West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
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West Midlands Post-Roman Research Agenda: Ceramics
Alan Vince
alan@postex.demon.co.uk
Raw data
The West Midlands in the 5th to 11th centuries was a border region between the
British/Welsh west in which pottery was not in common use (for example, the only
pottery found at the princely site of Dinas Powys was imported, 1963) and the AngloSaxon south and east in which pottery was in common use, both for domestic and
ritual purposes. This east-west trend existed in the early Anglo-Saxon period but
continued into the mid and late Saxon periods. Thus, although pottery was used by the
late 10th or early 11th centuries in Hereford, for example, none of that pottery was
locally-made and the quantities in which it is found suggest that pottery was used less
intensively than further east.
Appendix 1 lists those sites from which pottery of 5th to mid 11th-century date has
been recorded. Clearly, with the increase in field archaeology generated by the
planning process there is likely to be a lot more material in museums and
archaeological unit stores than is listed here but the general paucity of finds and the
east-west trend is clear.
Alternative Chronologies
As a result of the small number of sites, and the lack of independent dating evidence,
there is a great danger of circular argument concerning the cultural and ethnic
associations of the finds and their dating. Ideally, we should be able to use C14 or
dendrochronological dating to provide a chronological framework and only then look
at the fabric, typology and decoration of the pottery to establish cultural affiliations.
Since this is at present not possible the entire interpretative framework used here may
prove to be wrong.
Primary Research Aim
The primary research aim for the study of 5th to 11th-century pottery in the West
Midlands is therefore to recover pottery from stratified assemblages which can be
dated by C14, dendrochronology or other associated artefacts, although strictly
speaking the same reservations about circularity in reasoning affect those artefacts as
much as pottery.
Secondary Research Aims
In the remainder of this document I have no option but to use traditional culturalhistorical interpretations which are based on sources such as the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, which were in some cases compiled centuries after the events they record
and which were written mainly from a polarised perspective (Christian vs Pagan,
Anglo-Saxon vs British/Welsh).
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5th to 7th-century ceramics
Continuation of Romano-British wheelthrown pottery tradition
One of the contentious issues concerns the ending of the Romano-British pottery
industry. At various times Rahtz, for example, has suggested that some of the
wheelthrown greywares found on sites such as Cadbury, Congresbury, are not
residual Roman but locally-made sub-Roman products. If we accept the evidence
from sites such as Wroxeter for the continuation of Romanised culture into the 5th and
6th centuries in this region then why should pottery not have continued to be made?
However, no such pottery has been published from the Wroxeter excavations and the
assumption is there that any pottery found is indeed residual from Roman levels on
the site.
An assemblage from the New Market Hall in Gloucester was found alongside a coin
hoard dating later than 388 AD. The assemblage was claimed as being of 5th century
date but is composed mainly of regionally-traded Romano-British wares such as Nene
Valley colour-coated wares and shell-tempered wares from the south east midlands
(Hassall and Rhodes 1974, 86-7). These wares were produced in areas of primary
Anglo-Saxon settlement and there is no indication in the east midlands that they
continued in use into the 5th century. At the latest, they might have continued in use to
the middle of the century.
The main arguments against the continuation of the Romano-British wheelthrown
pottery industry are firstly, that the late Roman pottery industry depended on a
monetary economy and inter-regional trade and that this economy was inextricably
linked to taxation and the Empire. Secondly, none of the evidence presented so far
stands up to close scrutiny. Nevertheless, Romanised pottery found on sites of 5thcentury and later date should never be assumed to be residual without proper study.
Continuation/re-emergence of British handmade pottery tradition
A phenomenon recognised in many parts of the British provinces is the re-emergence
of pottery made without the use of the wheel in the later part of the Roman period. In
the southeast this pottery is grog-tempered, in Yorkshire it is calcite-tempered and in
Dorset it is sand-tempered black-burnished ware. Distinctive late BB1 forms and
decorations have been identified which are probably of late 4th/early 5th century date.
However, whereas in the early to mid 4th century BB1 is still found throughout Britain
by the late 4th century its market area had shrunk and these late types are rare to
absent in the West Midlands. The arguments for and against the survival of these
handmade wares into sub-Roman times are similar to those for the wheelthrown wares
and there is little evidence from this region for the emergence of a domestic or nonmarket-orientated handmade pottery industry in the late or sub-Roman period. A
handful of handmade, burnished, limestone-tempered vessels from Gloucester have
been proposed as belonging to this category but come from a site with a large amount
of residual material and no further examples of this type have been found since
(Darvill 1988).
