Ham Green Pottery

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Two sherds, found in Somerset Earthen ware vessel (FindID 456111).jpg
Two sherds, found in Somerset
Sherd from a ?jug, "possibly" late Ham Green. Medieval, Ceramic Vessel (FindID 409586).jpg
Sherd from a ?jug, "possibly" late Ham Green.

Ham Green Pottery was produced between 1100 AD to 1250 AD at a hamlet above the village of Pill called Ham Green in the English county of Somerset.

Contents

History

The kiln was built of limestone lined with clay. It was 8 feet (2.4 m) long and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide and fired the clay which was thrown by hand. [1] Two types of jugs have been identified. Type A, believed to date from the 12th century have a yellow splashed plain lead glaze and have a diamond pattern decorating the rim. Type B, a more recent product appears greener, due to the presence of copper in the glaze. [2] The jugs were decorated with floral patterns sometimes with identifiable animals or human figures. [3]

Dendrochronology suggests that production had ceased by 1275. [4]

The site was excavated in 1959, when 6,915 fragments of pottery were uncovered, mainly decorated pieces of jugs and cooking pots. [1] Further excavation took place in 1978. [5]

Trade

Pottery was exported via a port near the mouth of the River Avon at Pill all over Britain, in particular to South West England, South Wales and Ireland. [6] [7] This led to the name Crockerne Pill which means literally 'pottery wharf'. [8]

Artefacts

'Ham Green' pottery has been found and identified in archaeological digs. It is an important archaeological 'dating tool' as the period of manufacture is so precise. Fragments found in excavations at Cheddar Palace were dated to 1200-1220. [1]

Bristol City Museum has a selection of pottery artifacts from this site and other locations which exhibit the decoration style and form of Ham Green pottery. The only item on display is a large jug at the M Shed.

Related Research Articles

Pottery Craft of making objects from clay

Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard, durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. The definition of pottery, used by the ASTM International, is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products." In archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, "pottery" often means vessels only, and figures of the same material are called "terracottas." Clay as a part of the materials used is required by some definitions of pottery, but this is dubious.

Lao ceramics refers to ceramic art and pottery designed or produced as a form of Lao art. The tradition of Lao ceramics dates back to the third millennium BCE. Pottery and ceramics were an essential part of the trade between Laos and its neighbours.

Earthenware Nonvitreous pottery

Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below 1,200 °C (2,190 °F). Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ceramic glaze, which the great majority of modern domestic earthenware has. The main other important types of pottery are porcelain, bone china, and stoneware, all fired at high enough temperatures to vitrify.

Celadon Term for ceramics with two different types of glazes

Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" ), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. Celadon originated in China, though the term is purely European, and notable kilns such as the Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province are renowned for their celadon glazes. Celadon production later spread to other parts of East Asia, such as Japan and Korea as well as Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. Eventually, European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain.

Salt glaze pottery

Salt-glaze or salt glaze pottery is pottery, usually stoneware, with a glaze of glossy, translucent and slightly orange-peel-like texture which was formed by throwing common salt into the kiln during the higher temperature part of the firing process. Sodium from the salt reacts with silica in the clay body to form a glassy coating of sodium silicate. The glaze may be colourless or may be coloured various shades of brown, blue, or purple.

Slipware

Slipware is pottery identified by its primary decorating process where slip is placed onto the leather-hard (semi-hardened) clay body surface before firing by dipping, painting or splashing. Slip is an aqueous suspension of a clay body, which is a mixture of clays and other minerals such as quartz, feldspar and mica. The slip placed onto a wet or leather-hard clay body surface by a variety of techniques including dipping, painting, piping or splashing. Slipware is the pottery on which slip has been applied either for glazing or decoration. Slip is liquified clay or clay slurry, with no fixed ratio of water and clay, which is used either for joining pottery pieces together by slip casting with mould, glazing or decorating the pottery by paining or dipping the pottery with slip.

Korean pottery and porcelain

Korean ceramic history begins with the oldest earthenware from around 8000 BC. Throughout the history, the Korean peninsula has been home to lively, innovative, and sophisticated art making. Long period of stability have allowed for the establishment of spiritual traditions, and artisan technologies specific to the region. Korean ceramics in Neolithic period have a unique geometric patterns of sunshine, or it's decorated with twists. In Southern part of Korea, Mumun pottery were popular. Mumun togi used specific minerals to make colors of red and black. Korean pottery developed a distinct style of its own, with its own shapes, such as the moon jar or Buncheong sagi which is a new form between earthenware and porcelain, white clay inlay celadon of Goryeo, and later styles like minimalism that represents Korean Joseon philosophers' idea. A lot of talented Korean potters were captured to Japan after the porcelain war in 1592–1598. Arita ware, founded by Yi Sam-pyeong opened a new era of porcelain in Japan. Another Japanese representative porcelain, Satsuma ware was also founded by Dang-gil Shim and Pyeong-ui Park. 14th generation of Su-kwan Shim have been using the same name to his grandfather and father to honor they are originally Korean, 14th Su-kwan Shim is honorable citizen of Namwon, Korea.

Pill, Somerset Human settlement in England

Pill is a village in North Somerset, England, situated on the southern bank of the Avon, about 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Bristol city centre. The village is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano. The former hamlets of Lodway and Ham Green are now contiguous with Pill, and the village of Easton in Gordano is nearby. The parish extends northwest beyond the M5 motorway to include the Royal Portbury Dock.

