon hand-built pottery is an unusual find in Pirton, and may indicate a continuation of activity from the Roman to Saxon periods, although it is difficult to say this with certainty. The site then appears to have been abandoned until the later part of the late Saxon period, and occupied from then until around the time of the Black Death. It was then abandoned again, and seems to have been largely marginal until the Victorian era. Date Range 1100-1900 1200-1900 1100-1900 450-1400 100-1200 1000-1100 Test Pit 6 TP 6 6 6 6 6 6 Context 1 2 3 4 6 20 EMW No Wt 1 4 1 2 13 3 HED No Wt GRE No Wt 2 1 1 1 2 4 VIC No Wt 2 4 2 7 1 1 2 5 1 3 Date Range 1800-1900 1550-1900 1100-1900 1100-1300 1100-1300 1800-1900 The pottery from this test-pit indicates that there are undisturbed deposits of early medieval date at the site. This appears to have been the main period of activity there, for these is very little pottery from around the time of the Black Death until the present day. Test Pit 7 TP 7 7 7 7 7 Cntxt 1 2 3 4 5 EMW No Wt 1 HG No Wt HGW No Wt LMT No Wt 2 3 2 1 22 7 1 233 9 GRE No Wt 2 26 4 57 2 15 10 76 18 169 TGE No Wt 1 7 SS No Wt 1 7 1 13 EST No Wt 1 1 1 SMW No Wt SWSG No Wt 27 6 6 1 10 1 1 VIC No Wt 7 18 16 31 9 This test-pit produced a range of pottery which indicated that there was more or less unbroken activity at the site from around 1100 onwards. The sherd of HGW is very significant. It is from a dripping dish, a shallow pan-like vessel used for catching the fat from spit-roasting meat, which was used for sauces and medicines. Such pots are very rare finds in the countryside, and are almost always signs of high-status sites, such as manors, as the ordinary peasants rarely ate meat in such quantity. HGW dripping dishes are also very well-dated; in London, large numbers of them were found at the Trig Lane waterfront site, in contexts dated by coins and tree-rings to between 1340 and 1450. 27 158 68 Date Range 1550-1900 1100-1750 1400-1900 1180-1900 1100-1900 Test Pit 8 RB STAM No Wt EMW HG HED TP Cntxt No Wt 8 1 2 10 No Wt No Wt 1 2 1 3 8 2 8 3 8 4 1 3 8 5 1 3 No HGW Wt LMT No MP Wt No Wt 1 1 5 1 1 GS No GRE Wt 12 4 2 1 2 1 6 SMW No VIC No Wt No Wt 1 5 20 25 100-1900 3 9 83 121 1450-1900 3 10 36 57 1200-1900 2 22 71 154 1200-1900 5 21 83 216 1200-1900 1550-1900 1 Wt 6 8 6a 1 1 13 27 8 6b 3 13 10 21 8 7b 8 8 1 1 39 Date Range 1550-1900 1170 - 1400 1 1000-1200 This test-pit produced a wide range of pottery types, and shows that there was activity at the site from around the time of the Norman Conquest until after then end of the medieval period. There was not a wide range of post-medieval pottery however, so the inhabitants at that time were either quite poor, or the site was abandoned for while during the 17th and 18th centuries. Test Pit 9 TP 9 9 9 9 Cntxt 1 2 6 7 SN No Wt EMW No Wt MS No Wt 1 4 HG No Wt 1 1 2 1 1 GRE No Wt 1 3 SMW No Wt 13 VIC No Wt 1 4 4 1 2 4 Date Range 1100-1700 1200-1900 900-1750 1100-1200 This test-pit did not produce much pottery; but that which was present shows that there was activity here from around the time of the Norman Conquest until the 13th or 14th century. Very little pottery dates to after that time, so it is likely the site was probably fields from then on. Test Pit 10 TP 10 10 10 10 10 Cntxt 1 2 3 4 5 RB No Wt 1 1 STAM No Wt 1 2 SN No Wt 1 5 1 3 2 12 1 9 EMW No Wt 3 7 1 2 2 5 1 7 1 20 MS No Wt 3 8 1 4 HG No Wt 1 2 2 4 5 15 3 14 2 15 HED No Wt 1 2 HGW No Wt 1 1 2 LMT No Wt VIC No Wt 4 10 2 2 1 5 6 This test-pit produced a lot of late Saxon pottery, and it seems certain that people were living here at that time, probably during the 10th century. Medieval pottery is also very common, so it appears that this occupation continued right through until the 15th century, after which time the site was abandoned. Date Range 1100-1900 900-1500 900-1500 900-1500 900-1350 Test Pit 11 TP 11 11 11 11 11 11 Cntxt 2 4 5 6 7 8 RB No Wt 1 SN No Wt 2 1 1 2 7 16 1 EMW No Wt 1 3 2 2 11 12 5 39 HG No Wt 4 7 2 12 42 4 HGW No Wt GRE No Wt 1 1 1 3 2 SS No Wt SWSG No Wt VIC No Wt 10 56 134 1 1 1 9 The pottery from this test-pit suggests that there was activity at the site from around the time of the Norman Conquest until the mid-late 14th century, after which time it was largely unused. Test Pit 12 TP 12 12 Context 3 4 HG No Wt 1 10 VIC No Wt 5 6 Date Range 1800-1900 1200-1350 This test-pit produced very little pottery, but a fairly large sherd of medieval material was found. It is in very good condition and does not appear to have been damaged by ploughing, so there is likely to be medieval settlement nearby. Date Range 1800-1900 100-1700 900-1750 1100-1450 100-400 100-1150