Pottery from the Cottenham Test-Pits (COT/09)
BA: Bronze Age. Simple, hand-made pots with large amounts of flint mixed in with the clay. Dates to around 1200 – 800 BC.
RG: Roman Greyware. This was one of the most common types of Roman pottery, and was made in many different places in Britain. Many different types of vessels were made, especially cooking pots. It was most common in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, but in some places, continued in use until the 4th century.
EMS: Early Anglo-Saxon. Crude pottery made by the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Was first made after the Roman pottery industries ceased production after the legions withdrew. Most people probably made their own pottery of this type, dug from clay close to where they lived and fired in bonfires. Most pots were plain, simple forms such as jars and bowls, but some, usually used as cremation urns, were decorated with stamps and scored linear patterns. First made around AD450, very rare after AD700.
IPS: Ipswich Ware. 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. Dated AD720 – 850.
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. 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 water-bottles 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.
EMW: Early 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.
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.
HED: Hedingham Ware: Late 12th – 14th century. Fine orange/red glazed pottery, made at Sible Hedingham in Essex. The surfaces of the sherds have a sparkly appearance due to there being large quantities of mica, a glassy mineral, in the clay. Pots usually glazed jugs.
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. 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.
ERW: Essex Red Ware. 13th – 14th century. Reddish pottery with lots of visible sand grains mixed in with the clay, pots usually glazed jugs. Made at lots of different sites around East Anglia.
CSW: Cambridgeshire Sgraffito Ware. Made between 1400-1500. Vessels usually jugs made from a clay which fired to a red colour. The outer surface of the pot was then covered with white liquid clay (‘slip’) and designs scratched through the slip to reveal the body clay underneath (‘sgraffito’ decoration). The whole was then covered in a pale yellow glaze, with the scratched patterns appearing red.
MP: Midland Purple ware. Made and used between AD1450-1600. Very hard, red to dark purplish-grey in colour, usually with a dark purple to black glaze. Wide range of different pots made such as jars, bowls and jugs.
BD: Bourne ‘D’ Ware: 1450-1637. Made in the village of Bourne in Lincolnshire, until the place was destroyed by a great fire in 1637. Fairly hard, smooth, brick-red clay body, often with a grey core. Some vessels have sparse white flecks of shell and chalk in the clay. Vessel forms usually jugs, large bowls and cisterns, for brewing beer. Vessels often painted with thin, patchy white liquid clay (‘slip’), over which a clear glaze was applied.
GRE: Glazed Red Earthenwares: Fine earthenware, usually with a brown, orange or green glaze, usually on the inner surface. Made at numerous locations all over England. Occurs in a range of practical shapes for use in the households of the time, such as large mixing bowls, cauldrons and frying pans. It was first made around the middle of the 16th century, and in some places continued in use until the 19th century.
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. 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.
MW: Manganese Ware, late 17th – 18th century. Made from a fine, buff-coloured or red 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.
ES: 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 widespread in the 18th and 19th century, particularly for mineral water and beer jars.
SWSG: White Salt-Glazed Stoneware. Delicate white pottery made between 1720 and 1780, usually for tea cups and mugs. Has a finely dimpled surface, like orange peel.
CR: Creamware. This was the first pottery to be made which resembles modern ‘china’. It was invented by Wedgewood, who made it famous by making dinner surfaces for some of the royal families of Europe. Made between 1740 and 1880, it was a pale cream-coloured ware with a clear glaze, and softer than bone china. There were lots of different types of pots which we would still recognise today: cups, saucers, plates, soup bowls etc. In the 19th century, it was considered to be poor quality as better types of pottery were being made, so it was often painted with multi-coloured designs to try and make it more popular.
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
EMW / SHW / BD / GRE / SWSG / CRM / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
1 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 3 / 1100-1900
1 / 2 / 2 / 23 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1550-1900
1 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 1550-1700
1 / 4 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1100-1900
The pottery from this test-pit shows that there were people active at the site throughout the medieval period, from 1100-1600. The site was then abandoned until the earlier part of the 18th century. The fairly small amounts of pottery suggest that people may not have actually lived at the site, but that it was fields, with the pottery arriving mixed in with household rubbish which was used as manure.
Test Pit 2
EMS / EMW / GRE / MW / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
2 / 1 / 1 / 31 / 12 / 67 / 1680-1900
2 / 2 / 1 / 83 / 1800-1900
2 / 5 / 1 / 14 / 3 / 27 / 1550-1900
2 / 6 / 1 / 5 / 2 / 8 / 1 / 3 / 450-1700
The pottery form this test-pit suggests that the site was used by people at a number of different times, but probably for only short intervals. There is pottery from the Early Saxon (AD450 – 650), early medieval (1100-1300) and early post-medieval (1550-1600) periods, but it only seems to have been used as a place to live from about 1800.
