Page 58 - John Barber's Oakham Castle and its archaeology

Figs. 6.4 and 6.5: Cooking pots with strongly everted rim squared outside and hollowed inside. Slight finger
impressions on outside of the rim. Fig. 6.4 from (2d) of rampart; Fig. 6.5 unstratified.
Fig. 6.6: Bowl with hammer-headed rim. Finger-impressed decoration on top, and shallow wavy line on body.
From (2b) of rampart.
Fig. 6.7: Bowl with everted rim, beaded inside. Trellis pattern on top. Thin band of horizontal lines on outside of
body. Unstratified near rampart (1953).

A small slightly rolled-over rim fragment, from a shallow bowl, was found on the old ground surface beneath the
rampart (1953). As a firm sequence of this ware is at present lacking, it would be rash to attempt any conclusive
dating for this group on typological grounds. However, in view of the discussion above (p 49), which favours a date
1075-1100 for the construction of the
rampart, it is interesting to notice that the
group has several characteristics
supporting this conclusion.
Thus, apart from Fig. 6.4, the cooking
pots are small or intermediate in size,
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comparable to several from Cambridge.
The hammer headed bowl, No.6, recalls
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a group from Paxton dated to just
before the Conquest. Rolled-over rims
have been found as far north as
Thurgarton (in a possible eleventh
century context) as well as at Oakham
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and St Neots.

OTHER WARES FROM
SAXO-NORMAN LAYERS

Roman

One small sherd of Castor ware, from the
old ground surface.
One sherd of a hard grey ware, from
same layer.

Late 11th or early 12th century
‘Medieval’ ware

Four sherds of a sandy, gritty ware, with
grey core, and orange to red surface,
from (2c) and (2d) of the rampart. One of
these sherds had a small fragment of iron
attached to it. Mr Dunning, who kindly
identified these sherds for me, says that a
similar ware was found at Alstoe Mount.

Fig. 6. Saxo-Norman Pottery – St Neots Ware.

MEDIEVAL WARES

There was a disappointingly small amount of medieval pottery discovered on the site, and little requires specific
comment. A number of sherds of late medieval grey ware were found between 11 and 13ft. in the moat. One example,
a cooking-pot in a sandy, hard grey fabric, with sharply everted rim, is illustrated (Fig. 7.1). From here, too, came
pieces of thirteenth century jugs and a sherd of grey ware, with a ‘corky’ fabric, red-buff surface and traces of olive-
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green glaze. It has a rough crisscross, stamped decoration, and is of thirteenth-century date (Fig. 7.2). Of more
significance, however, is a rim sherd of a jug found on bedrock in stanchion hole VI, associated with a leather boot (p
59). The ware is buff in colour and rather sandy, and may perhaps be dated to the early fourteenth century (Fig. 7.3).
Pits G, H and J were apparently of medieval date. In their upper levels, sherds of Tudor green-glaze often occurred,
but below, usually in greasy midden deposits, were fragments of thirteenth and fourteenth century jugs. The ware of
the latter is normally grey with a reddish surface; glaze is green (of several shades) or reddish brown. A rim fragment
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from pit J is illustrated (Fig. 7.4), the glaze being apple green.

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