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II.—The Medieval Pottery Kilns at Laverstock, near Salisbury, Wiltshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

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This medieval industry was operating one mile south-east of Salisbury at Nat. Grid Ref. SU/160298 (fig. 1). It lay in the Royal Forest of Clarendon, within which there are other hints of the medieval pottery industry. Medieval sherds from Laverstock were first reported by Mr. Frank Stevens in 1940 and in 1955 further finds made during levelling of land formerly used as allotments and from road work were brought into Salisbury Museum. The site was then examined, revealing a twelfth-century cesspit and two pits with pottery wasters of the thirteenth century (one associated with what is now identified as a potters' workshop) but still no kilns. The first kiln was found on a new road line in 1958 and further investigation was aided by a grant from the Ministry of Public Building and Works. During six months trial trenches were opened over 1½ acres; six kilns, two buildings, and eighteen pits (some of them twelfth century) were excavated. Another kiln was found in 1960, and two more in 1963 when a bank at the edge of Duck Lane was levelled, making nine kilns in all. Some were stratigraphically interrelated, and were also in sequence with some pits.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1969

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References

page 83 note 1 One pottery waster each from West Grimstead and Ashley Hill, Petersfinger (in Salisbury Museum). In 1354, 64,000 tiles were bought for £12 16s. od, 1,000 hip tiles for 15s., and 50 crests for 2s. 6d. from Alderbury for Clarendon Palace (Clarendon Works Accts. P.R.O. E. 101/459/29). We are indebted to Mr. H. M. Colvin for this reference and for others from the same accounts which indicate that there was a separate roof-tile industry (at Alderbury) operating at least during the period 1354–88. Of greater importance are documentary references kindly provided by Mrs. H. J. le Patourel as these possibly refer to the Laverstock pottery kilns. Willelmus le Potter and John le Potter are recorded (Min. Acc. 12, 17 Edward II, P.R.O. S.C. 6 1050/5a, 1050/7), as having 1 rood of brushwood (subboscum) in Clarendon Park and Forest. John le Potter specifically in the coppices of Asshele (Ashley), Chesil and Catsgrove. Ashley and Cattsgrove can still be identified and are on the western boundary of the Park on the downs above the kiln sites. Thus there is documentary evidence for kilns operating during the period 1318–23. References she has provided from the Calendar, Liberate Rolls (vol. 6), also show that kilns were operating in 1270. One records an allocation to the sheriff of Wilts, of 25s. for 1,000 pitchers bought and carried from Muleford (Milford); the present site adjoins the river at Milford bridge and, in the thirteenth century, would have been described as of Milford. Also of interest is an entry in 1268 of an allocation for 1,000 pitchers (20s.) which includes an additional 5s. for their carriage from Clarendon to Winchester thus suggesting that Laverstock wares may yet be identified at Winchester and, if so, their presence could be due to ‘secondary trading’ as part of the effects of the Royal household.

page 83 note 2 Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. XLIX (1941), 490.Google Scholar

page 83 note 3 By Mr. Wilmot, a Laverstock resident.

page 83 note 4 All the pottery has been presented to Salisbury Museum by the landowner, Mr. E. Fielden, for whose help in all ways we are most grateful. Thanks are also due to the Ministry of Public Building and Works for the grant-in-aid. The investigation could not have been undertaken without the help of a large number of volunteers, many of them members of the Salisbury Museum Research Group. Throughout the excavation and subsequently, much practical help and encouragement was provided by Mr. Hugh Shortt, Dr. Gerald Dunning, Mr. John Hurst, and Mr. R. S. Newall. Finally Prof, E. M. Jope read the draft report and provided valuable textual criticism.

page 85 note 1 An hitherto unmapped deposit revealed recently during the laying of the Fawley-Avonmouth pipeline.

page 85 note 2 It should be pointed out that there is a considerable scatter of wasters on the south side of the Clarendon road to the east of the 1940 discovery. The full extent of the kiln area will not be known, therefore, until building takes place over a much larger area, which has consequently been scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Acts. The site of the present excavation is permanently commemorated by the name ‘Potters Way’, which has been given to the new road which revealed it.

page 85 note 3 Musty, J. W. G., The Medieval Pottery Industry in Great Britain (unpublished M.A. thesis, Bristol University 1966)Google Scholar.

page 90 note 1 Since the preparation of this report a replica Laverstock kiln has been fired as one of a series of experimental kilns at Leeds (in August 1967). A note on this firing will be found on p. 150.

page 90 note 2 Out of 19 identifications of charcoal specimens from the kilns, 8 were oak; 5 willow or poplar; 4 hazel; 1 birch; 1 beech. We are indebted to Mrs. Balfour Brown (British Museum, Nat. Hist.) for these identifications.

page 90 note 3 Information from MrWatson, F. J.. His experimental firings are reported in Pottery Quarterly, V (1958), 72Google Scholar.