Test Pit 3
EMW / ES / VIC / DateTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
3 / 1 / 1 / 14 / 5 / 12 / 1680-1900
3 / 2 / 1 / 6 / 13 / 51 / 1100-1900
3 / 3 / 4 / 21 / 1800-1900
3 / 6 / 28 / 69 / 1800-1900
3 / 7 / 1 / 29 / 1800-1900
Nearly all the pottery form this test-pit is Victorian, apart from one early medieval sherd. This suggests that if the site was used at all before that time, it was probably fields in the 12th or 13th centuries, and was otherwise abandoned or used as pasture for animals.
Test Pit 4
The table with the list of pottery types is on a separate page below, due to the large number of different types found. The pot suggests that people were living on the site for a long time. The first settlers were Roman, it then appears that the Anglo-Saxons were using the site from around the year 450 until the Norman Conquest in 1066, although the small amounts of pottery suggest it may have been fields at that time. There were certainly people living at the site throughout the medieval period, from around 1100-1600, after which it was abandoned until very recent times, other than perhaps being used as fields or gardens in the 19th century.
Test Pit 5
EMS / THT / SHW / CSW / BD / GRE / DW / CRM / VICTP / Cntx / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
5 / 1 / 20 / 98 / 1800-1900
5 / 2 / 1 / 64 / 1 / 14 / 2 / 17 / 3 / 3 / 17 / 103 / 1100-1900
5 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 8 / 1750-1900
5 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 15 / 61 / 450-1900
This test-pit did not produce a lot of pottery,but there was enough to show that people have used the site for a long time. The two pieces of Saxon pottery show that the area was probably fields at that time, and the same may be true for the medieval period, although the different types of pot indicate that it was used from about 1100-1600, after which it was abandoned or used as pasture until the late 18th or 19th century.
Test Pit 6
IPS / THT / SS / MW / ES / SWSG / CRM / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
6 / 1 / 9 / 38 / 1800-1900
6 / 2 / 12 / 47 / 1800-1900
6 / 3 / 1 / 58 / 6 / 14 / 1680-1900
6 / 4 / 3 / 21 / 1800-1900
6 / 5 / 1 / 13 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 45 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 5 / 17 / 163 / 720-1900
6 / 7 / 1 / 33 / 1680-1750
The pottery form this site shows that there were people active here in the Saxon period, although it then seems to have been abandoned or used as pasture until around the time of the Civil War in the middle of the 17th century. It looks like people did not live here until the 19th century at the earliest.
Test Pit 7
BA / RG / EMW / GRIM / MP / GRE / CRM / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
7 / 1 / 1 / 10 / 1 / 9 / 2 / 29 / 7 / 26 / 1100-1900
7 / 2 / 2 / 3 / 1800-1900
7 / 3 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 1200BC-1900
7 / 4 / 1 / 31 / 2 / 11 / 5 / 36 / 1100-1900
7 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 8 / 1 / 7 / 5 / 15 / 6 / 16 / 100-1900
This test-pit produced the oldest piece of pottery from the two days’ digging in the form of a piece dating to the Bronze Age, about 800-1200BC. It may be evidence of people living at the site, or there may have been someone from that time cremated and buried here in a pot, which was a common form of burial then, and the pot was broken by people digging in more recent times. The site was also used by the Romans, possibly as fields. It looks as if people were living here in the medieval period, possibly from 1100 – 1600, but then it was abandoned until the late 18th or 19th century, or used as pasture for animals.
Test Pit 8
RG / VICContext / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
3 / 1 / 2 / 1800-1900
4 / 3 / 5 / 1800-1900
5 / 1 / 14 / 9 / 29 / 100-1900
Very little pottery came form this test-pit, but it shows that the site was used in Roman times, probably as fields. It was then abandoned or used as pasture until the 19th century.
Test Pit 11
EMW / GRE / SS / ES / CRM / VICTP / Context / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
11 / 1 / 9 / 54 / 1800-1900
11 / 3 / 1 / 32 / 26 / 144 / 1680-1900
11 / 4 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 9 / 1 / 3 / 3 / 11 / 40 / 796 / 1100-1900
This test-pit showed similar results to TP5, although there is a piece of pot dating to the mid-17th century, so it may still have been being used as fields at the time of the Civil War.
Test Pit 4
RG / EMS / IPS / SN / THT / STAM / EMW / SHW / HED / GRIM / CSW / BD / GRE / MW / VICTP / Cntx / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / No / Wt / Date
4 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 23 / 1400-1750
4 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 7 / 1 / 2 / 100-1400
4 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 3 / 9 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 100-1900
4 / 4 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 14 / 72 / 1 / 25 / 5 / 15 / 4 / 26 / 100-1500
4 / 5 / 3 / 13 / 1 / 8 / 11 / 42 / 6 / 61 / 2 / 6 / 450-1500
4 / 6 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 1 / 20 / 104 / 1 / 15 / 3 / 26 / 720-1400