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Bury Medieval Coarseware
Site: Various, Bury St. Edmunds.
Period: Medieval (mid 12th-14th centuries AD).
Excavator: Suffolk C.C. Archaeological Service.
Published: internal report.
Brief description: These are three examples of medieval coarsewares from Bury St. Edmunds. The most common vessel forms are tall and squat jars with 'developed' rims, jugs with wide strap handles and applied vertical strips, and large bowls.
Several fabrics are common to the town, although no production sites have yet been identified. The most common type, 'Bury Ware' (top picture), is a medium sandy fabric with few other inclusions, often fired dark grey with reddish brown margins. Also common is a fabric with coarse rounded white quartz grains, often blue-grey firing (middle picture). A buff fabric with very coarse grains of white and red quartz, occasional coarse chalk and flint is the third most common fabric (bottom picture). Other fabrics are known, most notably a type which is similar to 'Bury Ware' but has shell dusting on the outer surface, usually on the upper half of the body.
Further reading
Nothing is published on this ware at present.
Sue Anderson, © 2000.
