The Medieval Trade of the Ports of the Wash

Abstract

An Increase in reported finds of metal ampullae enables a reappraisal of this distinctive class of pilgrim souvenir in England and Wales, Norfolk in particular: their form, decoration, distribution, context and the physical signs of their production and use. This sheds light on an aspect of late-medieval culture and custom; additionally, it encourages reflection on the kinds of data that metal-detectorists currently record and report. The thesis is that 15th- to mid16th-century ampullae were associated especially with rural communities and deposited in fields as votive objects, often after intentional 'destruction'.