Castle Collection
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140 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1951-52. IX. SCOTTISH MEDIEVAL POTTERY E BOTHWELTH : L CASTLE COLLECTION. BY STEWART CRUDEN, F.S.A., A.R.I.B.A., F.S.A.Sco-r., Inspecto Ancienf ro t Monument Scotlandr sfo . Bothwell Castle is one of the largest and finest mediaeval castles surviving in Scotland. Documentary evidence implie existencs sit s 1278wa n ei t I . taken by the Scots in 1298—9 after a siege of fourteen months, recaptured by Edward in 1301, and held for the English until 1314 when, after Bannock- burn, it was surrendered to Edward Bruce and thereafter dismantled by him. There was a second English occupation from 1331 until 1337, when it was captured by Sir Andrew de Moray, to whom it rightfully belonged. Partially destroyed by him as a military expedient it lay waste until c. 1362, when a second reconstruction of the twice dismantled fabric took place. Much of the original 13th-century work remains; the 14th- and 15th-century works also surviv somn ei e considerable exten heightd an t . The clearance Ministr th e sity th b e f f Workseyo o , begu 1937-8n ni , produced the largest assemblage of mediaeval pottery yet recovered from a single sit Scotlandn ei . Fro greae mth t quantit fragmentf yo vessel3 s2 s have been completely restore mans a d yd an substantia l fragments reconstructed. The material speaks for itself, and without further argument establishes principae th l poin thif to s paper, viz. that ther Scotlann i s ei drepresentativa e collectio f mediaevao n l potter n considerabli y d hithertan e o unrecorded quantity, comparabl qualityn ei , variet artistid yan c interest wit more hth e widely-known collections at York, the British Museum and elsewhere in England. No this i r s unique. Other excavations undertake Ministre th y nb t ya the abbeys of Glenluce, Melrose, Jedburgh and Deer have likewise produced abundancn a first-ratf eo e material, while fro contemporare mth y castlf eo Caerlaverock, where work is now in progress, four complete jugs have been recovered from the moat in recent months. It is the present writer's intention to publish the material from these and other Scottish sites and thereby make a first tentative attempt to form a comprehensive corpus or review of Scottish mediaeval pottery.1 The Bothwell pottery •was recovered mainly from the garderobe chute Glenluce 1Th e Abbey collectio beew nno publisheds nha , Dumf.. inT and Gall. A.S., xxrx (1950-51), 177 et seq. SCOTTISH MEDLEVAL POTTERY. 141 7/ 3 2 < O ( ?inches Mediaeval Pottery from BothweU Castle (figs. 1-3). 142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1951-52. ?inches Medieval Pottery from Bothwell Castle (flgs. 4-7). SCOTTISH MEDIAEVAL POTTERY. 143 Mediaeval Pottery from Bothwell Castle (figs. 8, 9). 144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1951-52. lOa 10123 i nches Mediaeval Pottery from Bothwell Castle (fig. 10). SCOTTISH MEDIAEVA5 14 L POTTERY. of the 15th-century latrine tower on the south curtain, from the well of the 13th-century north-eastern round tower, and at the foot of the 13th-century wing wall north of the donjon below the moat outfall and the sally-port. No closely dated archaeological context was observed; no sequence or development of rim form or other significant features can be stratigraphically justified. This paper consequently cannot morclaie b mo et tha npresentatioa n e materiaoth f l with some conclusion f datino s d derivationgan . Such conclusion necessarile sar y derived fro architecturae mth l contex frod an mt a purely typological comparison with parallel f moro s e certain history elsewhere. The necessarile yar y provisiona subjecd an l revisioo t t n when further excavatio studd nbeean s yha n don thin ei s neglected fiel Scottisf do h archaeology. It is hoped that this and the other accounts will be of assistance to excavators in Scotland, and will encourage the preservation and exact recordin findsw o thane s ,f a reliablto g e Scottish chronologe b n ca y postulated. THE BOTHWELL POTTERY l wheel-madeal , , exhibit swida e rang formf eo , decoration and use. Chief among the vessels of hollow-ware are medium- sized jugs for table and kitchen use, and pitchers of medium and large dimensions. Flat dishe shallod san w bowl alse sar o well represented. Capacious ovoid jugs with well-developed necks predominate. This is indeed the typical Bothwell shape, most closely paralleled by the ware in the British Museume Manchesteth d an , r Museum, which