As with the wheelthrown pottery, however, the possibility of survival/re-emergence of
a handmade pottery tradition in a post-Roman British/Welsh context cannot be
dismissed. A 6th-century inhumation at the Roman fort of Binchester, in Co Durham,
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was accompanied by a crude handmade jar made in exactly the same manner as preRoman and ‘native’ Roman coarsewares. However, that pot was made in an area with
both a strong pre-Roman pottery tradition and a less intense Roman presence than the
West Midlands.
Handmade, bonfire-fired pottery found on post-Roman sites in the West Midlands
should not be assumed to be either residual Iron Age or, on the other hand, AngloSaxon in date and affiliation without close study.
Importation of ceramics from the continent
Sherds of imported amphorae, finewares and coarsewares (both greyware and a gritty
whiteware) have been found and studied intensely in Wales and the Southwest of
England for over half a century. Knowledge of the sources and dates of this pottery
has increased over the years, thanks both to the scientific study of British finds and
the stratigraphic excavation and study of pottery of 5th-century and later date from the
Mediterranean (Radford and Thomas 1959, 1981, Peacock ?, Hodges ?, Fulford
1989). At various times, sherds from the West Midlands have been proposed as being
of one of these imported groups (for example, at Much Wenlock). However, there are
no confirmed finds from the region. Nevertheless, excavators of post-Roman sites in
the region and their pottery specialists should be aware of the existence of these types
and the likelihood that at least a few vessels of this type reached the region.
The lack of finds from sites such as Cirencester (the provincial capital) and Wroxeter
(a civitas capital) suggest that these wares remained close to their landing points
rather than being traded or exchanged further inland, although an alternative
interpretation would be that their main period of importation post-dated the decline of
those sites.
Introduction of Anglo-Saxon pottery traditions
The pottery used by Anglo-Saxon settlers in eastern and southern England has clear
antecedents in the traditional homelands of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes and a
number of extremely close parallels between vessels from Anglo-Saxon and
continental sites have been drawn. There is little doubt, therefore, that the earliest
examples of these wares were made by potters who learnt their craft in Saxony,
Jutland or elsewhere in northwest Europe. Several attempts to recognise a hybrid
Romano-Saxon tradition, either through the adoption of Romano-British forms by
Anglo-Saxon potters or the use of Anglo-Saxon traits on Roman or Sub-Roman
pottery have been made but there is now little support for the concept and no
convincing examples. Where pottery with Anglo-Saxon traits occurs in the West
Midlands, therefore, it is in an Anglo-Saxon cultural context. Without DNA analysis
it is not possible to say anything about the ethnic background of this pottery’s makers
or users but the concentration of finds in the valleys of the Trent and the
Warwickshire Avon is consistent with either the spread of Anglo-Saxon culture or
actual folk movement along these valleys from the east.
Several rules of thumb for the dating of decorated vessels have been proposed by
Myres, and although many would now criticise both his early dating for the first
Anglo-Saxon pottery and his attempts to marry stylistic development with stages in
the colonisation of England there is agreement that there are genuine stylistic
developments and that their sequence appears to hold true throughout the area of
Anglo-Saxon settlement. This must imply a considerable degree of contact between
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different areas. There is less development in the coarseware pottery but even there the
range of forms found shows no regional variation either from north to south or east to
west.
The only area where a regional patterning can be seen is in the use of chaff tempering.
Organic matter is present in much Anglo-Saxon pottery either in the form of roots or
rotting vegetation, suggesting that the potting clays were dug from subsoil or river
banks rather than clay pits. However, fabrics in which the principal inclusion is chaff
are much more common south of the Thames than they are in East Anglia, the East
Midlands or north of the Humber. In the Thames basin the pottery sequence at
Mucking suggests that chaff-tempering became more common with time (Hamerow
1987, 1987) and the same probably holds true for sites in the Thames valley in
Oxfordshire (Vince 1989) whereas in Hampshire and Wiltshire chaff-tempering
seems to be the main fabric tradition from the 6th century onwards. Despite earlier
statements to the contrary, there is no evidence for chaff-tempering being a common
tradition in the Anglo-Saxon homelands and where it is found on the continent it
seems more likely to be evidence for Anglo-Saxon influence (Hamerow and others
1994). The incidence and frequency of chaff-tempering seems to have increased north
of the Thames during the early to mid Anglo-Saxon periods. This general pattern is
relevant to the Anglo-Saxon pottery found in the West Midlands, very little of which
is tempered primarily with chaff except in the Warwickshire Avon. The latter area,
therefore, shows signs of a closer link with the southeast than the Trent valley, as
might be expected.
