VESSEL

A copper alloy Medieval or Post Medieval (12th to mid-19th centuries) fragment, probably from a cooking vessel leg.

The upper edge has a broken terminal where the leg would have once attached to the pot. The sides taper to a lower rounded edge. On the outer face is a central moulded rib that runs vertically along the fragment. The opposing face is convex. The fragment has a well-developed mid green coloured patina. There are many cooking vessels recorded on the database (SWYOR-9EC4DC) was discovered in the Wakefield district of Yorkshire and (WAW-B324BC) discovered in the Stratford Upon Avon district of Warwickshire.

It is uncertain what type of vessel this leg comes from, but Egan (1998) comments that commonly used cooking vessels in the Medieval period include skillets, ewers, and cauldrons. Egan (1998) illustrates similar vessel legs with a transverse ridge on page 165. One example is unstratified and the other dates to cica AD 1400-1450.

According to Butler, Green and Payne (2009), "From about (AD 1100), cast copper alloy vessels...were commonly used for downhearth cooking, with the vessel sitting among the embers or suspended over the fire. All but the poorest medieval or post-medieval households would have had at least one metal cooking vessel....These vessels gradually passed out of use between 1700 and 1850, superseded by cast iron pots...".

The leg measures 45.6 mm in length, 32.7 mm wide, 15.2 mm maximum thickness across the rib and weighs 69.5 g.

Butler, R., Green, C. and Payne, N. 2009 'Cast copper-alloy cooking vessels' Finds Research Group AD700-1700 Datasheet 41.

Egan G. 1998 The Medieval Household Daily Living c. 1150-c.1450 Museum of London, London, The Stationary Office.