VESSEL

Eardisland History and Heritage Group

Eardisland Excavation 2000-2010

Site Summary: Finds were made during the excavation of a mound in the grounds adjacent to the dwelling: Burton Court Eardisland. The trench in which the majority of artefacts were found measured 5 metres by 3 metres. The stratified assemblage of pottery is of regional importance being especially well preserved and evidence for a domestic non-castle medieval site dating from the twelfth to early thirteenth centuries (1100-1250)

Site number: BC 01

Sector: A

Context number: 102

A single base sherd of local Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric TypeHER (Hereford) A3. Medieval cooking pot with silt-stone tempering with sooting on exterior surface.

The fragments measure:

1: 25.3mm in height, 22.3mm width, 8.0mm thick at base and 8.6mm thick on side wall; it weighs 10.4 grams. The base sherd is too small to accurately predict a diameter / vessel size

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Sherd specific details:

Fabric Type: Wheel thrown: Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric Type HER (Hereford) A3.

Fabric Condition: A hard fabric with inclusions.

Firing Condition: Dark buff to light brown throughout.

Surface texture: Exterior is black with slight sooting; interior dark buff to light brown with visible inclusionsheavily limescaled; core grey

Condition of sherd. good / unabraded

Inclusions: Sparse angular and rounded quartz grains (0.4mm) rounded grey (?) micaceous gravel (1-2mm with some up to 4.0mm) sparse angular grey to black coloured grit with infrequent red grit, Sparse soft white limestone.

Glaze: None

Class: Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric TypeHER (Hereford) A3

Comments: Dr.. Alan Vince - identified this as Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric A3 and states that this was probably locally produced but no production sites / kilns are known. The fabric has the following distinguishing feature: are the presence of rounded fragments of fine-grained grey sandstones and fragments of rounded quarts (up to 1mm across). The groundmass is silty and micaceous. These features all indicate a source in Herefordshire; the silt micaceous clay is probably the Devonian Marl or Boulder Clay derived from this marl whilst the sandstones and quartz grains are probably derived from the outcrops of Silurian Rock and Old Red Sandstone. At Hereford, this ware first appears in assemblages dating to the later 12th or earlier 13th centuries and is one of the earliest wares found there to be locally produced. No production sites are known, but a source in or close to Hereford is likely.

Other vessels known from this fabric include handmade cooking pots which are straight sided and incompletely oxidised but with brown oxidised surfaces, Tripod pitchers with globular bodies are also known - these have cylindrical or everted rims.

Note: Vince notes that this fabric has sandstone and quartz inclusions which are more common in cooking pots. Only a few grains exceed 1mm. The colour varies with the type of vessel.