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Ipswich Ware
Site: Ipswich and Brandon, Suffolk.
Period: Middle Saxon (700-850 AD).
Excavator: Suffolk C.C. Archaeological Service.
Published: forthcoming.
Brief description: A plain sandy greyware which was made in two main fabrics - smooth and gritty. Vessels were generally small, medium and large baggy jars with plain upright rims. Hanging vessels with upright pierced lugs were also made, and there were some rarer forms such as decorated bottles. Jar bases are characteristically very thick, and upper bodies are often 'girth-grooved' (by finger-rilling - not shown in the photo). The ware is thought to have been made on a hand-turned 'slow-wheel', as opposed to the fast kick-wheel used by Roman and Late Saxon potters.
This ware is distributed throughout East Anglia and beyond, but other Middle Saxon wares were produced in the north (Whitby-type ware) and Midlands (Maxey-type ware). Handmade wares similar to those produced in the Early Saxon period continued to be made in these and other areas.
Further reading
Blinkhorn, P., forthcoming, Ipswich Ware, MPRG Occasional Paper.
Hurst, J., 1976, 'The pottery', in Wilson, D. (ed.), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge University Press, pp.299-312 (Middle Saxon).
West, S., 1963, 'The local pottery', in 'Excavations at Cox Lane (1958) and at the Town Defences, Shire Hall Lane, Ipswich (1959)', Procs. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology 29(3): 233-303.
Sue Anderson, © 2000.
