Information for record number MWA8128:
Post-Medieval Pottery Kiln, Polesworth

Summary The site of a pottery kiln, used for the firing of pottery ware, dating to the Post Medieval period. It was situated north of Potters Lane, Polesworth.
What Is It?  
Type: Pottery Kiln, Kiln
Period: Post-medieval (1540 AD - 1750 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Polesworth
District: North Warwickshire, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SK 26 02
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 Large quantities of pottery waste, kiln bricks etc. found by members of Polesworth Historical Society.
2 It is unlikely that a reference made in 1938 to a kiln, was the kiln responsible for recent finds. In 1977 a search by the Archeological and Historical Socierty uncovered a small number of kiln bobs along Potters Lane. Then in 1986 more pottery, in the form of pottery wasters and kiln furniture, was found in foundation trenches at the eastern end of Potters Lane. The recovered pottery was a good indication of the range of products of the Polesworth industry, which included slip decorated vessels, lead glazed jugs, pancheons and jars, unglazed types including horitcultural wares and finer yellow and black wares. Bricks with a vitreous coating were also found. In 1996 a third marked vessel was discovered. The yellow ware puzzel jug had the inscription "Polesworth Pottery", the style of the lettering was the same as a dated jug in the Fitzwilliam Museum. As of yet the site of the kiln has not been located . However layers of ash and coal fragments found in the fill of an old clay pit in 1986 provide a clue to the design of the kiln. The use of coal to fire the kiln indicates that it would have been a circular, multi-flue type in keeping with the tradition that streches from Yorkshire down through the Midlands. Polesworth kiln was likely to have had a brick structure - similar to those found in Staffordshire . It seems likely that the clay pit had originally been dug for potting clay. If this is the case then the clay used in Polesworth fabrics would have been the pale yellow/grey Coal Measures clay.
3 An archaeological evaluation to the north of 8 Potters Lane did not reveal any evidence for kilns or the pottery industry. The geological natural was sand and gravel rather than clay.
4 Further handwritten notes on the pottery, corroborating
2.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Article in serial
Title: Post-Medieval Archaeology: Post-Medieval Britain in 1986
Author/originator: G Egan
Date: 1987
Page Number: 267-293
Volume/Sheet: 21
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Article in serial
Title: Post-Medieval Archaeology: Polesworth: a north Warwickshire pottery
Author/originator: N Melton and K Scott
Date: 1999
Page Number: 94-126
Volume/Sheet: 33
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: Common Lane, Polesworth, Warwickshire, Archaeological Evaluation
Author/originator: Gethin B
Date: 2013
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 1331
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Handwritten notes on Post-Medieval Pottery Kiln, Polesworth (MWA8128)
Author/originator: K Scott?
Date: 2000
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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period Post Medieval About 1540 AD to 1750 AD (the 16th century AD to the 18th century AD)

The Post Medieval period comes after the medieval period and before the Imperial period.

This period covers the second half of the reign of the Tudors (1485 – 1603), the reign of the Stuarts (1603 – 1702) and the beginning of the reign of the Hannoverians (1714 – 1836).
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monument CLAY PIT * A place from which clay is extracted. back
monument LAYER * An archaeological unit of soil in a horizontal plane which may seal features or be cut through by other features. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument KILN * A furnace or oven for burning, baking or drying. Use specific type where known. back
monument FLUE * A passageway, duct or pipe use for the conveyance of heat, gasses, smoke or air. back
monument POTTERY KILN * A structure, composed of oven and hovel, used for the firing of pottery ware. back
monument MUSEUM * A building, group of buildings or space within a building, where objects of value such as works of art, antiquities, scientific specimens, or other artefacts are housed and displayed. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument STRUCTURE * A construction of unknown function, either extant or implied by archaeological evidence. If known, use more specific type. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record