Page 60 - John Barber's Oakham Castle and its archaeology

(b) Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Coarse Wares

A large number of sherds of these wares was collected, but stratified deposits were few, and it is a matter of regret
that little can usefully be contributed here to the study of these neglected pottery types. Sherds were found in the
upper layers of the moat, in the top of Pit H, in layer (1c) of the rampart associated with clay pipes dated 1640-80, and
in a trench on the western edge of the site (Fig. 1). It is possible, however, to draw some general conclusions from
these assemblages which seem equally applicable to the material as a whole.
There were three main wares:

(1) Dark red to purple ware, with grey-purple core and treacle brown to brown-green glaze, the so-called
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‘sixteenth century transitional coarse ware’.
(2) Brick red (occasionally buff) ware, with yellow-brown or treacle-brown glaze.
(3) Buff ware with yellow glaze.

Three types of pottery ware usually found in varying degrees in each group; cooking vessels (or storage jars), bowls
and dishes.

Group 1

This group has definite medieval antecedents, for two fragments of strap handles, in the same ware, were found at c.
12 ft, in the moat, and three unstratified cooking-pots were certainly medieval in type (Fig. 8.1). Another cooking-pot,
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however, has a profile similar to one from Norwich, with internal bevel and external cordon. Storage jars were of
two forms:

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(a) Biconical with flanged or rolled, often undercut rim, and footed base (a common type).
(b) Globular, with upright rim and collar (Fig. 8.2). A handled vessel from the top of pit H had a squared-off rim
and a splash of green-brown glaze on top (Fig. 8.3). One bowl, the only example found in this ware, had an
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everted, hollowed rim, as at Norwich.

Group 2

The forms in this group were often similar to
those of Group 1. Thus the biconical storage jar
was again very common (though some were
straight-sided), while the globular jar also
occurred, but in a more gritty fabric than is
usual in this group. There were other forms,
however, for example with upright neck and
marked internal bevel on the rim from layer
(1c) (Fig. 8.4), or with everted, hollowed rim
(Fig. 8.5). The bowls had either a splayed and
hollowed or rolled rim, or were heavily flanged
(Fig. 8.6), while the only dish had a simple
squared-off rim. Fragments of a skillet-handle,
a fish-dish and a pipkin were also found.

Group 3

With the exception of one rim and one footed
base of storage jars, this group comprised
dishes only. The rims were either flanged or
rolled as often in Group 2, or slightly
hollowed, as in one example from layer (1c)
(Fig. 8.7). It will be seen that this material
compares very broadly with that from
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Norwich, for the Oakham wares also show
that the heavy rolled or flanged rim was
normal on cooking-pots or storage jars, while
bowls and dishes usually had splayed everted
rims. Rim forms, however, show only a
general similarity, with few close parallels
(such as the biconical storage jar). Mr A H
Oswald considers that some of the vessels in
Group 1 do compare with fifteenth century
material from sites in the City of London now
in the Guildhall Museum, and this group does
appear to be in any case the earliest of the
three. It may last, however, well into the
seventeenth century, for it was often found Fig. 8. Post-Medieval Coarse Wares.

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