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page 91 note 1 Thomas, L. C. and Musty, J. W. G., Nature, CXCII (1961), 1143CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Archaeometry, V (1962), 38Google Scholar.

page 92 note 1 Jope, E. M. and Threlfall, R. I., Antiq. Journ. XXXIX (1959), 254Google Scholar.

page 92 note 2 Trans. Bristol and Gloucs. Archaeol. Soc. LXXI (1952) 92Google Scholar.

page 92 note 3 The assumption that this was the case is based on the stylistic difference between the pottery from the various kilns. However, the pottery from two of the kilns (2 and 6) is sufficiently similar to suggest that Kilns 2 and were broadly contemporary and an exception to this general assumption.

page 93 note 1 Private communication from Mr. G. Connah, 1961.

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page 94 note 1 See E. M. Jope in C. Singer and E. J. Holmyard, The History of Technology, ii, 285.

page 95 note 1 Cf. the house at Beere, Devon, : Med. Archaeol. II (1958), 119Google Scholar.

page 99 note 1 It is of interest to record the vertical distribution of this scatter which can be expressed as the percentage of glazed ware present; at 1 ft. 6 in.— 45 per cent; 2ft.—12 per cent; 2 ft. 6 in.—9 per cent; 3 ft.—9 per cent; 3 ft. 6 in. —4 per cent; 4 ft.—2 per cent.

page 99 note 2 See Musty, J. and Rahtz, P. A., Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. LIX (1964), 145 for a discussion of this point and calculations of the rate of filling of cesspitsGoogle Scholar.

page 99 note 3 This index will be deposited in Salisbury Museum.

page 101 note 1 Stone, J. F. S. and Charlton, J., Antiq. Journ. XV (1935), 185 record a figure of 8 per cent for twelfth-century cesspits in the E. Suburb of Old SarumGoogle Scholar.

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page 101 note 3 Stone, J. F. S. and Charlton, J., Antiq. Journ. XV (1935), 189Google Scholar.

page 101 note 4 Musty, J., Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. LVII (1959), 189Google Scholar.

page 105 note 1 Jope, E. M., Berks. Archaeol. Journ. 1 (1947), 58–9Google Scholar.

page 105 note 2 For a discussion of a possible technique see Musty, J., Mus. Journ. LX (1961), 254Google Scholar.

page 107 note 1 Trans. Bristol and Glos. Archaeol. Soc. LXXI (1952), century contextsGoogle Scholar.

page 107 note 2 Antiq. Journ. XXIX (1959), 242 62. At that time the type was only recognized in twelfthGoogle Scholar.

page 109 note 1 London Museum Medieval Catalogue 1946, p. 202–6 (p. 224)Google Scholar and an example illustrated from London and fig. 68, plate LVI. Pottery versions are also described (fig. 74).

page 113 note 1 Dunning, G. C.Med. Arch, III (1959), 35Google Scholar.

page 114 note 1 Med. Arch, III (1959), 67Google Scholar.

page 114 note 2 When this was written, we overlooked a number of hollow-based decorated jugs of thirteenth-century date from London and one from Old Sarum, discussed in Archaeologia Cantiana LXXII (1958), 34Google Scholar.

page 132 note 1 Nelson, P., Antiq. Journ. XII (1932), 446 and xix (1939), 300CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 134 note 1 Dr. G. C. Dunning has distinguished two main costrel forms—the flattened spherical type and the barrel or cylindrical type (in Winchester Excavations 19491960, vol. I (1964), 127)Google Scholar.

page 134 note 2 Borenius, T. and Charlton, J., Antiq. Journ. XVI (1936), 77. This deposit was in a bakehouseGoogle Scholar.

page 134 note 3 Inventory of British Coin Hoards A.D. 600–1500(1956), pl. IIIGoogle Scholar.

