A GROUP OF ENGLISH AND IMPORTED MEDIEVAL POTTERY FROM LESNES ABBEY , KENT ; AND THE TRADE IN EARLY HISPANO-MORESQUE POTTERY TO ENGLAND .sx By G. C. DUNNING , F.S.A. .sx THE group of medieval pottery described in this paper was found at Lesnes Abbey in June 1959 , when the smaller of two stone-lined pits added against the west end of the Reredorter was cleared .sx The pit measured 8 ft .sx by 5 ft .sx internally , and was about 10 ft .sx deep .sx The greater part of the filling , about 7 ft .sx in depth , consisted of chalk and stone rubble , fragments of sandy mortar , a few pieces of worked stone , and broken roofing tiles .sx Below this filling was a layer of dark soil , about 2 ft .sx in depth , at the bottom of the pit .sx All the pottery was found in the layer of dark soil ; there is thus no doubt that it is contemporary , and was absolutely sealed by several feet of building debris .sx I am indebted to the officers of the Historic Buildings Section of the London County Council for these details , and for permission to examine the pottery and prepare this report for publication .sx The pottery belongs to six vessels , of which four are almost complete and must have been thrown away whole .sx It is divided into the following classes :sx .sx Two green-glazed jugs of types frequently found in the City of London , and probably made in east Surrey .sx .sx An unglazed jug , probably made at Limpsfield , Surrey .sx .sx A jug of polychrome ware decorated with birds and shields , and part of a glazed pitcher .sx Both were made in western France in the region of Saintes .sx .sx A large cover of Hispano-Moresque lustreware , imported from Malaga .sx The group is outstanding for several reasons .sx In a single find pottery made in the locality is associated with imports from two different countries on the Continent .sx The three English jugs are of different types , and it is valuable to have them together in a group .sx The polychrome jug is a type long recognized as imported to England , and brought here by the wine trade of Gascony .sx The cover of Spanish lustreware is new to British medieval archaeology , and increases the range of imported pottery known to have reached England in the course of sea-trade .sx The date of the group is closely determined by the polychrome jug .sx Pottery of this class was made in western France and exported to England during a very short period .sx The available evidence , cited below ( p. 5 ) , points to the period c. 1280-1300 for the date of the group of pottery from Lesnes Abbey .sx .sx GREEN-GLAZED JUGS ( pl .sx 1a and figs .sx 1 , 2 ) .sx Fig. 1 .sx Baluster jug , 16 1/4 in .sx high , made of light grey sandy ware , mostly covered outside by a buff slip , and glazed streaky light green on the neck and body to below the bulge .sx The profile shows a continuous curve , the only demarcation between neck and body being a ridge at two-thirds of the height .sx The handle is plain and circular in section .sx The edge of the base is slightly moulded , and the middle of the base sags slightly below the level of the edge .sx This is a typical example of the standard type of baluster jug frequently found in the City of London .sx The slender form , absence of decoration , and unstable base suggest that the type was not primarily intended for use at the table , but rather for drawing water out of a well .sx That pottery jugs were used for this purpose is shown by the accumulation of over fifty jugs , many intact , in the filling of a medieval well excavated by Mr. S. S. Frere between St. George's Street and Burgate , Canterbury , in 1952 .sx Fig. 2 .sx Ovoid jug , 12 1/4 in .sx high , made of light grey sandy ware with light reddish buff surface , covered by yellow slip .sx Mottled green glaze covers the neck and body to below the bulge .sx The neck is cylindrical , separated from the bulbous body by a ridge , and the base is retracted above the foot-ring on which the jug stands steadily .sx The rim has an outward slope , with a groove and moulding below , and is pinched to form a small lip .sx At the middle of the neck is a broad rounded cordon between a ridge and a narrow flat cordon .sx The handle is plain and circular in section .sx The ovoid jug with retracted foot is also a type common in London , and sometimes profusely decorated .sx The contemporaneity of these two jugs is confirmed by the finding of fragments of both types in medieval buildings in Joyden's Wood , near Bexley , where the occupation is limited to the period c. 1280-1320 .sx The kilns where they were made have not yet been located , but probably they were to the south of London , in east Surrey .sx One site was at Earlswood , where potters' refuse and wasters [SIC] have been known for a long time .sx .sx UNGLAZED JUG ( fig. 3 ) .sx Large part of neck , body , and base of a small jug , about 6.1 in .sx high , made of grey sandy ware with dark grey surface , unglazed .sx The body is bulging , with wide sagging base .sx The upper part of the body is marked by fine horizontal grooves and wheel-marks .sx The neck contracts upwards , and the rim was everted .sx The lower part of the handle is preserved separately ; it is roughly circular in section , and deeply stab-marked down the back .sx Unglazed jugs of grey ware , rather archaic in character , are known from a number of sites in north-west Kent .sx The major site is Eynsford Castle , where excavations by the Ministry of Works have produced many jugs of this type in deposits of the end of the thirteenth century .sx Other sites are at Joyden's Wood near Bexley , and at Bexley .sx Pottery of this character was made in east Surrey , where at least one kiln-site is known .sx Recently Mr. Brian Hope-Taylor excavated a kiln and potter's workshop at Vicars Haw , Limpsfield , which produced a mass of jugs , cooking-pots , and bowls with the characteristics given above .sx .sx POTTERY FROM WESTERN FRANCE .sx Polychrome jug ( pl .sx 1b and fig. 4 ) .sx Several fragments of a nearly complete jug , skilfully