Rights Holder: Winchester Museums Service
CC License: 
Image use policy
Our images can be used under a CC BY attribution licence (unless stated otherwise).
VESSEL
Unique ID: HAMP-5EE152
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A damaged but complete cast lead vessel which has been squashed somewhat out of its original form. It is of open form and semicircular cross-section, intended to lean against (or be attached to) a vertical surface. The vessel flares out as its sides ascend; the flaring is more pronounced above a pair of raised transverse lines around two-thirds up the vessel's side. They are echoed by an upper lip. In the field between is a scrolled pattern, wave-like with pellets. At the base the vessel is 40.05mm across (projecting forwards 18.9mm), expanding to 79.1mm at the (squashed) top. The majority of the surface of the vessel is covered with off-white corrosion product. As stated, the vessel has buckled at the back. It has also been pushed back at the front, on one side in particular, with creases all over the upper area.
Many such vessels have been recorded on this database; the traditional identification is a late medieval, or early post-medieval, bird feeder or 'bird seed container', although other suggestions for use have been made (see Notes, below). The following references in the literature can be consulted for comparison: Read (1995, 127-128; fig. 811), Egan (2005, 129; ref. 617), although they have not been decorated to the extent of this object.
Notes:
Others have suggested that these containers could have been used as dice shakers, grain measures, blood letting cups, inkwells, etc.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1400
Date to: Circa AD 1600
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 79.1 mm
Height: 49.9 mm
Width: 27.4 mm
Thickness: 1.9 mm
Weight: 125 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 1st December 2009 - Thursday 31st December 2009
Personal details
This information is restricted for your access level.
Other reference numbers
Other reference: E2846
Materials and construction
Primary material: Lead Alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Hampshire (County)
District: Fareham (District)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU5007
Four figure Latitude: 50.860356
Four figure longitude: -1.290957
1:25K map: SU5007
1:10K map: SU50NW
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egan, G. | 2005 | Material Culture in London in an Age Of Transition: Tudor and Stuart period finds c.1450 - c.1700 from excavations at riverside sites in Southwark | London | Museum of London Archaeology Service | 129 | 617 | |
| Read, B. | 1995 | History Beneath our Feet (1995) | Ipswich | Anglia Publishing | 127-128 | 811 |
Similar objects
Find number: IOW-25ECC1
Object type: VESSEL
Broadperiod: POST MEDIEVAL
A complete but misshapen post-Medieval cast or wrought lead-alloy vessel (c. 1500-c. 1700). This 'bird-feeder' vessel was oval in cross-secti…
Workflow: Awaiting validation
Find number: IOW-72B185
Object type: VESSEL
Broadperiod: MEDIEVAL
A complete post-Medieval cast or wrought lead-alloy vessel (c. 1500-c. 1700). This 'bird-feeder' vessel is semi-circular in plan with vertica…
Workflow: Awaiting validation
Find number: KENT-08E219
Object type: VESSEL
Broadperiod: MEDIEVAL
A complete and misshapen late medieval or post-medieval lead or lead-alloy vessel (c. 1450-c. 1700).
This squashed 'bird-feeder' vessel wa…
Workflow: Awaiting validation
Timeline of associated dates
About Us
About our Site
Find us
The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG.
T: +44(0) 20 73238618