Late 7th to mid 9th century ceramics
Politically and socially there are major differences between the early Anglo-Saxon
period (5th to 7th) and the mid Saxon period (7th to mid 9th centuries). The area was
under Mercian hegemony and the border between Mercia and the Welsh was marked
by the construction of Offa’s Dyke. Finally, the entire area was Christian, after a brief
pagan interlude under the 7th-century Mercian kings. However, despite these changes,
the archaeological evidence for the use of pottery is very similar.
Low Pottery use
It seems that in several areas of England which had been pottery-using in the early
Anglo-Saxon period pottery ceased to be used, except in exceptional circumstances,
in the mid Saxon period. Thus
Continuation of 5th- to 7th-century handmade traditions
Over much of southern and eastern England the domestic pottery of the mid Saxon
period continued the traditions of the preceding period. The main change was the
disappearance of the highly decorated pottery that had previously accompanied
burials. Stamped vessels continued to be used on sites along the south coast (Cunliffe
1974, Timby 1988) but elsewhere typical mid Saxon assemblages consist of
undecorated jars and bowls, with a high proportion of chaff-tempering. At Hatton
Rock, in the Warwickshire Avon valley, all of the pottery contained abundant chafftempered, mixed with variably quantities of a coarse sandstone-rich sand. At
Catholme, however, the settlement is thought to continue but there is no use of chafftempering at all. In neither area is there any major difference between the mid Saxon
pottery and that of the 5th to 7th centuries.
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A sherd from a ring ditch at Sutton St Nicholas in Herefordshire may be an example
of a ware tempered with Mountsorrel granodiorite (Williams and Vince 1997),
lending support to the excavator’s identification of the ring ditch as a possible AngloSaxon barrow. Vessels with this granitic temper are found over a wide area of
midland England and include sites in Warwickshire and Staffordshire. The
interpretation of the inclusions is open to debate but it seems most likely that
occurrences in the West Midlands were actually produced to the east and traded into
the region.
New handmade traditions
In some parts of eastern England the transition to the mid Saxon period is marked in
the pottery sequence by the introduction of new handmade pottery traditions. The best
known of these is Ipswich ware, which a recent survey has concluded was the product
of a single centre, at Ipswich. Despite this, the ware is found throughout East Anglia
and along the east coast. It is also found on inland sites especially if those sites are on
a navigable river or have a higher status than a simple agricultural settlement. No
examples are known from the West Midlands although finds are known from
Winchcombe, in Gloucestershire, and Repton, in Derbyshire, both mid Saxon
monasteries with royal connections. In the southeast midlands Southern Maxey ware
is found. This ware is tempered with a distinctive shell sand which includes fragments
of punctate brachiopod shell. Again, no examples are known from the region although
the distribution stretches from southern Lincolnshire, through Cambridgeshire and
Northamptonshire into Bedfordshire. Finally, Northern Maxey ware is found mainly
in central and northern Lincolnshire (Addyman and Whitwell 1970). Examples were
traded to York (1993), Nottingham and Repton, all on navigable rivers.
Although none of these wares has yet been found in the West Midlands it is quite
likely that eventually examples will be found, for example at Droitwich or sites on the
saltways leading east from there.
Importation of ceramics from the continent
As in the previous period, pottery was imported into the British Isles during the mid
Saxon period. However, where as in the earlier period most of imports were traded
along the western seaboard in this period they are almost exclusively found on sites
close to the south or east coasts. There are no examples from the West Midlands and
sherds initially identified as imports from the mill at Tamworth, Staffs, are now
thought to be 11th- or 12th-century Stamford ware, stained black through burial in
organic levels. This lack of imported wares, most of which appear to come from the
middle Rhine, the Meuse valley and the Seine valley, is a reflection of the distance of
the West Midlands from the east coast. However, it is possible that goods from the
Bishop of Worcester’s estates were traded at Lundenwic, the emporium site situated
on the Strand upriver of the City of London, and it would not therefore be impossible
for such wares to have been used in the region.
