File:Glass linen smoother, bottom view (FindID 95028).jpg

English: Complete, glass linen smoother. This linen smoother is made from black glass and is circular in plan and a flattened kidney shape in section, being clearly domed on one face and slightly flattened and countersunk on the opposite. Within this countersunk, circular depression are the clear remains of the ‘stalk’ of glass where the smoother was separated by twisting from the maker’s glass rod. The surface has a patchy iridescent quality. It is heavily abraded, with a significant flake of glass chipped from one side on the domed underside. The abrasion and chipped area are worn, suggesting this damage occurred in antiquity. The smoother is 78.5mm in diameter and 30.54mm thick. The circular countersunk ‘depression is 27.04mm in diameter and the stalk’ is approximately 8mm high. The linen smoother weighs 286.85g.

Linen smoothers, such as the one recorded here, are known from 10th –13th century contexts in London (Pritchardin Vince 1991, Aspects of Saxo-Norman London), York (Walton-Rogers 1997) and Winchester (Biddle, 1990, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, page 240), where the countersunk ‘stalk’ is noted as a defining feature. Fragments of similar black glass smoothers are known from 10-12th century Thetford (Rogerson and Dallas, 1984, Excavations in Thetford 1948-59 and 1973-80, page 116), 10-11th century Norwich (Margeson, 1993, Norwich Households, page 138), 11th-12th century Great Yarmouth (East Anglian Archaeology Report number 2, 1976, page 238) and at Northampton from 11th-late 15th centuries (Williams, 1979, St Peter’s Street, Northampton, page 298).

. Williams (1979) comments that linen smoothers are fairly common finds in Viking period graves in Scandinavia and that early examples are also known from Britain (see references above). He also notes that the smaller smoothers are more comparable with early medieval and medieval examples. After the 16th century the smoothers became larger and were also manufactured with an integral, vertical glass handle. It is impossible to say whether, or how long, the simpler, handle-less smoother continued alongside the newer versions into the 16th century, as no evidence could be found to clarify this.

However, given the similar black coloured glass and the relative small size of the linen smoother recorded here, it would be fair to suggest that it is probably of 10th-13th century in date. Local knowledge suggests that it was found on the site of an (unrecorded) medieval house.