Monument record 819/3 - Medieval Potter's tenement, Corby Road

A medieval pottery kiln, part of the Stanion pottery industry, was identified during archaeological evalaution in 1993 and subsequent excavation in 2002 on a site adjacent to Little Lane. No kiln structure was recorded in situ but pits containing kiln waste, clay dumps and remains of a building were noted. There was a total of 600kg of pottery from over 200 vessels. Glazed jugs were the major product but jars and bowls are also present.There were two distinct phases of pottery production, dating to the second half of the 14th century, and the second half of the 15th century.

{1} Trial trenches uncovered structural remains (possibly building fronting Little Lane) and dumps of material associated with pottery industry; substantial quantity of ceramic wasters. Occupation appears to have been in the period 13th-15th centuries; maps show that it had gone by 1730.

{2} Trial trenches revealed late medieval pits containing kiln waste, clay dumps and the remains of a late medieval building. All are probably related to the Stanion ceramics industry which flourished between the C13th and C15th.

{3} In the northern half of the trench was a series of walls and related features, probably of a single build but with some secondary insertions. The walls were roughly coursed and faced with local oolitic limestone around a rubble core. The maximum survival within the trench was within 0.25m of the modern ground surface, and the walls extended beyond the excavated area.
The broken remains of an almost complete but inverted pottery vessel was found between two of the building’s walls.
A patch of pure clean clay occupied a corner between two walls, and may represent a dump of potter’s clay. A larger spread of clay was found nearby which had been cut by a robber trench. This was associated with large quantities of late medieval pottery and roof tile.

{4} An evaluation trench excavated in 1993 revealed the well-preserved remains of a late medieval stone building, and to the south a cluster of pits that evidently contained large quantities of wasters from a nearby kiln, although the pits were not excavated at the time [Mon 819/3/6].
This area was shown as an empty plot on a map of 1730 (NRO Map 4090) suggesting that it had probably not been disturbed since the pottery industry came to an end at the end of the C15th.
The building was only partially exposed by the evaluation work of 1993. It is likely that the walls formed the rear of a building which fronted onto Lilttle Lane. All the walls were 0.5m to 0.6m wide and built of roughly coursed limestone around a rubble core. A small chamber contained a complete inverted jar buried within its earthen floor. Dumps of pottery against the outside rear wall and a further deposit of cleaned grey clay, posisbly for potting, within a walled area might suggest that this building was a potter's workshop.
The building appears to have stood until the late C15th and is therefore contemporary with the waster pits.
The southern building comprised a rough limestone wall which had been built across the backfilled boundary ditch. The wall was 0.5m wide and built of roughly coursed angular limestone up to 5 courses of which survived, at its northern end. 3m length of wall was exposed, the wall continuing beyond the southern limit of excavation. There was slight evidence for a possible floor level on the eastern side of the wall. It is suggested that a small stone building stood here during the C14th and C15th, and was broadly contemporary with the waster pits.

{5} The central area of the site contained a tight cluster of ten pits, some of which were inter-cut. The group extended 7.0m north-south and 5.0m east-west. The individual pits were typically oval in plan, between 1m and 3m long x 0.4m and 0.8m deep. They contained the waster dumps from a potter's kiln. A total of 601kg of pottery was recovered from the pits. This is probably related to catastrophic failure of single kiln firings, and within these groups the products of individual potters can be recognised. The southern part of the site contained two lengths of stone wall, both of which continued to the south beyond the excavated area, where the focus of contemporary buildings may lie. A ditch running along the southern edge of the excavation probably marked the southern boundary to the tenement form the C13th. In the C14th this boundary may have been moved further southwards when a stone building was constructed fronting onto Little Lane.
The ditch was 0.55m deep with a steep northern side and a flat bottom. It was a little more than 1.8m wide, however its southern edge lay beyond the limit of excavation. The upper ditch fill contained a fragment of a curfew. The ditch appears to have been delilberately filled with limestone prior to the construction of the overlying building in the C14th.
A watching brief carried out in January 2003 at the north end of the site exposed the top of a pit from which a small quantity of pottery was recovered.

<1> SODEN I, 1993, SMR REPORT FORM, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN49308.

<2> Shaw M, 1993-4, Stanion, Little Lane, 25/189 (unchecked) (Note). SNN104217.

<3> Soden I., 1993, An Archaeological Evaluation at 2 Corby Road, Stanion, Northants, 1993, p.3-6 (checked) (Report). SNN70158.

<4> Chapman P.; Blinkhorn P.; Chapman A., 2008, A Medieval Potters' Tenement at Corby Road, Stanion, p.236 (checked) (Article). SNN106437.

<5> Curteis M.; Musgrave E.; Tingle M. (Editors), 1993-4, Archaeology in Northamptonshire, 1993, 25/p. 189 (Article). SNN104207.

<5> CHAPMAN A., 2004, Archaeological Excavation of Pottery Waster Pits at 2 Corby Road, Stanion, December 2002. An Interim Report, (unchecked) (Interim Report). SNN104971.

<6> Pike, A (ed), 1994, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (24), 24/p. 23 (Newsletter). SNN40019.

<7> McCarthy, M R, Brooks, C M, 1988, Medieval Pottery in Britain AD 900-1600, p. 285 (Book). SNN76510.

<8> Society for Medieval Archaeology, 1994, Medieval Archaeology (38), p. 237 (Journal). SNN113116.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:13PM