Late 9th to mid 11th-century ceramics
The late 8th to mid 9th centuries had been marked in the British Isles by Viking
raiding. How far the west midlands was affected by such raids is unknown, although
Repton, just outside the region, was attacked in 874. This raid forced King Burgred of
Mercia into exile and the Vikings set up Ceolwulf as a puppet king. In 877 they
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divided Mercia and occupied the northeastern part, leaving the west midlands in
English Mercia, under Aethelred of Mercia and his wife Aethelflaeda. In the Danelaw
this period saw the foundation and growth of towns such as Lincoln, Stamford,
Torksey, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton and Derby. A feature of all of these
towns was the existence of a pottery industry. In the case of Torksey, pottery making
is practically the only archaeological evidence for the Anglo-Scandinavian town
whereas in some other towns, such as Leicester or Nottingham, it seems that the
pottery industry was never very large and the inhabitants of the town relied for the
most part on pottery made elsewhere. It is clear from intensive fieldwork in some of
these towns that they varied considerably in size and character although Torksey is
the only one which might not have been defended.
The situation in English Mercia is as yet difficult to compare, primarily because it has
proved difficult to date late Saxon levels in towns such as Hereford, Shrewsbury,
Stafford or Worcester with the precision needed to compare their size and nature
before and after the mid 10th century, when the Danelaw was reconquered by the
English.
Pottery use
Although there is evidence for late 9th to mid 11th-century pottery in each of the
counties of the West Midlands, almost all of these finds come from defended sites,
which may or may not have been towns at this time. Even where pottery is found on
rural sites it is in such small quantities that it suggests that pottery was hardly used (or
that the areas occupied in the pre-conquest period have not been found). If the region
was only tentatively using pottery at this time then it contrasts strongly with the
situation to the south, where pottery of late 10th/early 11th century date is now turning
up frequently on rural excavations, as well as with the situation immediately to the
east, in Northamptonshire. Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire, however, still
have few finds of late 9th to 11th century pottery outside of the urban centres and it
may be that the West Midlands and these counties have a similar use of pottery at this
time. Alternatively, it is quite likely that the appropriate rural sites still await
discovery. Intensive field walking in Worcestershire by Chris Dyer, at Pendock and
Hanbury for example, does, however, confirm that pottery of pre-conquest date is
much less common than in the immediately post-conquest period.
Continuation of 7th to 9th-century handmade traditions
Excavations at 1 Westgate Street, Gloucester, revealed a waster pit of late Saxon date
containing handmade, limestone-tempered pottery (Heighway and others 1979) and
sherds of this pottery have been found on several sites in Hereford (Vince 1985a,
Vince 2002).Alongside this handmade pottery were sherds of wheelthrown, lid-seated
jars made in exactly the same fabric. The handmade jars have distinctive everted rims,
added as a coil to the inside of the shoulder of the pot and giving rise to a very thick
neck. No examples of this type are known in the area in the mid Saxon period (the
area around Gloucester seems to have been aceramic, whilst immediately to the south
and east chaff-tempered pottery was used). However, the same technique was used in
east Wiltshire and Hampshire (as at Hamwic,Timby 1988) and it is likely that the
potter learnt to pot in that region. The wheelthrown, lid-seated vessels, however, also
have no local antecedents but are found in the east Midlands in several industries.
This suggests that perhaps these towns attracted artisans from different areas, perhaps
leading to the exchange of ideas and the emergence of new traditions.
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Introduction of wheelthrown pottery traditions
By the end of the 10th century a network of potteries producing wheelthrown, kilnfired and occasionally glazed wares supplied much of England, including the West
Midlands, with pottery. The earliest dated examples occur in the late 9th century, at
York (1990) and Lincoln (forthcoming), and it seems fairly certain that the
introduction of this craft was associated with the Viking settlement of the Danelaw.
There is evidence from London for the use of a similar wheelthrown ware in the early
10th century but, as at Gloucester, handmade vessels were produced alongside
wheelthrown ones (Vince and Jenner 1991).
Only one wheelthrown pottery is known to have been made in the West Midlands
region, at Stafford, but examples of wheelthrown wares made outside the region, to
the south and east, are known from Hereford (Vince 1985a, Fabrics D1, E1, G2a),
Shrewsbury and Worcester (Carver 1980).
