Rights Holder: West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service
CC License:
Our images can be used under a CC BY attribution licence (unless stated otherwise).
Unique ID: SWYOR-9A2BA8
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
A Post Medieval probable cooking vessel, probably dating from about AD 1450 - 1600. The vessel is made from sheet copper alloy. The rim is about 100mm in diameter and is rolled outwards round an iron rim support. The walls are less than a millimeter thick and are rounded, so the vessel has a globular shape. The base is omphaloid; curving into the vessel in the centre. The outer face appears to be sooted. The vessel is 83mm - 86mm tall.
There are the corroded remains of two handle escutcheons made of iron. These are mounted at opposite points immediately below the rim. The edges are not clearly defined, but the escutcheons appear to have a rounded or heart shaped outline and measure 30mm tall, and 33mm wide, and 30mm high and 40mm wide. The positioning of these escutcheons suggest that the vessel may have had an arched handle, or suspension loops or a pair of handles attached to them. The escutcheons are attached to the wall of the vessel with rolled (spiral) copper alloy sheet rivets. There are four rivets on one; three arranged in a triangle and one in the centre, the centre one perhaps being a later addition. The other escutcheon has only three visible rivets, but one appears to have been reinforced with an iron rivet.
Half way between the two escutcheons is further evidence of an attached component. There is a hole in the vessel wall and a hollow rolled rivet in situ in a second hole, slightly higher than the first. Differential patination on the outer face suggests that an object 54mm wide and 37mm tall, of oval shape, may have been attached here, immediately below the rim, perhaps a projecting handle.
On the opposite side of the vessel from the missing component there is no evidence of another attached element, but at the bottom of the wall are two folded sheet copper alloy rivets ("paperclip" style rivets), which seem to be acting as repairs to the wall rather than attachments. There are also two small holes in the wall in this area. These do not show any evidence of having been repaired, but could be post depositional damage.
There are other dents in the wall of the vessel, and a short section of rim is missing, but otherwise the vessel is complete and in good condition.
Egan (2005, page 101) discusses folded staple style rivets and says they were used from the Saxon period onwards. He descibes the rolled spiral cone rivets as a later form, which continued in use into the 18th century. There is little good dating evidence for the transition between the two, both of which are used on this vessel, but he suggests that the crucial period is likely to be the late 15th to 16th century.
It is also noteworthy that the vessel has been extensively repaired, suggesting a long period of use of a valued object.
No close parallel of a sheet metal vessel has been found on the PAS database, but NARC-BB3C16 is a good example of spiral rivets, and HAMP-1A1680 of a detatched folded staple.
Notes:
This vessel was found about 2.3 feet beneath two solid floors in a house during building work.
Class: cooking vessel
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1450
Date to: Circa AD 1600
Quantity: 1
Height: 86 mm
Weight: 285 g
Diameter: 125 mm
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 1st January 2017 - Sunday 4th February 2018
This information is restricted for your access level.
Other reference: PAS form number 3033
Primary material: Copper alloy
Secondary material: Iron
Completeness: Incomplete
4 Figure: SE3906
Four figure Latitude: 53.54919212
Four figure longitude: -1.41285683
1:25K map: SE3906
1:10K map: SE30NE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
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 |