Post-Medieval Brick and Tile Kilns at Runsell Green,Danbury, Essex

Abstract

The excavation of two kilns of late 17th-early 18th-century date is described. The range of products, and method of manufacture, are discussed in the light of an inventory of 1708.     

An 18th-Century Mansion,a Fishpond,and Post-Medieval Finds from St. Neots,Huntingdonshire

Abstract

The remains of Hall Place, St. Neots, a late 17th- or early 18th-century house facing Church Street, were encountered during the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon settlement in 1961. Hall place had been built over the site of a large timber-lined cutting, perhaps a fishpond, which had been filled up with domestic rubbish and demolition debris during the course of the 16th century. The fishpond contained a large group of finds including both local and imported pottery, metalwork and leather objects. Pits, wells and other late and post-medieval structures and features were also found in the garden areas behind Hall Place and other Church Street houses.     

A zoomorphic horticultural urn from Gosport,Hampshire

Abstract

A large ceramic urn with elaborate relief decoration was recently recovered in Gosport, Hampshire. It had been treated externally to imitate the stone urns used to contain shrubs and small trees in 17th- and early 18th-century formal gardens. This was only the second example of its kind known from Britain and its discovery in the backland of a small county town showed that such vessels were not restricted to high-status sites.     

Portuguese coarsewares in early modern England: reflections on an exceptional pottery assemblage from Southampton

Abstract

The study of a large hoard of Merida-type ware from Portugal found during excavation in Southampton prompts an examination of Portuguese pottery in 16th- and 17th-century England, its trade, uses and context.     

Excavations at Houndhill,near Barnsley,Yorkshire

Abstract

A ‘cottage’ weaving industry was established at Houndhill, family seat of the Elmhirsts in Worsbrough, near Barnsley, during the mid-16th century. It ceased early in the 17th century but excavation has shown it was revived under new ownership in the late 18th century. During the 19th century the mill became a general farm store and was totally demolished in the 1930s to permit a garden extension. The excavation was planned to retain any remaining features for conservation as part of the historical interest of the residence.¹     

The Excavation of a Brick Clamp at Shotesham St. Mary,Norfolk, 1969

Abstract

Rescue excavations in the small village of Llanmaes investigated an area of earthworks indicating the presence of several buildings. Medieval evidence was largely confined to finds. Three late 17th-century properties were examined; it is possible that they represent a planned development on the east side of the village green in response to population expansion in the Vale of Glamorgan. The buildings are of simple two-roomed plan, and would appear to be tenements of low status. One of the buildings produced evidence of smithying. A large group of metal finds of agricultural and domestic use was found, as was a closely-dated assemblage of wine bottles; a large midden deposit on the north edge of the site contained a very large group of post-medieval pottery. The buildings were abandoned by the end of the 18th century, presumably following rationalization of the local settlement morphology and farming. Thus the site represents a short-lived expansion in low-status rural housing at the time of the ‘Great Rebuilding’.     

A gun-casting furnace at Scarlets,Cowden, Kent

Abstract

A timber-lined casting pit was installed between 1590 and 1664 at the blast furnace at Scarlets, Cowden, Kent. The methods of construction are similar to those used at Maynards Gate and Pippingford, Sussex. The adjacent floor is a feature paralleled at Pippingford and at Rockley, Yorkshire. The furnace has been thoroughly robbed of its stone, but its position and orientation can be satisfactorily established; evidence was found for refurbishing at the end of the 17th century, yet it seems likely that abandonment came before 1717.     

A Buff Coat of circa 1645

Abstract

Rescue excavations on part of the site of Richmond Palace, Surrey (NGR, TQ174748), revealed a revetment wall, part of a large moat, and other structures; the finds indicate a construction date in the first half of the 17th century, during a rebuilding of the Palace outworks.     

PAPERS ON GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF WOODLAND AND CADDO SITES IN THE CADDO AREA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Abstract

Geophysical investigations on archaeological sites in the Caddo area of the Southeastern United States have become in recent years a critical part of the investigation of prehistoric and early historic Caddo sites, from small farmsteads and hamlets to large mound centers. The various articles gathered here provide substantive examples of the range of geophysical research that has been undertaken on Woodland and Caddo sites in southwestern Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and East Texas, and how that research has led to a better understanding of the spatial structure and internal organization of habitation sites and mound centers.     

The R.C.H.M.E./G.M.A.U. Joint Survey of Textile Mills in Greater Manchester

Abstract

This paper outlines progress during the first two years of the Greater Manchester Textile Mill Survey, which started in May 1985. A county-wide index to mill sites has been created, based on cartographic information, which aims to assist the assessment and comparison of large numbers of mills. A range of documentary research was undertaken and a representative sample of sites selected for individual study. The paper concludes with summaries of two selected sites in Ancoats, Manchester.     

A Sod Lime Kiln on Cefn Bryn,Gower, West Glamorgan

Abstract

The surviving half of a winged glass furnace was excavated at Savenel, south of Louvain (Belgium). Coins, glass and pottery suggested operation early in the 17th century, and archives confirm the presence in the locality of the Colnets, a family of glass makers at that time. The furnace is paralleled by excavated examples in England.     

Post-Medieval Archaeology in Periodical Literature, 1966

Abstract

This paper describes the marked clay pipes found in the Barbican area of Plymouth, and lists all the unmarked types found. The deposits are rich in pipes of Dutch manufacture, particularly of the early 17th century. New light is thrown on local pipemaking from the 17th to the 19th century. The influence of London and southern England is strong both in the styles of Plymouth-made pipes and in the imports to Plymouth. Few pipes from Bristol were found and none from Broseley or the North.     