Stafford-type ware is tempered with a rounded quartz sand which in thin section is
similar to the fluvio-glacial sands which cover much of the region, extending into the
Cheshire Plain to the north and the lower Severn Valley to the south. At present,
therefore, the attribution to Stafford is based on petrological similarity, and the
typology of vessels. Further work is currently in progress, however, as part of the
post-excavation and publication of the Stafford kiln sites, excavated in the 1970s. This
work may finally allow us to positively identify Stafford-type ware wherever it is
found. The most recent distribution map is that of Rutter (Rutter 1985, see also Vince
1985b) in both of which it is assumed that the ware initially called Chester ware is
actually produced at Stafford.
A handful of sherds of glazed ware from sites in Hereford have been identified
tentatively as local products on the basis of their silty, micaceous red-firing fabric.
The range of forms suggests that the vessels were spouted pitchers with strap handles
and sagging bases, similar to those produced at Stamford. An example of this ware
was found at Winchcombe, in Gloucestershire, and there are possible examples from
Gloucester itself but with these exceptions the ware is only known from Hereford,
which is the most likely production site. Similar silty, micaceous fabrics were
produced over an extensive area of the Welsh Marches in the medieval period.
At Hereford there are two phases of late Saxon pottery use. In the first, dated to the
late 10th/early 11th century, Stafford-type ware was used on its own (with the
exception of a single red-painted pitcher, identified as a late 9th-century red-painted
Stamford ware, Hereford E2a Kilmurry 1977). In the second phase sherds of
Gloucester products and glazed and unglazed Stamford ware were found. There is
also a single sherd of St Neot’s type ware (Hereford G2a). This phase has been dated
to the early to mid 11th century. The Hereford late Saxon pottery sequence seems to
come to an abrupt halt in the middle of the 11th century. This hiatus has been
associated with the Welsh raid on the town in 1055. In subsequent levels it is likely
that the little Stafford-type ware found is residual. At Berrington Street, Site 4,
however, a sequence of floor levels in a ground-level timber building fronting onto
the street seems to pass without a break from assemblages with only Stafford-type
ware, to those with Stamford and Gloucester wares to those containing only later 11thcentury Vale of Gloucester wares (Hereford D2, see below). This would suggest that
we should not over-emphasise the effect of this Welsh raid and that the change in
pottery sources may have some other explanation.
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The medieval pottery tradition
The post-conquest pottery tradition in the West Midlands, as in much of southern
England, consists mainly of handmade, squat cooking pots, with sagging bases, with a
few other handmade forms: notably bowls and spouted pitchers. The range of forms is
not vastly different from that found in the preceding period but there is clearly no
attempt to copy those forms in any detail. Furthermore, decoration, where present,
consists of individual stamps, combed lines and some single line grooving. None of
these decorative techniques is found on earlier late Saxon pottery, either handmade or
wheelthrown.
In some parts of the region these types first occur after the Norman conquest, in some
they occur first at about the time of the conquest and in others they pre-date the
conquest. This diachronic introduction has two implications, the first practical and the
second interpretative. Firstly, it is not possible to use the introduction of this tradition
as an independent dating marker. Secondly, the sudden and disruptive change in
pottery manufacture cannot be a consequence of the Norman conquest. Gerald
Dunning had already come to this conclusion by 1959 where he called the general
tradition to which these vessels belong “Early Medieval” (Dunning 1959). The preconquest date was confirmed in the 1980s in the City of London through the
discovery of early medieval pottery in deposits excavated at the Billingsgate Lorry
Park, dated to c.1039-40. Pottery assemblages from other dendrochronologicallydated deposits from the Thames waterfront show that early medieval pottery was
introduced in the late 10th or early 11th centuries, replacing wheelthrown London Late
Saxon Shelly ware (Vince and Jenner 1991).
The earliest examples of early medieval pottery in the West Midlands come from
Hereford and Worcester (Vince 1985a, Fabrics B1, C1 and D2;Carver 1980). In both
cases, the majority of these vessels were made from limestone-tempered fabrics,
probably from the same source. In the Domesday inquest potters are recorded at
Haresfield, south of Gloucester, and although fieldwork in the parish has, so far,
failed to find any evidence for production all the pottery of this period found in the
area is of exactly the same fabric type (Gloucester TF41b, Hereford Fabric D2).
At Gloucester, the earliest examples of this ware are globular-bodied, vessels with
short everted rims. These occurred in rubbish pits which predated the first, timber
castle (Darvill 1988, Hurst 1984). Assemblages containing mainly vessels of this type
have been found at Hereford and Friar Street, Droitwich.