restored at the Institute of Archaeology , London .sx The jug , 10.3 in .sx high , is made of thin whitish ware with a thin colourless glaze on the outside surface .sx It is of slender pear-shape with retracted foot .sx The decoration in free-style is of a bird and a shield on each side , and a third shield beneath the spout .sx The figures are outlined in dark brown ; the birds are coloured green and the shields are orange-yellow , with three bars instead of the more usual two .sx One bird and two shields are nearly complete , but the rest of the decoration is fragmentary .sx The bird and shield design is one of the leading patterns on polychrome ware .sx Examples , more or less complete , are known in England and Wales from London , Stonar , Felixstowe , Cardiff , and Llantwit Major .sx The shape of the jug also occurs several times on jugs from London , Ipswich , Writtle , Canterbury , Old Sarum , Glastonbury Abbey , and Whichford Castle .sx Since the initial discussion and inventory of polychrome ware in Archaeologia in 1933 , a considerable number of new finds has been made in Britain .sx The total number of sites now stands at twenty-five in England , six in Wales , still one in Scotland , and Ireland ( as predicted in the original paper ) can now show three sites .sx These additions alone call for a re-evaluation of the material , but even more significant is the new evidence in France .sx The kilns of an intense medieval pottery industry have been discovered at La Chappelle-des-Pots , a village to the east of Saintes in Charente Maritime .sx The manufacture here of polychrome ware and the other types of pottery also exported from France to England is now an established fact .sx It is now possible , therefore , to discuss more fully the trade in polychrome ware from its centre of production in France , and to give a more balanced evaluation of its distribution in the British Isles .sx For the present purpose it must suffice to summarize the evidence for the date of polychrome ware .sx This is based on finds made at five castles , either built by Edward =1 , occupied by the English for a limited period , or where the deposits are related to building periods of the structure .sx The castles and the limiting dates are as follows :sx The gist of this evidence is that at the longest range polychrome ware dates between 1270 and 1325 .sx In fact the range can be narrowed down to between 1280 and 1300 , since most of the initial and terminal dates overlap .sx Although pottery of other types made in the same part of western France has been found in Britain in contexts both earlier and later than the above dates , there is no evidence otherwise that polychrome ware had a longer range in date .sx The evidence as a whole suggests that polychrome ware was not only imported but indeed made during a very short period , and that it was produced in the lifetime of one or at most two generations of potters .sx Glazed pitcher ( fig. 5 ) .sx The base and lower half of a pitcher is also identified as an import from western France .sx It is made of thin , hard yellow ware with fine red grit .sx The surface is smooth and yellow-buff , with patches of green glaze above the bulge .sx The base is markedly raised at the middle .sx The pot belongs to a group well represented at Saintes by barrel-shaped and ovoid pitchers and jugs .sx These have a large bridge-spout and a single strap-handle , as on the polychrome jugs , and the base is usually hollowed underneath .sx On some of the jugs the decoration consists of slip lines in brown or red forming a chevron or trellis pattern limited to the upper part of the body , as was evidently the case on the Lesnes Abbey pot .sx The ware of the pots at Saintes is sometimes equal in quality to that of the polychromes , and sometimes more gritty .sx It is probable , therefore , that these vessels , of which fragments were found at the kiln-sites at La Chappelle-des-Pots , were also made elsewhere in the vicinity of Saintes .sx A pitcher decorated with a trellis in red slip , in the Muse@2e Municipal at Saintes , has been used to complete the drawing of the Lesnes Abbey pot .sx .sx SPANISH LUSTREWARE ( pl .sx 11 and fig. 6 ) .sx Two fragments of thick whitish ware , glazed and decorated on both surfaces .sx The outside is mostly covered by zones of pale amber lustre , comprising broad and narrow solid bands , sloping panels , chevrons , and large scrolls .sx Between the lustre are two narrow bands painted in cobalt-blue ( hatched in the drawing) .sx The smaller fragment has two concentric mouldings on the outside above the inner blue band ; the inner moulding is more prominent than the outer .sx On the inside surface the lustre is fainter , and shows the same range of motifs as on the outside , also a narrow band of guilloche ; no blue bands are present on the inside .sx The pieces belong to the same vessel , a large cover or lid , 15 3/4 in .sx in diameter at the rim .sx At the inner edge of the upper piece the profile turns sharply upwards for a knob for lifting , as restored in the drawing .sx The Lesnes Abbey cover is identified as Hispano-Moresque ware made at Malaga in Andalusia by comparison with numerous fragments , in the Victoria and Albert Museum , found at Fostat near Cairo .sx The origin of this lustre-painted pottery is demonstrated by a foot-ring from Fostat , inscribed with the Arabic word Malaga .sx Such marks are seldom found on this class of pottery , and may indicate that they were limited to vessels destined for exportation .sx A close parallel for the shape and decoration of the Lesnes Abbey cover is provided by a large piece of a cover from Fostat ( pl .sx =3a) .sx This is also decorated on both sides by bands of pale amber lustre , and near the top are mouldings precisely like those on the Lesnes Abbey cover .sx The shape of these covers is given by a complete cover for a pedestalled bowl , both painted with arabesque patterns in lustre and in blue , also in the Victoria and Albert Museum ( pl .sx =3b) .sx