Pottery from Great Shelford (site GTS/07)
Paul Blinkhorn
Pottery Types
THT: Thetford ware. So-called because archaeologists first found it in Thetford,
but the first place to make it was Ipswich, around AD850. Potters first began to make
it in Thetford sometime around AD925, and carried on until around AD1100. Many
kilns are known from the town. It was made in Norwich from about AD1000, and
soon after at many of the main towns in England at that time. The pots are usually
grey, and the clay has lots of tiny grains of sand in it, making the surface feel a little
like fine sandpaper. Most pots were simple jars, but very large storage pots over 1m
high were also made, along with jugs, bowls and lamps. It is found all over East
Anglia and eastern England as far north as Lincoln and as far south as London.
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 waterbottles 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 AD900-1100. The pots are usually a purplish-black, black or grey
colour, but 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.
SHW: 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.
EMW: Medieval Sandy Ware: AD1100-1400. Hard fabric with plentiful quartz
sand mixed in with the clay. Manufactured at a wide range of generally unknown
sites all over eastern England. Mostly cooking pots, but bowls and occasionally jugs
also known.
GRIM: Grimston Ware. Made at Grimston, near King’s Lynn. It was made from a
sandy clay similar to that used for Thetford ware, and has a similar ‘sandpaper’
texture. The clay is usually a dark bluish-grey colour, sometimes with a lightcoloured buff or orange inner surface. It was made between about AD1080 and 1400.
All sorts of different pots were made, but the most common finds are jugs, which
usually have a slightly dull green glaze on the outer surface. Between AD1300 and
1400, the potters made very ornate jugs, with painted designs in a reddish brown clay,
and sometimes attached models of knights in armour or grotesque faces to the outside
of the pots. It is found all over East Anglia and eastern England. A lot of Grimston
ware has been found in Norway, as there is very little clay in that country, and they
had to import their pottery. Nearly half the medieval pottery found in Norway was
made at Grimston, and was shipped there from King’s Lynn.
ESR: Essex Redware: Late 12th – 14th century. Red-coloured pottery with lots of
sand mixed in with the clay. Made at a number of different places in Essex, a few of
which have been discovered. Most common pottery type was glazed jugs.
GS: German Stonewares. First made around AD1450, and still made today. Made
at lots of places along the river Rhine in Germany, such as Cologne, Siegburg and
Frechen. Very hard grey clay fabric, with the outer surface of the pot often having a
mottled brown glaze. The most common vessel type was the mug, used in taverns in
Britain and all over the world. Surviving records from the port of London (‘port
books’) show that millions such pots were brought in by boat from Germany from
around AD1500 onwards.
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 19th 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 AD1690, black
glaze was also used.
MET: Metropolitan Slipware. Similar to glazed red earthenware (GRE), but with
painted designs in yellow liquid clay (‘slip’) under the glaze. Made at many places
between 1600 and 1700, but the most famous and earliest factory was at Harlow in
Essex.
DW: 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 first made it in
Europe, although it was invented in the Middle East. More correctly known as TinGlazed Earthenware. 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.
MB: Midland Blackwares. Late 16th - 18th century. Basically a development of
Red Earthenwares, with a black glaze which was coloured by the addition of iron
filings. Mainly used for drinking pottery, such as multi-handled cups (tygs) and
storage vessels
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.
SWSG: White Salt-Glazed Stoneware. Delicate white pottery made between 1720
and 1780, usually for tea cups and mugs. Has a finely pimpled surface, like orange
peel.