Soon after, and certainly before 1100, these everted-rimmed vessels had been joined
by straight-walled, club-rimmed vessels. An example of this type has been found at
Stafford Castle and numerous examples were found at Hereford cathedral, in a deposit
probably dating to the very early 12th century. Late 11th/early 12th-century
assemblages such as this also contain small quantities of pottery with angular
Malvernian rock inclusions (Hereford Fabric B1, Gloucester TF40) and jars with a
rounded quartz sand temper and everted, flat-topped rims (Hereford Fabric C1,
Gloucester .TF42). The latter are identical in form and fabric to those found in
Worcester, where pottery production is documented from the late 12th century. Sherds
of these two Worcestershire wares occur on many sites in the West Midlands,
including rural sites in Herefordshire and sites in Shropshire as well as in
Worcestershire and it seems that the widespread use of pottery in the region can be
dated to this late 11th/early 12th-century period, after the Norman conquest.
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Research Aims
In the following list I have itemised what I consider to be the major research issues in
the study of pottery in the West Midlands in the 5 th to 11th centuries. These issues are
over and above the general construction and elaboration of the ceramic fabric and
form sequence which is a necessary pre-requisite for any research.
5th to 7th centuries
Test the nature of the boundary to pottery-use
Was there a sharp boundary, on one side of which people were using pottery in
everyday domestic contexts and on the other they were hardly using pottery at all?
Date the earliest Anglo-Saxon pottery in the Trent and Warwickshire Avon valleys
If Anglo-Saxon settlement or acculturation reached these parts of the country in the
6th century then was pottery used in the intervening post-Roman, pre-Anglo-Saxon
period?
Use organic chemical analysis to study pottery function
Was there any correlation between pottery form and function? Were decorated pots
used for different purposes, or were they made solely for display?
Chararacterise pottery and study distribution patterns of fabrics
Can we find any evidence for domestic production in the early Anglo-Saxon period or
was pottery-making always a specialised craft?
late 7th to mid 9th centuries
Is there an increase in the area of pottery use?
Or even a decline in the use of pottery, as seems to be the case in Oxfordshire.
Are non-local wares present?
Are Ipswich ware, Maxey wares and continental imports really absent from the West
Midlands, or just not recognised?
Late 9th to mid 11th centuries
The source(s) and chronology of Stafford-type ware, including the start and end dates
of the industry
There are at present two very different chronologies put forward for the inception of
Stafford-type ware. At one extreme, it is said to be 8th/9th century or later and at the
other it is said to be late 10th.
The source of Hereford A7a glazed ware
Although the fabric of this glazed ware is visually and petrologically identical to later,
locally-made wares, the Hereford A7a glazed ware industry is anomalous, in that
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there is no evidence for the production of unglazed coarsewares. Confirmation of a
local source, ideally through the discovery of wasters but otherwise through chemical
analysis of the clay, is required.
The source of the Hereford red-painted pitcher. This has a bearing on the chronology
of the city’s pottery sequence
This single vessel was dated by Dr Kilmurry to the late 9th century but sherds were
found in association with Stafford-type ware in layers overlying the town’s intramural cobbled street. This has been interpreted as being due to the sherds having
originally been incorporated into the Alfredian rampart. If so, it would imply that
there was a movement of pottery from the Danelaw to the West Midlands at a time
when the two regions were in conflict. Alternatively, the vessel might be of northern
French origin and later in date. Thin section evidence was equivocal but it is now
possible to distinguish these two wares chemically.
Medieval tradition
Characterisation of the West Midlands medieval ceramic tradition: wares, fabrics,
typologies
At present there is only a rough framework for the early medieval pottery traditions of
Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire.
Establishment of the starting date of these industries
Did the introduction of early medieval pottery spread from southeast to northwest, as
appears to be the case in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, or from several foci?
The origins of the traditions
Assuming that the early medieval pottery industries arose through outside influence,
such as the immigration of potters, can we chart this process in detail through
comparison of West Midlands and neighbouring pottery?
Were there any locally-made handmade glazed wares in the West Midlands in the mid
11th-century?
In parts of the country, for example Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, and the Thames
basin, there is a suggestion that there was handmade glazed ware in use before the
Norman conquest. Is there any evidence for this in the West Midlands?
