EFH 95 - Forehill, Ely, Cambridgeshire

 

Ceramic Building Materials

 

by S Garside-Neville

 

1.0 Introduction

This sample was sampled on site by the excavators, with some material being given a simple description  and discarded.  The material that remained was then viewed by a ceramic building materials specialist at a later date.

 

 

2.1 Roman material

Roman material is represented by fragments of box flue tile and imbrex.  The box flue tile is combed which probably indicates a 2nd century or later date.

 

 

2.2 Medieval material

The bulk of the sample is medieval in date, and seems to be associated with 14th century material.   

 

2.2.1 Roofing  material - peg tile

The plain roofing material consists of peg tile, which has two forms: there are pegholes placed centrally at the top of the plain roofer, and there are also examples of two pegholes.  Although the pegtile is quite fragmentary there are big variations thickness and width measurements.  Added to this there are two colours to the tile, red and yellow.  However, there is a wide variation of fabrics within these two colours, including a shelly fabric.  This probably indicates different tile industries in the area, which, allied with the different pegtile formats, and measurements may point to different date ranges.

 

2.2.2 Roofing material - ridge tile and hip tile

There are ridge and hip tiles which would have been used in conjunction with the plain tiles.  The hip tiles are highly fired, and are more or less white in colour.  The ridge tile consists of crested, and probably plain (though this plain is fragmentary and may have been crested anyway).  The crests are glazed yellow or green-brown.  Some of the crests are 'stepped'.  Crests are quite regional in flavour, and this stepping may be an indication of the traditions of the Ely area.

 

2.2.3 Floor tile

Floor tile is present.  It tends to be either very worn, or with a degraded glaze that indicates burning.  The earliest material is mosaic floor tile.  This is probably 13th century in date.  The examples on this site are triangular, where the shape is identifiable.  There are two types of decorated floor tiles - two-colour and counter-relief.  The two-colour (with an impressed design which would have been filled with white slip and then glazed to create a two-colour tile) examples are very worn and it is difficult to discern a pattern.  The counter-relief tiles have a stamped design which is glazed over.  The  examples from this site are quite distinctive, and are Eames' (1980) design number 384 which is from the Bawsey kiln site, and is 14th century in date.  There are also other floor tiles which seem to be plain glazed, although they are so worn, any design may have been worn away.

 

2.2.4 Material of unknown function

There is one other group of material the function of which is uncertain.  There are two examples forms which are in an orange tile fabric, and are shaped similarly to floor tiles.  However, they have four scooped out circles, and scoring in the upper surface.  One fragment has a patch of green, probably burnt, glaze.  The scooped out circles have traces of mortar around the rims which hints that the holes may have contained something.  It may be that these are wall tiles, and the circles could have contained glass or something else to provide decorative colour. 

 

In addition, there is another fragment of material which is in a yellow fabric and has a scooped out section.  It has a lightly scored outer surface, which probably served as keying.  It is different in shape from the other fragments, and does not look so tile-like.

 

There are two contexts that contain fragments of material that are tubular, and have some mortar on the surfaces.  These pieces are roughly thrown and could be some sort of pipe, chimney or may be pottery.

 

2.2.4 Other material

There is a small amount of daub, associated with 14th century material.  The daub shows the impression of wattle rods.

 

There are also stone roof tiles from one context.

 

 

2.3 Post medieval material

The post medieval material consists of pantile, which can date from the 17th century, but the examples from this site look quite manufactured and probably date from the 19th century. 

There is a fragment of Staffordshire ware, which may be some sort of plaque, or could be a fragment of a large plate.

 

 

2.4 Discussion

2.4.1 Sampling

The lack of systematic recording has limited the effectiveness of this sample.  However, enough material has been retained for it to make a useful contribution to both the site, and to the study of ceramic building materials in the Cambridgeshire area and nationally.

 

2.4.2 Fabrics

As noted above, there is a wide variety of medieval fabrics present.  These will be worth recording so that the fabrics can be used to compare with other examples from the region.

 

2.4.3 Research

Further research needs to be carried out by:

 

·      Analysing the material's context within the site, and the area in which it lies within the city

 

·      Finding comparisons for the material of unidentified function

 

·      Comparing the material with published source

 

·      Comparing the material with unpublished assemblages

 

2.4.4 Conclusions

Although the sample is small, it has much potential for contributing useful information about the site.

