Pottery from Hindringham Test-pits (HIN/15)
Paul Blinkhorn
IW: Ipswich Ware. AD720 – 850. The first industrially produced pottery to be made after the end of the Roman period. Made in Ipswich, and fired in kilns, some of which have been excavated. Most pots were jars, but bowls also known, as are jugs. It is usually grey and quite smooth, although some pots have varying amounts of large sand grains in the clay. Very thick and heavy when compared to later Saxon pottery, probably because it was made by hand rather than thrown on a wheel.
THET: 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 AD1150. Many kilns are known from the town. It was made in Norwich from about AD1000, and soon after similar pots were made at many of the main towns in eastern England. 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.
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.
GRIM: Grimston Ware. Made at Grimston, near King’s Lynn. It was made from a sandy clay similar with a slight ‘sandpaper’ texture. The clay is usually a dark bluish-grey colour, sometimes with a light-coloured 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.
LMT: Late Medieval Ware: Hard, reddish-orange pottery with lots of sand mixed in with the clay. Made from about 1400 – 1550 in lots of different places in East Anglia. Used for everyday pottery such as jugs and large bowls, and also large pots (‘cisterns’) for brewing beer.
GS: German Stonewares. First made around AD1450, and still made today. Made on an industrial scale at lots of places along the river Rhine in Germany, such as Cologne, Siegburg, Raeren and Frechen. Very hard grey clay fabric, with the outer surface of the pot often having a mottled brown glaze, with some having blue and purple painted decoration, and others moulded medallions (‘prunts’) with coat-of-arms or mythical scenes on them. 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 some places 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.
WCS: Cologne Stoneware. Hard, grey pottery made in the Rhineland region of Germany from around 1600 onwards. Usually has lots of ornate moulded decoration, often with blue and purple painted details. Still made today, mainly as tourist souvenirs.
HSW: Harlow 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.
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, which was coloured by the addition of powdered manganese. 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.
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
GS / GRE / WCS / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
1 / 1 / 6 / 14 / 1800-1900
1 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 6 / 14 / 1550-1900
1 / 3 / 1 / 9 / 1 / 2 / 25 / 93 / 1550-1900
1 / 5 / 1 / 19 / 1 / 5 / 1450-1800
All the pottery from this test-pit dates to the 15th century and later, showing that the site was not used before that time. It probably had a marginal use, perhaps as fields, in the 16th – 18th century, before being occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 2
SMW / EST / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
2 / 1 / 11 / 25 / 1800-1900
2 / 2 / 48 / 148 / 1800-1900
2 / 3 / 1 / 12 / 1 / 6 / 23 / 106 / 1700-1900
2 / 4 / 16 / 183 / 1800-1900
2 / 5 / 51 / 1830 / 1800-1900
2 / 6 / 3 / 198 / 1800-1900
2 / 7 / 17 / 360 / 1800-1900
All the pottery from this test-pit is post-medieval, showing that the site was not used before that time. It probably had a marginal use, perhaps as fields, in the 18th century, before being occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 3
IPS / THET / EMW / GRIM / LMT / GS / GRE / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
3 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 12 / 1 / 2 / 1100-1600
3 / 2 / 2 / 10 / 1800-1900
3 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 15 / 8 / 15 / 850-1900
3 / 4 / 1 / 7 / 1 / 8 / 4 / 53 / 10 / 31 / 720-1900
3 / 5 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 3 / 1100-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods, before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 4
THET / EMW / GRIM / GRE / EST / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
4 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 850-1900
4 / 2 / 2 / 6 / 7 / 19 / 1200-1900
4 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 1200-1900
4 / 4 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 8 / 7 / 13 / 1100-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods, before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 5
LMT / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
5 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 1800-1900
5 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1800-1900
5 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 1400-1550
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the late medieval and Victorian periods, but was otherwise unused.
Test Pit 6
GRE / EST / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
6 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1800-1900
6 / 3 / 2 / 8 / 4 / 8 / 1680-1900
6 / 4 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 1550-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the post- medieval and Victorian periods, but was otherwise unused.
Test Pit 7
THET / EMW / GRIM / HSW / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
7 / 1 / 2 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 1200-1900
7 / 2 / 2 / 8 / 2 / 7 / 850-1900
7 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 5 / 3 / 4 / 850-1900
7 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 850-1900
7 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 7 / 850-1700
7 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 1800-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the late Saxon, medieval, post-medieval and Victorian periods.
Test Pit 8
THET / GRIM / LMT / GRE / HSW / EST / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
8 / 1 / 2 / 10 / 1 / 3 / 3 / 4 / 1550-1900
8 / 2 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 8 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 5 / 15 / 61 / 850-1900
8 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 4 / 29 / 1550-1900
8 / 4 / 3 / 17 / 7 / 21 / 1550-1900
8 / 5 / 2 / 17 / 1 / 12 / 4 / 44 / 1 / 3 / 1200-1700
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the late Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods, before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 9
IPS / THET / GRIM / GS / GRE / SWSG / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
9 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 28 / 1200-1900
9 / 2 / 1 / 8 / 1 / 14 / 9 / 100 / 21 / 84 / 1200-1900
9 / 3 / 1 / 13 / 1 / 2 / 26 / 205 / 1200-1900
9 / 4 / 1 / 7 / 21 / 176 / 720-1900
9 / 5 / 2 / 2 / 5 / 47 / 1 / 2 / 12 / 21 / 850-1900
9 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 6 / 3 / 4 / 850-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the Saxon, medieval and post-medieval periods, before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 10
LMT / GRE / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
10 / 1 / 11 / 15 / 1800-1900
10 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 12 / 14 / 1550-1900
10 / 3 / 20 / 92 / 1800-1900
10 / 4 / 4 / 9 / 1800-1900
10 / 6 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 1400-1600
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the late medieval and early post-medieval periods, but was otherwise unused before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.
Test Pit 11
GRIM / WCS / VICTP / Cntxt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / DateRange
11 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 1800-1900
11 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 20 / 21 / 1600-1900
11 / 3 / 16 / 47 / 1800-1900
11 / 4 / 33 / 88 / 1800-1900
11 / 5 / 1 / 43 / 1 / 1 / 1200-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that the site had a marginal use in the medieval and post-medieval periods, but was otherwise unused before being finally occupied in the Victorian era.