SNN106437 - A Medieval Potters' Tenement at Corby Road, Stanion

Excavation by Northamptonshire Archaeology of a house plot at Corby Road, Stanion uncovered a cluster of pits within a potter’s tenement containing waster dumps. A total of 600kg of pottery comes from over 200 vessels. Glazed jugs were the major product but jars and bowls are also present. This assemblage adds significantly to the understanding of the Lyveden/Stanion pottery industry, which supplied much of the medieval Northamptonshire and parts of the surrounding counties with its more utilitarian table ware. There are also smaller quantities of glazed roof ridge tiles, a few with crests, and ceramic kiln furniture. 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. The evidence comes form a combination of the dating of associated pottery of other types and typology. It is now certain that the production of Stanion B ware was considerably longer-lived than first anticipated. It has been regarded as ending in the 14th century, but the evidence from this site shows that production was still taking place in the later years of the 15th century. It would therefore seem appropriate now to give the tradition a chronology of AD 1200-1500. The evidence also indicates a revision of the Lyveden/Stanion D ware, generally regarded as starting around AD 1400 to replace the B ware, based on the evidence form Lyveden. However, wasters of both fabrics have been found at Stanion in all the pit groups. It is suggested that it should now be dated AD 1350-1500, and may even have started earlier. It is notable that none of the kiln waste from this site is wheel –thrown, it has all been coil-built and finished on a turntable. The Stanion potters were very late in taking up the wheel, and the evidence from this site indicates that it was in the early 16th century at the earliest. A review and a gazetteer of other archaeological work an Stanion, including details of a kin excavated in 1990, is also provided.