A Marginal Occupation? The Medieval Laundress and her Work

Drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, this article argues that a study of the medieval laundress can illuminate wider social attitudes to hygiene as well as to low status women. Having considered the many types of laundry workers active in England and northern France between c.1300 and 1550, it examines the techniques they used, as well as the hazards encountered through exposure to difficult conditions. Such factors, along with the freedom of movement enjoyed by many laundresses, often harmed their collective reputation. That responses to those who dealt with the community's dirty clothing were highly ambivalent is reflected in contemporary writing about laundresses, and in the measures taken to regulate them. Finally, we turn to remuneration. The sporadic survival of financial evidence means that our knowledge of wage rates remains impressionistic. But some laundry workers were surprisingly well rewarded. This confirms the value placed, in elite households at least, upon the cleanliness of personal linen.     

Seventeenth-century Pottery from Ash,Surrey

Abstract

About 2,000 sherds, mainly in white fabric, were found on a site at Ash which was one of several producing similar wares on the West Surrey and Hampshire borders. Some of the sherds were medieval, but the remainder were 17th century and are analysed in an attempt to assess the forms and characteristics of the post-medieval pottery made at Ash. Documentary evidence discloses the presence of potters in Ash in the 17th and 18th centuries, although there is no direct link with the site, and also indicates possible sources for the potters’ clay.     

Excavation of a pit at 16 Tunsgate,Guildford, Surrey, 1991

Abstract

The site lies to the south of the High Street in Guildford’s town centre, SU 9980 4944. The pit yielded a large assemblage of artefacts. The significance of the assemblage lies in its size and its coherence as a single, chronologically uncontaminated and sealed deposit. The finds form a discrete group of ceramics, glass, clay pipes and organic remains dating from c.1650-1714, and deposited c.1702-14. Many of the vessels after reconstruction proved to be complete, or almost so. Because of the location of the site in Tunsgate, the artefacts must either have come from the Tun Inn, which had a frontage on the High Street, or from a property nearby belonging to the owner of the Tun Inn. The end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century is a particularly interesting period for ceramic and glass studies and the finds from 16 Tunsgate reflect this. The assemblage contains previously unknown examples of the work of John Dwight and George Ravenscroft, a soda glass with a hitherto unknown type of seal, the largest group of mould-blown cristallo beakers so far found in the United Kingdom or North America and a unique group of animal remains that provide a snapshot of inn food in the early 18th century. The finds are on display in Guildford Museum.     

The Slate Quarries at Easdale,Argyllshire, Scotland

Abstract

In this article the author draws attention to the little-known slate industry that flourished in the Slate Islands off the west coast of Scotland. From small beginnings in the 17th century, the industry reached a peak around 1900, before declining to extinction in the 1960s. Attention is focused on the unusual location of some of the quarries—below sea-level—and of their consequent vulnerability to natural disasters.     

Trilobites from the Middle Ordovician Stairway Sandstone,Amadeus Basin,central Australia

Abstract

During the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) sandstones and siltstones were deposited in the epicontinental Larapintine Sea, which covered large parts of central Australia. The Darriwilian Stairway Sandstone has, for the first time, been sampled stratigraphically for macrofossils to track marine benthic biodiversity in this clastic-dominated shallow-water palaeoenvironment situated along the margin of northeastern Gondwana. The faunas from the Stairway Sandstone are generally of low diversity and dominated by bivalves but include several animal groups, with trilobites representing 25% of the entire shelly fauna. Thirteen trilobite taxa are described from the Stairway Sandstone; the fauna displays a high degree of endemism. One new species, Basilicus (Parabasilicus) brumbyensis sp. nov. is described.     

Nohmul,Belize: 1982 Investigations

Abstract

The large site of Nohmul in northern Belize has a long sequence of occupation spanning Some two millennia. Half a century of sporadic excavation has shown it to be a center of regional importance from the Late Formative to the Early Postclassic. The present report outlines past and planned study of Nohmul, and describes the results of excavations and mapping in 1982. Principal discoveries in the ceremonial center date to the Terminal Formative/Early Classic and Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic periods, ca. 200–300 A.C. and ca. 800–1000 A.C. respectively.     

The Excavation of a Medieval Bastion at St. Nicholas's Almshouses,King Street,Bristol

SUMMARY

The paper describes the discovery of the lower portion of a bastion of the late 13th century, its construction and destruction. This monument remains to a height of 8 ft. and has three arrow-slits and standins remaining. The bastion was at one time part of the Marsh Wall defences of Bristol. A small but interesting group of pottery including south-western French types is associated with its construction. The method of construction of the Almshouses, which were built above the bastion, required the deposition of considerable domestic rubbish including a large quantity of pottery types, many of which were previously only loosely datable. The opening of the Almshouses in 1656 provides a firm dating for this large and varied collection.     

The finds from the cellar of the Old Hall,Temple Balsall,Warwickshire

Abstract

The cellar, excavated in 1981, revealed late 17th and early 18th century material, which is the subject of this report. The pottery included yellow wares, English delftware, blackware, manganese-mottled wares, stonewares, slipware and coarseware. Tobacco pipes, medicine phials, table glass, wine bottles, bones and iron-work were also found. The excavation report will be published separately.¹ Ex inf. Paul Woodfield.