08.08.00 Laxton, nr Howden, East Yorkshire

Ceramic Building Materials

by S Garside-Neville

Introduction

A small sample comprising six bags was submitted for examination. The material ranges from probably the late medieval period, through to the 19th or 20th century.

Medieval Material

Approximately half the sample comprises plain tile. Plain tile was the main form of ceramic roofing from the medieval period onward (so some of these fragments could easily be post medieval in date). As a method of suspension it could have either a peg hole or a nib, or a combination of both. This sample is so fragmentary that there are no examples of any of these. However, since the pieces were found in East Yorkshire, they are likely to be fragments of nib tile. One of the fragments has a silty fabric, which is typically found in the area. In general, the fragments show signs of careful, clean manufacture.

Post medieval material

Post medieval is represented by brick and plain roof tile. The brick is all slop moulded, where the frame used to mould the brick is wetted rather than sanded. Context 1012 has interesting surface marks, comprising 4 small marks or pips, which might be a maker's mark. There is one fragment of plain roof tile (context 1005) which seems to be machine made so must be 19th century or later.

Conclusion

The material in this sample, where identified as medieval is probably no earlier than the 15th century. The brick is all likely to be post medieval in date. The sample should be retained until it can be recorded in detail by a ceramic building materials specialist, so that it can contribute to the study of ceramic building materials in East Yorkshire.

Context Listing

Cxt	Form	Len	Bre	Thi	Comments	Date range	Spot date
1003	Brick				Burnt	16th+	16th+
1005	Brick				5 small frags	Med+	L19th-20th
	Plain				Modern fabric	L19th-20th
	Pot				x 1	Med+
1012	Brick			54	Deliberate marks - 4 pips on top surface; ?slop moulded, straw marks	17th+	17-19th
	Brick			43	Silty fabric, burnt, slop moulded	16th+
1015	Brick				x 3 small frags	Med+	16th+
	Brick					16th+
2004	Brick	242*	122	52	Abraded, slop moulded	16-18th	16-18th
	Pan?			18		17th+
	Plain				x 4 small frags	13-18th
	Pot				x 2 frags	Med+
2005	Plain				x 2 frags	Med+	Med+
	Plain				x 11 small frags	Med+
	Plain				Silty fabric	13-16th
	Ridge?					Med+

*Minimum measurement

sgn