Monument record 819/9 - Medieval pottery industry, Stanion

Medieval pottery industry comprising at least ten kilns based within the village of Stanion. Production generally took place sometime between the mid 12th-mid 14th century and was centred in an area to the north of the church between SP 91428715 and SP 91428700 along the line of a possible toft boundary bank. Isolated kilns have also been found elsewhere in the village (See child records). The earliest kilns in production are thought to have been clamp kilns, however, none have yet been recorded. These were thought to have been responsible for the firing of coil-built, wheel-finished cooking pots, bowls, dishes and jugs in poorly prepared fabrics. The secondary phase kilns including Musty type 4a parallel-flued kilns produced coil-built and wheel-thrown vessels in better prepared fabrics, possibly in use at the end of the 13th century or the early 14th century. The latter stages of this industry saw the use of more refined clays and most of the vessels being wheel-thrown. One of the characteristics of Stanion kiln products include the use of two different clays used on the same vessel, ie a white clay and an iron rich clay. The kilns also produced crested ridge tiles and glazed floor tiles. A geophysical survey carried out within the village in 1993 located no evidence of any further kilns. [General record for the pottery industry; please see individual records for more details]

{1} Medieval pottery was being recovered in the village in significant quantities as early as the 1930s, although it was not until the 1960s that definite evidence for the existence of pottery kilns was recognised. Between the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s at least five kilns have been recognised showing that the village was producing Lyveden type pottery on scale perhaps a large as lyveden itself. The impetus for locating the kilns here was likely due to the extensive woodland nearby and outcrops of different types of clay.

{2} Medieval kilns (centred SP 915870), within Stanion village. There is evidence of a medieval pottery industry in Stanion, though few details of it are known. The kilns appear to have been producing
pottery of a type similar to Lyveden ware and probably of the same date.

{4} Overview of the excavated evidence up to 2002

<1> FOARD G.R., 1981, Stanion- medieval pottery production (Report). SNN76598.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 135/ Site 10 (Series). SNN77380.

<3> McCarthy, M R, Brooks, C M, 1988, Medieval Pottery in Britain AD 900-1600, p. 285 (Book). SNN76510.

<4> Chapman P.; Blinkhorn P.; Chapman A., 2008, A Medieval Potters' Tenement at Corby Road, Stanion, p. 218-227 (Article). SNN106437.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 8:28PM