Pottery from Great AmwellTest-pits(GAM/13)
LIA:‘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.
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.
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. Mid 14th – 15th century. Glazed jugs from an unknown source, usually highly decorated.
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 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 AD1680, black glaze was also used.
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 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, buff-coloured 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.
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
VICTP / Context / No / Wt / Date Range
1 / 1 / 3 / 19 / 1800-1900
1 / 2 / 4 / 40 / 1800-1900
1 / 3 / 12 / 85 / 1800-1900
1 / 4 / 2 / 9 / 1800-1900
1 / 5 / 2 / 19 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site before that time.
Test Pit 2
GRE / SMW / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
2 / 1 / 2 / 11 / 1800-1900
2 / 2 / 8 / 14 / 1800-1900
2 / 3 / 10 / 29 / 1800-1900
2 / 4 / 8 / 67 / 1800-1900
2 / 5 / 3 / 31 / 1 / 1 / 17 / 51 / 1550-1900
2 / 6 / 1 / 61 / 5 / 51 / 1550-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is post-medieval, and most of it is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site very much before that time, although it may have been fields in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Test Pit 3
DW / SS / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
3 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 1800-1900
3 / 2 / 8 / 30 / 1800-1900
3 / 3 / 10 / 22 / 1800-1900
3 / 4 / 17 / 72 / 1800-1900
3 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 6 / 25 / 1650-1900
3 / 6 / 1 / 3 / 8 / 26 / 1600-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is post-medieval, and most of it is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site very much before that time, although it may have been fields in the and 17th century.
Test Pit 4
VICTP / Context / No / Wt / Date Range
4 / 1 / 5 / 32 / 1800-1900
4 / 2 / 5 / 25 / 1800-1900
4 / 3 / 5 / 17 / 1800-1900
4 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site before that time.
Test Pit 5
VICTP / Context / No / Wt / Date Range
5 / 1 / 4 / 13 / 1800-1900
5 / 2 / 5 / 24 / 1800-1900
5 / 3 / 5 / 25 / 1800-1900
5 / 4 / 2 / 34 / 1800-1900
5 / 5 / 2 / 7 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site before that time.
Test Pit 6
VICTP / Context / No / Wt / Date Range
6 / 2 / 1 / 43 / 1800-1900
6 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site before that time.
Test Pit 7
LIA / SN / EMW / HG / HGW / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
7 / 1 / 1 / 17 / 1800-1900
7 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 1100-1900
7 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 1150-1900
7 / 4 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 7 / 45 / 2 / 6 / 50BC-1500
7 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 7 / 900-1350
This test-pit produced a fairly wide range of pottery. It shows that people were using the site at the end of the Iron Age, but it then seems to have been abandoned until the late Saxon period, and people were probably living at the site throughout the medieval period. It then seems to have been abandoned again in the 16th century, until Victorian era.
Test Pit 8
LMT / GRE / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
8 / 3 / 2 / 8 / 1550-1750
8 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 10 / 1400-1900
This test-pit did not produce very much pottery, but it seems that people were probably using the site as fields in the 15th – 16th centuries.
Test Pit 9
VICTP / Context / No / Wt / Date Range
9 / 1 / 9 / 71 / 1800-1900
9 / 3 / 8 / 58 / 1800-1900
9 / 4 / 6 / 78 / 1800-1900
9 / 5 / 1 / 8 / 1800-1900
9 / 6 / 2 / 12 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site before that time.
Test Pit 10
GRE / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
10 / 1 / 10 / 32 / 1800-1900
10 / 2 / 14 / 91 / 1800-1900
10 / 3 / 4 / 11 / 1800-1900
10 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 1800-1900
10 / 5 / 2 / 18 / 1550-1750
All the pottery from this test-pit is post-medieval, and most of it is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site very much before that time, although it may have been fields in the 16th - 17th centuries.
Test Pit 11
GRE / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date Range
11 / 1 / 1 / 9 / 1550-1750
11 / 2 / 3 / 10 / 1800-1900
11 / 3 / 13 / 178 / 1800-1900
11 / 4 / 4 / 47 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is post-medieval, and most of it is Victorian, which suggests that people did not use the site very much before that time, although it may have been fields in the 16th - 17th centuries.