Qingbai ware

Qingbai ware is a type of Chinese porcelain produced under the Song Dynasty and Yuan dynasty, defined by the ceramic glaze used. Qingbai ware is white with a blue-greenish tint, and is also referred to as Yingqing. It was made in Jiangxi province in south-eastern China, in several locations including Jingdezhen, and is arguably the first type of porcelain to be produced on a very large scale. However, it was not at the time a prestigious ware, and was mostly used for burial wares and exports, or a middle-rank Chinese market. The quality is very variable, reflecting these different markets; the best pieces can be very thin-walled.

Deritend ware

Deritend ware is a distinctive style of medieval pottery produced in Birmingham, England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There are three types of Deritend ware; a fine to moderately sandy, micaceous orange to red ware, used mainly for jugs, with some examples of bowls, dripping trays and aquamaniles, dating to the 13th to early 14th centuries; a black or, less frequently, grey ware with a brown core, also micaceous, used mainly for cooking pots/jars and less commonly for large unglazed jugs and skillets/pipkins, dating from possibly the late 12th century to the early 14th century; and a sandy brown ware with grey core used for cooking pots, dating from possibly the late 12th century to 13th century. Wasters i.e. pottery misfires have been found for all three wares in Birmingham. Glazed Deritend ware jugs were decorated with white slip lines and applied white clay strips, often roller stamped, and white clay pads, The more complex decorative schemes are in the North French style ; the decorated jugs closely resemble London-type ware and it is distinctly possible that the Deritend ware industry included migrant potters from the London area in the thirteenth century.

Cheddar Palace

The Cheddar Palace was established in the 9th century, in Cheddar, Somerset, England. It was a royal hunting lodge in the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods and hosted the Witenagemot in the 10th century.

Lead-glazed earthenware

Lead-glazed earthenware is one of the traditional types of earthenware with a ceramic glaze, which coats the ceramic biscuit body and renders it impervious to liquids, as terracotta itself is not. Plain lead glaze is shiny and transparent after firing. Coloured lead glazes are shiny and either translucent or opaque after firing. Three other traditional techniques are tin-glazed, which coats the ware with an opaque white glaze suited for overglaze brush-painted colored enamel designs; salt glaze pottery, also often stoneware; and the feldspathic glazes of Asian porcelain. Modern materials technology has invented new vitreous glazes that do not fall into these traditional categories.

York Glazed Ware

York Glazed Ware is a type of Medieval ceramic produced in North Yorkshire, England in the 12th and 13th centuries AD.

Brandsby-type ware

Brandsby-type Ware is a type of Medieval ceramic produced in Brandsby, North Yorkshire, England, in the 13th and 14th centuries AD.

Humber ware

Humber ware is a type of Medieval ceramic produced in North Yorkshire, England in the late 13th to early 16th Centuries AD.

Ceramic art Decorative objects made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery

Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. While some ceramics are considered fine art, as pottery or sculpture, most are considered to be decorative, industrial or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology. Ceramic art can be made by one person or by a group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture and decorate the art ware. Products from a pottery are sometimes referred to as "art pottery". In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery.

Surrey whiteware

Surrey whiteware or Surrey white ware, is a type of lead-glazed pottery produced in Britain from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The white-fired sandy earthenware was produced largely from kilns in Surrey and along the Surrey-Hampshire border. Surrey whitewares were the most commonly used pottery in London during the late medieval period. There are four classes of Surrey whiteware: Kingston-type, Coarse Border ware, Cheam whiteware and Tudor Green ware.

Border ware

Border ware is a type of post-medieval British pottery commonly used in London during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The lead-glazed, sandy earthenware was produced from kilns along the border between Hampshire and Surrey. There are two classes of Border ware, fine whitewares and fine redwares.

Islamic ceramics from the Susa site

Susa is one of the most important archaeological sites in Iran, on the border between the Mesopotamian world and the Persian world. Inhabited since very ancient times, it remained occupied until the middle of the 15th century. Excavations carried out by French teams, allowed the discovery of many objects, including a large production of ceramics dating from the Islamic period, currently kept for a large part at the Louvre.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Barton, Kenneth James (1963). "A Medieval Pottery Kiln at Ham Green, Bristol" (PDF). Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. 82: 95–126.
  2. "The Medieval and Later Pottery and Ceramic Building Material from 3, Redcliffe Street, Bristol (BRS03)" (PDF). AVAC Reports. Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  3. Dowling, Rod. "Ham Green Wares". Three Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol - The Story of Bristol Pottery and Porcelain. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  4. Forward, Alice (2013). "Medieval Ceramics". The ceramic evidence for economic life and networks from 12th- to 17th century settlement sites in South Glamorgan (PDF) (PhD). Cardiff University. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  5. Jackson, Reg. "Medieval Potteries". Bristol Potters and Potteries. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  6. "Peter Street Hunting Jug". A History of the World. BBC. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  7. McCutcheon, Clare (2010). "Current Work on Saxo-Norman Pottery in Ireland" (PDF). Medieval Pottery Research Group: 3.
  8. Body, Geoff; Gallop, Roy (2015). Any Muddy Bottom: A History of Somerset's Waterborne Trade. History Press. p. 74. ISBN   9780750961639.