12th-14th June 2006
Trafford Hall, Chester
Much of the medieval pottery first published came from early excavations at castles, palaces and monastic institutions. These finds, and the archaeologists who worked with them, were seminal in the development of medieval pottery studies. The Medieval Pottery Research Group is taking the opportunity of our 2006 annual meeting, in Chester to review that early work. We also want to hear about more recent work on pottery from medieval castles, manors, monasteries, hospitals and similar sites. The aim is to consider what, if anything, made these places different to the urban and rural domestic sites that have been the focus of recent discussions and publications. Are there, for instance, peculiarities in the way religious houses acquired, used or disposed of pottery? How did castles affect patterns of industry and commerce? It is hoped that this meeting will show how ceramic analysis can inform our understanding of the role of medieval institutions within medieval society, and conversely, how studying those establishments deepens our knowledge of medieval pottery.
The following papers were presented:
The medieval and early post-medieval pottery of Chester, Julie Edwards
Institutions, households and consumption: their relevance to pottery studies, Chris Dyer
The use of pottery in Richard of Cornwall’s caput at Launceston Castle, Alan Vince
Storage, cooking and display pottery from two fortified settlements in Chianti: Castellaccio di Lucolena (10th-13th cent) and Monte Moggino (14th-15th cent), Marta Caroscio
The ceramics from the palace of Marie de Hongrie (Binche, Belgique), Sophie Challe
From Caliph’s crockery to the people’s pottery: examining ceramic consumption in Almohad Seville, Rebecca Bridgman
Aspects of the production, the use and the consumption of ceramics at Caen in the end of the middle Ages, Anne Bocquet Liénard and D. Dufournier
Is there a specific ceramic for privileged Merovingian sites?, Line Van WerschLocal Flavour: the Bishopstone assemblage in its wider context, Ben Jervis
Rectory, refectory and range: pottery from three moated sites in Norfolk and Suffolk, Sue Anderson
Castles and their friends and relations, Duncan Brown
Cloistered kings, crenellated bishops and courtly abbots: the ceramic assemblages from Peel Castle and Rushen Abbey, Isle of Man, Peter Davey and Claire Corkill
A mid 17th-century finds group from the Inns of Court: a tale of lawyers, buying power, conservatism and possible misbehaviour, Chris Jarrett
The use of wooden vessels in medieval institutions, Robin Wood
Gerald Dunning Memorial Lecture. Crossing cultures and bridging boundaries from the 9th to 12th centuries, Maureen Mellor
Pottery from the fortress Graborg on Aland, western Sweden, Torbjorn Brorsson
Palace and Abbey: Guildford and the crockers of Chertsey, Phil Jones
The use of ceramics in late and post-medieval monasteries: data from three sites in eastern Flanders, Koen De Groote
The material culture of monasteries in Liguria between the medieval period and the modern age and an analysis of archaeological excavation records: data comparison and some lines of research and study, Paolo De Vingo
Wigford Potterys and the Goblet of Friars – monestic consumption of ceramics produced at St Mark’s, Lincoln, Anne Boyle
A world of difference? Form and function in Scotland’s hospitals and religious houses, Derek Hall
French pottery in Scotland – a review, George Haggarty
Mount Grace Priory: pottery and personality, Glyn Coppack
Abbey and Town – pottery procurement in medieval Shrewsbury, Victoria Bryant