POST ROMAN POTTERY

A total of 28 sherds of medieval pottery weighing 225g and 19 sherds of post-medieval pottery weighing 243g were recovered from the excavation. No material which could be ascribed to the Saxon period was identified in the assemblage.

Of the medieval material, three body sherds from vessels in an oxidised sandy ware (from storage vessels) were recovered from the initial cleaning of Trench 5, the remaining 22 sherds were recovered from contexts in Trench 12. The majority of this material was in either an oxidised or white ware with vestiges of green glaze, however the condition was very poor suggesting that this material had been worked into the soil through a later processes such as manuring.

The provenance of the medieval material in Trench 12 is interesting. One tiny undiagnostic sherd was recovered from Phase 8 gully fill 1215 at the northern end of the trench, and four small sherds from Phase 8 ditch fill 1216. The presence of this material within securely stratified Roman deposits would suggest either excavator error, or that the sherds have fallen into the features from the sides of the trench. A further eight sherds were recorded in contexts 1217 and 1271, a midden deposit and an unsealed buried soil respectively; in this case it is likely that the sherds were worked into the upper surface of these deposits much later than their initial formation. Finally twelve sherds were recovered from cleaning layers 1212 and 1218 following the initial machining of the trench, and are likely to have been residual from the overlying soil. Again, the majority of these pieces were undiagnostic, though three had incised horizontal bands of decoration, and a single rim sherd from a beaded-rim storage jar in a coarse oxidised fabric was recovered from layer 1212.

The post-medieval pottery comprises small abraded sherds, again probably worked into the soil through manuring. Fabrics represented include porcelaineous pottery, dark glazed earthenware, stoneware and slipware of 17th-19th century date. A single sherd was recovered from the subsoil in Trench 1 (101) and a second from cleaning layer (102), two sherds from Phase 7 fill 402 in Trench 4, two sherds from the subsoil in Trench 8 and eight sherds from buried soil 906 in Trench 9. Two further sherds were found in cleaning layer 1214 and ditch fill 1216 in Trench 12. As with the medieval material, it seems probable that sherds recorded in stratified contexts have been assigned in error, or were worked into the soil during machining.

All of the post-Roman pottery is typical of domestic waste, with fragments of storage vessels, bowls, plates and cups present. The material is of little interpretive value for the site.