Bibliography
Addyman, P. V. and Whitwell, J. B. (1970) "Some Middle Saxon Pottery Types in
Lincolnshire." Antiq J, 50, 96-102.
Alcock, L (1963) Dinas Powys Cardiff.
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Carver, M. O. H.
(1980)
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"The Excavation of Three Craftsmens Tenements in
Sidbury, Worcester, 1976." Trans Worcestershire Archaeol Soc, 3rd ser, 7.
Cunliffe, B. W. (1974) "Some late Saxon stamped pottery from southern England." in
V. I. H. H. Evison and J. G. Hurst, eds., Medieval Pottery from Excavations:
Studies presented to Gerald Clough Dunning, with a bibliography of his
works, John Baker, London, 127-36.
Darvill, T. (1988) "Excavations on the Site of the Early Norman Castle at Gloucester
1983-84." Medieval Archaeol, XXXII, 1-49
Dunning, G. C. (1959) "Pottery of the Late Anglo-Saxon Period in England."
Medieval Archaeol, III, 31-78.
Fulford, M. (1989) "Byzantium and Britain: a Mediterranean Perspective on PostRoman Mediterranean Imports in Western Britain and Ireland." Medieval
Archaeol, XXXIII, 1-6.
Hamerow, H (1987)
The pottery and spatial development of the Anglo-Saxon
settlement at Mucking, Essex.
Unpub D.Phil Thesis, University of Oxford.
Hamerow, H., Hollevoet, Y., and Vince, A. (1994) "Migration Period Settlements
and 'Anglo-Saxon' Pottery from Flanders." Medieval Archaeology, XXXVIII,
1-18.
Hamerow, H. F. (1987) "Anglo-Saxon Settlement Pottery and Spatial Development
at Mucking, Essex." Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig
Bodemonderzoek, 245-73.
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Hassall, M. and Rhodes, J. (1974) "Excavations at the new Market Hall, Gloucester,
1966-7." Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological
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Heighway, C. M., Garrod, A. P., and Vince, A. G.
(1979)
"Excavations at 1
Westgate Street, Gloucester, 1975." Medieval Archaeol, XXIII, 159-213.
Hodges, R. A. (?) "The date and source of E Ware." ?, 39-41.
Hurst, H. (1984) "The Archaeology of Gloucester Castle: An Introduction." Trans
Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeol Soc, 102, 73-128.
Kilmurry, K. (1977) "The production of red-painted pottery at Stamford, Lincs."
Medieval Archaeol, XXI, 180-6.
Mainman, A J (1990) Anglo-Scandinavian Pottery from 16-22 Coppergate.
The
Archaeology of York 16/5 London, Council British Archaeol.
Mainman, A J (1993) The pottery from 46-54 Fishergate. The Archaeology of York
16/6 London, Council British Archaeol.
Peacock, D. P. S. (?) "E Ware and Aquitaine." ?, 38-9.
Radford, C. A. R. and Thomas, C. (1959) "Imported Pottery in Dark Age Western
Britain." Medieval Archaeol, III, 89-112.
Rutter, J. A. A. (1985) "The Pottery." in D. J. P. Mason, ed., Excavations at Chester:
26-42 Lower Bridge Street 1974-6. The Dark Age and Saxon Periods,
Grosvenor Museum Archaeol Excav Survey Rep 3 Chester City Council:
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Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 40-61.
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Britain and Ireland.
Inst Cornish Stud Spec Rep 7 Redruth, Inst Cornish
Stud.
Timby, J. R. (1988) "The Middle Saxon pottery." in P. Andrews, ed., Southampton
Finds, Vol 1: The Coins and Pottery from Hamwic, 73-124.
Vince, A. G. (1985a) "Part 2: the ceramic finds." in R. Shoesmith, ed., Hereford City
Excavations: Volume 3. The Finds, CBA Research Report 56 The Council for
British Archaeology, London.
Vince, A. G. (1985b) "The Saxon and Medieval Pottery of London: A Review."
Medieval Archaeol, XXIX, 25-93.
Vince, A. G. and Jenner, M. A. (1991) "The Saxon and Early Medieval Pottery of
London." in A. G. Vince, ed., Aspects of Saxo-Norman London: 2, Finds and
Environmental Evidence, London Middlesex Archaeol Soc Spec Pap 12
London Middlesex Archaeol Soc, London, 19-119.
Vince, A. (1989) "Chapter 7: The Petrography of Saxon and early medieval pottery in
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Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 19 Oxford
University of Committee for Archaeol & UCLA Institute of Archaeol, Oxford
and Los Angeles, 163-77.