page 136 note 1 A type series of double-shelled lamps is given in Jope et al., Oxoniensia, XV (1950), 5567Google Scholar.

page 137 note 1 Oxoniensia, XIV (1949), 78Google Scholar.

page 138 note 1 1908 edition, plate LXVIII, no. 3.

page 138 note 2 Hume, I. Noel, Country Life, 2nd December, 1954Google Scholar.

page 138 note 3 Although the ‘mitre’-shaped type also occurs in an mearly context at Rye (Sussex Arch. Coll. LXXIV(1933) 59, plate XI, no. 2)Google Scholar.

page 138 note 4 Information from Dr. G. C. Dunning.

page 138 note 5 Our attention was drawn to this fact by Dr. G. C. Dunning.

page 138 note 6 Ber. van der R.O.B. V (1954), 142, fig. 6, 3 and vii (1956), 109, fig. 1Google Scholar.

page 138 note 7 Two Medieval Sites in the Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, p. 24, fig 15, no. 27. Dr. Dunning has also shown us an example from Saxon Down, Ringmer

page 139 note 1 Barry Cunliffe, Winchester Excavations 1949–60, fig. 45, 2.

page 139 note 2 Oxoniensia, XI–XII (19461947), 169Google Scholar.

page 139 note 3 Sussex Archaeological Collections, CI (1963), 135Google Scholar.

page 139 note 4 Country Life, 11th April, 1952, 1073Google Scholar.

page 139 note 5 Archaeologia, XXV (1834), 151–8Google Scholar.

page 139 note 6 Oxoniensia, XVI (1951), 86Google Scholar.

page 140 note 1 Antiq. Journ. XV (1935), 324Google Scholar.

page 140 note 2 We are indebted to Dr. Dunning for sight of his classification.

page 141 note 1 Sussex Archaeological Collections, LXXIV, 58, plate x a.

page 141 note 2 Yard of Fleur-de-lys Hotel excavated by Prof. S. S. Frere. Information from Dr. G. C. Dunning.

page 142 note 1 Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. LVIII (1962), 247Google Scholar.

page 142 note 2 Borenius, T. and Charlton, J., Antiq.journ. XVI (1936), 69Google Scholar.

page 142 note 3 Jope, E. M. (ed.) Studies in Building Industry, 1961, pp. 78–93Google Scholar.

page 142 note 4 We are indebted to Dr. G. C. Dunning for this drawing and the reconstruction.

page 143 note 1 Arch. Journ. CXVI (1961), 176Google Scholar.

page 143 note 2 V.C.H. Wilts, vi, p. 126. It is recorded that early fifteenth-century merchants from Bristol and Somerset were carrying goods to Salisbury from Southampton and the city markets were frequently used by London merchants.

page 145 note 1 That is as a kind of back-garden industry. Some earlier organization of potters in the greater Salisbury area is, however, implied by the Domesday reference to potters at Westbury (25 miles from Laverstock).

page 145 note 2 There is, however, documentary evidence for kilns at Crockerton, near Warminster, in the late thirteenth century.

page 145 note 3 Found in excavations directed by J. M. and D. J. A. Report in preparation.

page 146 note 1 L. C. Thomas and J. Musty, loc. cit.

page 146 note 2 Records of Bucks, XVI (19531954), 42Google Scholar.

page 146 note 3 Trans. Bristol and Glcucs. Archaeological Soc. LXXXII (1963), 95Google Scholar.

page 146 note 4 Proc. Somerset Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. XVCI (1951), 140Google Scholar.

page 146 note 5 Antiq. Journ. XV (1935), 330Google Scholar.

page 146 note 6 Ibid., pl. XLIX, 2.

page 146 note 7 This pottery, excavated by Major Wade, was seen in the British Museum.

page 147 note 1 See Schnitzler, , Der Dom zu Aachen, Aachen 1950Google Scholar.

page 149 note 1 This is based on fig. 56, no. 1 of the London Museum. Medieval Catalogue. Examples also known on the continent and at the Cluny Museum are two close parallels, both complete (we are indebted to Mr. Hugh Shortt for this information).

page 149 note 2 Dunning, C., Proc. Isle of Wight Nat. Hist, and Arch Soc. II (1937), 682Google Scholar.

page 149 note 3 Musty, J., ‘Post-Medieval Finds from Laverstock’, Wilts. Archaeol. Mag. LVII (1960), 407Google Scholar.