Julie gives us a wonderful overview of the post-Roman finds from this year's excavations...
After a bit of a slow
start quite a large assemblage of finds has been retrieved over the last 3 and
a half weeks and predictably this week the excavation of part of a ditch
running north/south across the site is producing bags and bags of animal bone
and pottery.
Last year’s backfill
produced an amazing range of finds: clay tobacco pipes, lead shot, fragments of
Samian pottery, as well as Westerwald stoneware and post-medieval Spanish olive
jar and a variety of other post-medieval wares, including slipware dish
fragments, blackware vessels and pieces of Cistercian ware cups. It’s
interesting to see what ended up on last year’s spoil heap rather than in finds
trays but it is easy to miss fragments when it’s wet and muddy.
Once the backfill had
been removed the quantity of clay tobacco pipes found fell considerably and
stopped completely after the last of the 17th century demolition
deposits were removed from the south side of the trench. It looks as if we are
firmly in the 16th century across most of the trench and in some areas
possibly the late medieval.
A plaster-rich deposit lying
to the east of the stone building and excavated by James, Andrew and Dan
produced quite a variety of objects and there seemed to be a race as to who
could find the most, which certainly upped finds retrieval. Two tiny twisted
loops of copper alloy wire are examples of objects common on sites from the 16th
century onwards, they may have been used to reinforce textile purses and stop
them being cut open by thieves (cut-purses). Alternatively recent work by
costume historians suggests they are the ‘eyes’ from hook and eye fastenings. The
remains of a double-sided ivory comb would have been a possession of quality as
would have been a jet bead found by Maeve.
The bead is the size of,
and looks like, a black olive or grape; it was found in a deposit containing
Roman and medieval pottery as well as 16th century Cistercian wares;
initially it was suggested to be Roman like most other finds of jet from the
city however a medieval or later date is a possibility. A variety of jet beads
have been found in medieval contexts in York and a similar but slightly smaller
bead has been described as being from a rosary (Ottaway and Rogers 2002, 2948,
fig 1516. 13500). A small glass bead from the same context needs more work to
identify as to date, it displays an intricate pattern of blue, yellow and
opaque red glass largely obscured by dirt. The remains of a beautiful blue
glass bead was found by Lauren as it fell out of the section at the east end of
the site, the bead is quite large and possibly had applied spots in another
colour, again some research is needed to suggest a date which is likely to be
between the Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon periods.
Another find associated
with dress and appearance is a well-preserved late medieval copper alloy buckle
with semi-circular cut outs on the edge of its plate, a similar plate but attached to a different
shaped buckle has been published from Meols (Griffiths, Philpott & Egan
2007, 99-100, Pl 16 719).
A potentially important
copper alloy seal matrix was found by Frances close to the northern wall of the
stone building. The surface is obscured by dirt but the legend around the edge
can be seen and x-radiography should enable us to read it and to identify the
image in the centre of the seal. The seal matrix is a pointed oval, a common
medieval shape, with a suspension loop on the reverse. If the matrix carries a
name we might be able to identify whether the owner was a member of the
Fraternity of St Anne whose building we may have found or perhaps a clergyman
from St John’s.
As well as providing new
information about the past of Grosvenor Park the excavations have the potential
to help us understand changes in the use and supply of pottery in late
15th and 16th century Chester. Large jars and cisterns in a coarse
Coal Measure fabric (Ewloe-type ware) are a feature of late medieval pottery
assemblages in Chester but we don’t know for sure whether they continued in use
into the 16th century nor do we know when Cistercian-type ware cups were
first used. However the ditch running
north-south across the site is producing large fragments of Ewloe-type ware jars
and Cistercian-type wares suggesting
they were in contemporary use, something also suggested by an assemblage
excavated at 25 Bridge St, Chester (Debenhams) in 2001. Analysis of the ditch
assemblage may therefore help clarify the pottery sequence for this
transitional phase between the medieval and post-medieval periods. The ditch
fill is also producing a lot of well preserved animal bone, Ian Smith last week
identified much of this as cattle and probably good quality cuts of meat
suggesting high status eating.
Ewloe-type ware jars
Finally in this brief
summary of this year’s finds building materials should be mentioned. Fragments
of floor tiles including one with a griffin, a pattern found in previous
seasons in the park, continue to be found as well as crested ridge tiles and Welsh slates, a number
of which are coming from the ditch, all give clues as to how the building we
are excavating may have looked.
Sadly this year’s
excavations are coming to an end and we will have to curb our curiosity about
what more there is to discover below the ground until next year. It is uncommon
to find a medieval and early post-medieval site in Chester that has not been disturbed
by later buildings. Moreover to be able to excavate an open area containing a
stone building and associated features is also a rare experience these days,
especially for this archaeologist who normally is confined to the office!
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