Vince, A. (2002) "The Pottery." in A. Thomas and A. Boucher, eds., Hereford City
Excavations Volume 4: Further Sites & Evolving Interpretations, Logaston
Press, Logaston, 65-92.
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Williams, D. and Vince, A. (1997) "The Characterization and Interpretation of Early
to Middle Saxon Granitic Tempered Pottery in England ." Medieval Archaeol,
XLI, 214-219.
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Pottery from Lincoln. Lincoln Archaeological Reports Oxford, Oxbow.
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West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
15
Appendix One
locality
site name
site recorder
organisation
finds location
Details
Hereford
2 Castle Street
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Unit
Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
20 Church Street
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
20 Church Street
R Stone
Knight
M City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
28-29 Commercial Street J Sawle
(Black and White Cafe)
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Bewell Square
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Bishop's Palace
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Bus
Cinema/County
Guthlac's Priory
Station/The R Shoesmith
Gaol/St
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Castle Green
R Stone
Knight
Hereford
Deens Court
Hereford
Herefordshire
&
Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Drybridge House
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
East Street 1997
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Unit
Hereford City Museum Late Saxon
Hereford
Mappa Mundi
Stone, Richard & City of Hereford Archaeology Unit
Appleton-Fox, Nic
Hereford City Museum Late Saxon
Page 15 of 19
&
M City of Hereford Archaeology Unit
West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
locality
site name
Hereford
Maylord Orchard Shopping R Shoesmith
Centre
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Maylord Street
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Tesco's
J Sawle
of Hereford Archaeology Committee
Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Tesco's
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Trinity Almshouses
J Sawle
Hereford and Worcester County Council Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Wall Street
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Wall Street (Trench A)
J Sawle
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Hereford
Wye Street
R Shoesmith
City of Hereford Archaeology Committee Hereford City Museum
Late Saxon
Ray, Keith
Herefordshire Council
early
to
mid Saxon
S Losco-Bradley
TVARC
Sutton
Nicholas
St
site recorder
16
organisation
finds location
Details
Staffordshire
Barton-under- Catholme
Needwood
City of Stoke on Trent early
to
Museum
mid Saxon
Maer
Berth Hill
Stafford
Clarke Street
M. O. H. Carver
Stoke on Trent Museum Late Saxon
Stafford
Eastgate Street
M. O. H. Carver
Stoke on Trent Museum Late Saxon
Stapenhill
Page 16 of 19
Stoke on Trent Museum early
to
mid Saxon
Bass Museum - Burton Early
on Trent/Stoke on Trent AngloSaxon
West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
site recorder
organisation
17
locality
site name
finds location
Details
Wolseley
Bridge
'near Wolesley Bridge'
Stoke on Trent Museum Early
AngloSaxon
Wychnor
AS cemetery
Bass Museum - Burton Early
on Trent/Stoke on Trent AngloSaxon
Alveston
AS cemetery
Stratford-upon-Avon
Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Baginton
AS cemetery
Private
Early
AngloSaxon
Baginton
AS cemetery
Stratford-upon-Avon
Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Baginton
AS cemetery
Coventry Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Bidford-onAvon
AS cemetery
Stratford-upon-Avon
Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Bidford-onAvon
AS cemetery
Worcester Museum
Early
Anglo-
Warwickshire
Page 17 of 19
West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
locality
site name
site recorder
organisation
18
finds location
Details
Saxon
Burton Dassett AS cemetery
Warwick Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Long
Itchington
AS cemetery
Warwick Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Marton
AS cemetery
Warwick Museum
Early
AngloSaxon
Southam
early
to
mid Saxon
Worcestershire
Beckford
Beckford B Saxon Cemetery
Fladbury
Fladbury
Birmingham
Museum
D. P. S. Peacock
D. P. S. Peacock
Kidderminster Signet Fields, Bromsgrove
Road, Wodecote Green
Pershore
Pershore
Page 18 of 19
City Early
AngloSaxon
early
to
mid Saxon
early
to
mid Saxon
Unknown (recorded by G early
to
Dunning)
mid Saxon
Pershore
P. Whitehead
early
to
West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 4: Vince
locality
site name
Pershore
Wychavon
Central
Development Phase II
Page 19 of 19
site recorder
organisation
19
finds location
Details
mid Saxon
early
to
mid Saxon