YORYM 1997.102 – DAVYGATE, YORK

 

Ceramic Building Materials

 

S Garside-Neville

 

Roman Material

Roman material is represented by tegula and imbrex (roofing material), brick (which can be used in hypocausts and walls) and flue tile (used in hypocausts).  Some of the material has mortar along broken edges which probably indicates reuse at some period.  Fine grained sandstone appears throughout the sample, but seems to be associated with Roman contexts.  It may have been used for roofing (though there are no nailholes) or it could have been used as walling.  There are pieces of opus signinum which would have been used for flooring and in walls.

 

Early Medieval Material

This material is relatively strongly represented on this site.  It consists of fragments tentatively identified as curved tile (indicated by  ?Curved  in the context listing below).  The form is not the normal a half-round form, but has a definite angle.  The fabric is distinctive from the later medieval material, and occurs on this site in 12th century contexts.  Interestingly, on this site, there are no flanged tiles associated with  this material, which may indicate that it is not part of the curved and flanged suite of roofing.  This ?curved form appears elsewhere  in York in contexts dating as early as the 11th century.  An example of a more conventional curved form appears in context  2026.

 

Later medieval material

Peg, plain (which could be either peg or nib), and ridge tile occurs frequently in this sample.  There is also crested ridge tile.  14th century fabrics are well represented.  Narrow brick, possibly used as wall tile in buildings, is also present.  Of particular interest are two examples of graffiti on plain roofing tile.  One example shows scratched lines (context 2016).  The other, with lines cut on both sides appears to represent a scale of some sort (context 2009).  Broadly, the scale appears to be one inch.

 

Victorian or later material

There are several examples of dust-pressed wall or floor tiles from context 4013.

 

 

Other material

There are some large fragments of daub showing impression of wattle rods from contexts 2010, 2024, 2025, 2047, and 2049.   It is present in Roman and medieval contexts, and can be part of buildings, fences or ovens.

 

Discussion

This sample is a useful contribution to ceramic building materials study in York.  With its varied range of forms associated with well dated contexts, it will help with the dating of some of the forms.  In particular, the dating and usage of the ?curved form may be made clearer.  However, once the sample has been fully recorded by a specialist much of the material could be discarded.

 

Context listing

Context      Form/s                                    Spotdate     Date range

2004            Plain, Peg, Brick+slip,               14-15th        Med

                   Brick (40mm), Brick

                   (Roman, reused)

2006            Brick (37mm), Brick+slip          14-15th        Med

                   (41mm), Plain, Brick (44mm)

2007            Brick (59mm; 43mm; 36mm;     15th-16th     Med

                   113x51mm; 44mm; 35mm;

                   55mm; 35mm), Ridge,

                   Ridge+slip, Plain

2009            Peg, Ridge, Brick (47mm),        14-15th        Roman - Med

                   Tegula (reused), Plain, Plain

                   (graffiti)

2010            Imbrex, Plain, ?Curved, Plain,   14-16th        ?11th-Med

                   ?Roof furniture (?crested),

                   Daub, Brick (Roman), Brick,

                   Plain (14th), Peg, Fine grained

                   sandstone, Ridge/curved, Ridge,

                   Brick (Roman), ?Curved

2012            Flue, Imbrex, Imbrex                Roman        Roman

                   (burnt, reused)                         

2014            Plain, Micaceous sandstone,      13-16th        ?11th -Med

                   ?Curved, Brick (37mm),

                   Brick (Roman), Ridge, Tegula,

                   ?Curved, ?Imbrex, ?Flue,

                   Chalk

2015            Mortar, Plain                             13-16th        Med

 

2016            Plain (graffiti), Plain, Brick         13-14th        Med

                   (Roman), ?Slate (burnt)

2017            Brick (Roman), ?Curved           ?11th           Roman-?11th

                   Fine grained sandstone

2018            Plain                                         13-16th        Med

2020            Plain                                         13-16th        Med

2024            Brick (Roman, reused,              ?11th           Roman - ?11th

                   overfired), Op. Sig., Imbrex

                   ?Curved, Daub (with wattle

                   impressions, ?Curved, Tegula,

                   ?Plain, Tegula (abraded),

                   ?Curved, Flat frags (reused,

                   same fabric as ?Curved),

                   Brick (Roman), ?Ridge

2025            Daub, Brick (Roman), ?Curved ?11th           Roman - ?11th

                   Flue, ?Curved, Brick (Roman),

                   Flat fragment

2026            Curved, Flat fragment, Tegula   12th             Roman - 12th

2028            Fine grained sandstone,             ?11th           Roman - ?11th

                   ?Curved (large fragment),

                   ?Curved (?M9), Imbrex

2030            Fine grained sandstone              ?Roman       ?Roman

                   Brick (?Roman)

2031            Brick (Roman), Fine grained      Roman        Roman

                   sandstone, Tegula

2036            Op. Sig, Brick (Roman)            Roman        Roman

                   Fine grained sandstone

2037            Fine grained sandstone,             Roman        Roman

                   Brick (Roman), Imbrex

2044            Brick (Roman,                          Roman        ?later Roman

                   finger-smoothed), Tegula,

                   Imbrex, Tegula (small size),

                   Brick (Roman)

2046            Brick (Roman)                          Roman        Roman

2047            Fine grained sandstone,             Roman        Roman

                   Tegula, Imbrex, Daub, Plain

                   (very small frag)

2049            Daub, Brick (Roman)                Roman        Roman

3005            Peg                                          13-16th        Med

3004            Peg                                          13-16th        Med

3012            Brick (134x39mm), Plain           14-15th        Med

3013            Plain                                         14-16th        Med

3014            Plain, Brick (Roman)                 13-16th        Roman-Med

3016            Plain, Plain+slip                        14-16th        Med

3017            Plain                                         13-16th        Med

3019            Plain (some burnt), Brick           14-15th        Med

                   (42mm)

3020            Plain (14th), Ridge, Brick 14-15th+      Med

                   (41mm), Peg, Fine grained

                   sandstone

3021            Plain, Peg                                 13-16th        Med

3022            Peg, Plain, Ridge                      13-16th        Med

3023            Crested ridge, Plain                   14-16th        Med

3024            Plain, Plain (reused), Crested     14-15th        Med

                   ridge, Peg, Brick (108x42mm)

3026            Plain, Peg                                 13-16th        Med

3039            Plain (?slip)                               13-16th        Med

4013            Dust pressed tiles                      19th+           Modern

 

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