VIC. A wide range of miscellaneous mass-produced 19th century wares, 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
1
SHW
No
Wt
Context
1
2
4
1
3
EMW
No
Wt
5
13
VIC
No
Wt
27
124
16
41
19
33
Date Range
1800-1900
1800-1900
1100-1900
The pottery from this test-pit comprised entirely 19th century wares, indicating that
there was little activity here before that time
Test Pit 2
TP
2
2
2
2
2
Context
1
2
3
4
5
SHW
No Wt
1
EMW
No Wt
GRE
No Wt
6
MET
No Wt
1
28
SS
No Wt
1
1
4
1
3
1
VIC
No Wt
9
88
3
15
16 41
3
20
6
34
Date Range
1600-1900
1100-1900
1800-1900
1800-1900
1100-1900
The bulk of the pottery from this test-pit was Victorian, although a few sherds of
earlier material were also present. They were all mixed in with 19th century material
however, suggesting that any medieval and post-medieval remains have been
disturbed by later activity. The small size of the pre-Victorian assemblage indicates
that it is likely that the site was a field during that time, and that the pottery is the
product of manuring rather than occupation
Test Pit 3
TP
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Context
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
STAM
No Wt
1
6
EMW
No Wt
1
35
1
2
GS
No Wt
1
1
GRE
No Wt
1
1
1
4
3
2
41
14
MB
No Wt
1
1
VIC
No Wt
16
44
28 155
45 132
27 144
64 202
55 184
20 155
26 159
8
24
16 216
Date Range
1800-1900
1800-1900
1550-1900
1800-1900
1800-1900
1100-1900
1550-1900
900-1900
1800-1900
1800-1900
The bulk of the pottery from this test-pit was Victorian, although a few sherds of
earlier material were also present. They were all mixed in with 19th century material
however, suggesting that any medieval and post-medieval remains have been
disturbed by later activity. The small size of the pre-Victorian assemblage indicates
that it is likely that the site was a field at that time, and that the pottery is the product
of manuring rather than occupation. The sherd of Stamford ware may indicate preconquest activity, but it is glazed, and could equally likely date to the later 11th or
earlier 12th century.
Test Pit 4
TP
4
4
4
4
4
Context
1
2
3
20/21
22
EMW
No Wt
GS
No Wt
GRE
No Wt
3
1
15
1
6
MET
No Wt
48
1
2
VIC
No Wt
38 180
40 102
31 90
31 82
Date Range
1800-1900
1800-1900
1800-1900
1550-1900
1100-1700
The bulk of the pottery from this test-pit was Victorian, although a few sherds of
earlier material were also present. They were all mixed in with 19th century material
however, suggesting that any medieval and post-medieval remains have been
disturbed by later activity. The small size of the pre-Victorian assemblage indicates
that it is likely that the site was a field at that time, and that the pottery is the product
of manuring rather than occupation
Test Pit 5
TP
5
5
5
5
5
Context
2
3
4
5
6
THET
No Wt
3
8
EMW
No Wt
1
2
1
5
2
6
5
25
7
34
GRE
No Wt
5
43
2
4
1
TGE
No Wt
4
14
22
1
SS
4
No
1
Wt
8
1
6
VIC
No Wt
14 33
12 71
3
8
10 14
1
2
Date Range
1100-1900
1100-1900
1100-1900
850-1900
1100-1900
This test-pit produced a large assemblage of medieval pottery, including sherds of
Thetford ware which could be pre-Conquest, and suggests very strongly that there was
settlement on the site during the later 11th – 14th centuries. There are no glazed wares
or late medieval wares, so it is entirely possible that the site was abandoned for the
last two centuries of the medieval period, before being reoccupied around the middle
of the 16th century. The post-medieval assemblage suggest that there has been activity
at the site ever since.
Test Pit 6
TP
6
6
6
6
Ctxt
1
2
3
4
SN
No Wt
1
2
EMW
No Wt
6
30
4
29
4
7
17 68
GRIM
No Wt
1
2
ESR
No Wt
1
1
14
GS
No Wt
1
3
1
4
GRE
No Wt
1
1
3
17
2
5
MB
No Wt
2
4
3
21
MET
No Wt
1
3
1
40
106
SWSG
No Wt
3
VIC
No Wt
6
16
9
This test-pit produced by the widest range of pottery types, with their chronology
indicating that there has been unbroken settlement there from around the time of the
Norman Conquest to the present day.
Test Pit 7
TP
7
7
7
7
Context
2
3
4
5
EMW
No Wt
6
36
10
29
36 171
27 252
ESR
No Wt
1
2
GS
No Wt
2
GRE
No Wt
3
11
8
1
13
SS
No
Wt
1
9
VIC
No Wt
53 63
7
9
Date Range
1100-1900
1100-1900
1100-1550
1100-1400
This test-pit produced pottery which shows that there was intense activity here during
the medieval period, presumably in the form of domestic occupation. The rate of
pottery deposition fell off sharply after that time, but there still is enough to suggest
that there was low-level activity here ever since then.
Date Range
850-1900
1100-1700
1100-1400
900-1780
Test Pit 8
TP
8
8
8
8
8
Context
1
2
3
4
5
EMW
No Wt
1
8
2
6
VIC
No Wt
9
14
9
16
7
17
12 25
1
1
Date Range
1100-1900
1800-1900
1800-1900
1100-1900
1800-1900
This test-pit produced small quantities of medieval pottery, then nothing until the
Victorian period. It appears very probable that it was abandoned sometime in the 13th
or 14th century, and remained unused until quite recently, or was exploited in such a
way that left no material remains.