Post-medieval Oxford - Oxford City Council

Material culture
The categories of ceramics, sealed bottles, and clay pipes have notably been subject
to dedicated study (Leeds 1941; Haslam 1969; 1970; Biddle 1988; Banks 1997).
Wall-paintings have also been recorded and published (Leeds 1936; Rouse 1972;
Airs and Rhodes 1980; Munby 1992). The extensive St Ebbe’s/Westgate excavations
in the 1960s and 1970s provided the first opportunity to study a wide range of postmedieval
material from well recorded contexts (Rhodes 2006). This material has
established a framework and set of type series for post-medieval material culture in
the town (Hassall and Halpin et al. 1984). Subsequent, smaller-scale discoveries
have built on this work. The St Ebbe’s material included a range of artefact types
from the 16th to the mid-19th century: pottery, coins, tokens and counters; dress and
harness fittings; iron knives, tools, keys and horse equipment; bone and ivory combs,
brushes and knife handles; glass bottles (including seals) and flasks; drinking
glasses; window glass; clay tobacco pipes; hair and wig curlers; roof and floor tiles.
Pottery
Three basic wares are common from this period – earthenware, stoneware and
porcelain each of which have two basic sub-divisions depending on whether they are
coarse wares for cooking and utility needs, while fine wares are more frequently
decorated and are for serving or display. The development of pottery styles from the
16th-19th centuries in Oxford is summarised by Mellor (1997). The identification and
understanding of pottery fabrics remains the most common way to date features in
most archaeological investigations but they can also provide evidence for trade and
distribution, socio-economic factors, technological advances as well as providing site
specific information through the types of vessels used (Mellor 1994a: 9).
Much of the Ashmolean reserve collections of post-medieval pottery remain
unpublished. A number of notable assemblages during the late 19th and early 20th
century are summarised by Mellor (1997). A substantial assemblage of postmedieval
pottery was recovered during the demolition of Oriel College owned
properties on the High and the creation of King Edward Street in 1871-5, notably a
collection of tin glazed earthenwares unparalleled in the city. Elsewhere, notable
assemblages were recovered from Civet Cat (adj No 3 Cornmarket), 36 Cornmarket
Street and the Masonic Hall, High Street produced assemblages of late 16th century
German stonewares, some with portrait medallions (Mellor 1997: 74-5). The Fleurde-Luce
at Carfax produced a collection of mid-17th century pottery including some
interesting imports and the Bodleian Library tunnel excavated across the City Ditch
found it to contain dumps of mid-17th pottery associated with the Civil War (Mellor
1997: 76-7).
Excavations in 1899 at the Clarendon Building also produced Rhenish stonewares of
a mid-late 17th century date. Large interventions like the construction of the
underground bookstore for the Bodleian in Radcliffe Square in 1909 and the building
of the New Bodleian extension on Broad Street in 1937 also produced large postmedieval
assemblages (Lawrence and Emden et al. Archive Bodl. M.S. Top. Oxon;
Bruce-Mitford 1939).
The rescue excavations in St Ebbe’s during the 1960s and 1970s produced the
largest collection of well stratified post-medieval material (Hassall 1984). The 16th
century assemblage was small and fairly typical largely comprising red earthenware,
probably Brill/Boarstall ware. A notable absence of cooking vessels however,
indicated that other non-ceramic vessels were being used (Mellor 1984: 214). The
17th century assemblage demonstrated an increase in the quality and variety of
vessels in use in the intra-mural area. This included a high number of tankards
OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT- POST MEDIEVAL
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