conies froe mth 14th-century kiln site of Ashton near Chester. The Ashton ware is, however, 1 technically less accomplished e finis d th surfac; an h e ornameny b e ar t comparison poor; handles are less firm, and there are no multiple handles, characteristia c Bothwell feature (see below). Many of the Bothwell pots have plain sagging bases, others have either widely spaced, irregular or continuous thumbing, or tooh'ng, along the basal angle. These impressions vary in emphasis as well as distribution. The crudest irregularln fora s mi y space de basa pinchinth f lo anglt gy ou eb thum fingerd ban somn I . e examples, probably tooled e impressioth , s ni lon narrowd gan , extendin juge bode th th ; f yp o gother u s hav unbroken ea n crinkly edge reminiscen pie-crusta f o t . This featur probabls ewa y evolved givo t e stabilit vessea o yt l wit hsaggina g t manbaseBu y. examplet i f so are too high above the edge to achieve this. We have thus a common artistic degeneration—the survival as a purely decorative feature of a once functional device. Theoretically, the thumbing which stabilises must be early, but at Bothwell as in England all stages of this treatment of the saggin gevidencen i bas e likels i ear t I y. tha range tth thif eo s development cover s13t e mosth hf o tcentury thad an ,t considerabla ther s ewa e overlap in date of the various stages, earlier stages persisting alongside later. For Liverpool Ann. Arch, and Anthrop., xxi (1934), illustrated. VOL. LXXXVI1 . 10 146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1951-52. instance, a jug found at Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire,1 containing coins of c. 1320—30, has a sagging base with thumbing at widely spaced intervals. Although typologically this phase may be dated about the middle of the 13th century, yet even in the south of England a comparable jug is dated not earlier than c. 1324.2 A proven 13th-century form of which there is but one example at Both- wel squas i l widd tan e (PI. XXXsaggina s ha , g t 1)I bas.continuoud ean s small thumbing round the basal angle. Although it occurs at York, Ashton and London this shape is not frequently found in England. There is a striking resemblance3 , however, between the Bothwell and York examples. The former exampl uniforma s eha olive-green glaze. Belo s spouwit a s i t small modelled face mask wit attenuaten ha d strap-like beard bridgine gth neck of the vessel and terminating on the shoulder with crude incisions representing hair. On the body of the vessel, round the beard, is a ring of spaced clay pellets, suggesting a necklace. The spout rises above the face and is supported by boldly modelled arms and hands clutching the forehead. Th t Mary'eS Yore th s kn Museumi jugw no , dates i , d late 13th centuryt I . browa s pald ha nan e green uppe e glazth n reloweo e halfTh r. par plais ti n biscuit-ware splashed with green glazeuppee Th .r hal s decoratei f d with lightlo tw y drawn band f fouo s r girth grooves thred an , e row f evenlo s y spaced raised pellets in manganese purple-brown. There is no face mask belo e restorewth d spout pronounceA . d keel moulding runp s to fro e mth of the handle, like a collar round the neck, and conveys an adequate sense of strength in seeming to tie the handle firmly to the neck. This feature is eviden Bothwele th n i t l exampl lessea n ei r degree. Wherea Bothwele sth l base is sagging the York one is flat, but with continuous thumbing identical thao t Bothwellf to Yore Th k. handl rouns ei died dan s away int bodye oth : Bothwele th l handl strap-likes i finishe d bode ean th yn s o wit h well-made leaf terminals. Whateve differencee rth detain i s recurrence lth unusuae th f eo l shap surels ei y significant sucr fo , hvessea awkwars li almoss i use o t dt I .t impossibl empto et y throug e spout hth indeed an , d canno completele b t y emptied without being turned upsid wely e downma l havt I . e beeo s n fashione decantea s da r wit hsedimena t trap. The slender "baluster" jug is represented by one example from Bothwell (PI .Englise XXIXTh . h 3) ,datin f thigo s typ s restricted—iei - de s wa t veloped abou middle 13te th t th hf eo centur y (Oxford characteristis i d an ) c secone oth f d half (Londo Thamed nan s Valley) Bothwele Th . l exampls ei probably late 13th or early 14th. It has near analogies at York, Cambridge Universite th n (i y Museu Archaeology)mf o , Nottingha mAshton.d 4an 5 The most remarkable of the other 13th-century types is the slender 1 P.S.A.S., XLVIII (1913-14), 398, fig.