 

2.4.5 Recommendations

·      The ceramic building materials should be fully recorded by a ceramic building materials specialist

·      The floor tile material should be viewed by a floor tile specialist

·      The material should be published, including the roof tile

 

 

References

Eames, E S, 1980.  Catalogue of medieval lead-glazed eartheware tiles, British Museum Publications

 

Context Listing

Context       Form/s                                     Spot date              Date

u/s               Crested ridge (green-brown         14-18th                  18th+

                             glazed crest missing,

                             ?reused), ?Crest (yellow

                             glaze, white slip)

                             Staffordshire ware

                             (?plaque)

100              Plain (shelly fabric, green- 13-16th

                             brown glaze), Unknown

                             id (scooped out cups,

                             scored lines, stabbed holes,

                             light mortar in cups)

 194             Peg (nailhole in corner),

                             Unknown id (holes

                             scooped from slab of clay,

                             mortar around edge of

                             holes, uneven, bubbly

                             green glaze, architectural

                             feature?)

206              Pantile, Plain, Peg (?2 pegholes   13-19th                  17th+

218              Plain (+green glaze), Plain,         13-16th                  14th

                             Mortar

257              Floor tile (L100W102B16,          14th                      14th

                             counter-relief, Eames

                             384, Bawsey kiln,

                             bubbly green glaze,

                             ?mortar in impression,

                             indented border)

292              Daub (rod impressions), Floor     14th                      14th

                             (bevelled edge, indented

                             border, slip, green-brown

                             glaze, ?Eames 384),

                             Floor (?plain)

314              Crested ridge (stepped crest,       14-16th

                             green-yellow glaze,

                             ?yellow glaze on crest,

                             green on body), Ridge

                             (green glaze)

324              Stone roof tile (oblong L180       Medieval

                             B125, mortar)

330              Plain (thin), Plain (+mortar)        13-16th

                             ?tile (tubular)

382              Hip tile(naihole, highly fired,       14-16th

                             ?white slip), Plain (+tally

                             mark)

352              Peg (Central peghole, B162T10)13-16th

512              Unknown id (yellow fabric,

                             trimmed edges, scored/

                             keyed outer surface,

                             scooped out inner area)

516              Plain (?kiln waste)                     13-16th                 

520              Plain mosaic (triangular, very      13th

                             worn, cut edge, ?reused

                             white slip)

624              Plain, Ridge (green glaze),          13-16th

                             Plain (green glaze

                             patch)

632              Box flue tile (combed), Plain       Roman-16th           13-16th

                             (bubbly green glaze),

                             Plain (+mortar), Ridge

                             (green glaze), Plain

691              Crested ridge (green glaze,          14-16th

                             upstanding & notched

                             crest, ?reused), Plain

                             (overfired, patch of

                             glaze)

731              Plain, Plain (+mortar), Plain       13-16th

                             (+green glaze)

753              Plain (green glaze), Plain            13-16th

                             (reused), Peg

780              ?tile (tubular, mortar inside),       13-16th

                             Plain (+mortar), Plain      

891              Plain (+glaze), Plain                   13-16th

905              Plain (+green-brown glaze)         13-16th

920              Plain (brown glaze on sanded      13-16h

                             side)

1042            /126\ Floor (two colour,             13-14th                  14th

                             very worn, bevelled edge,

                             reused), Floor (worn,

                             dark green glaze, two-

                             colour, bevelled edge),

                             Floor (very worn, slip,

                             bevelled edge), Mosaic

                             tile (triangular, very

                             worn), Floor (?triangular,

                             dark green glaze, shelly

                             fabric), Mosaic tile (very

                             worn, cut edge, triangular)

1044            Plain (thin, spot of glaze)            13-16th

1130/31/32   Plain (green glaze)                     13-16th

1133            ?Plain                                       13-16th

1139            Plain (B153T13, reused)            13-16th

1227            Plain (mortar), Plain, Plain         13-16th

                             (+green glaze), Ridge

1229            Peg tile (2 holes, B185T14)        13-16th

1440            ?Plain                                       13-16th

1614            Imbrex                                      Roman                  Roman

 

sgn

5/98