File:MEDIEVAL VESSEL (FindID 848985).jpg

Fabric Type: Wheel thrown: Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric Type HER (Hereford) A3.

Fabric Condition: A hard fabric with inclusions.

Firing Condition: Dark buff to light brown throughout.

Surface texture: Exterior is smooth;it is oxidised with no trace of soot.

Condition of sherd. Lightly abraded

Inclusions: Sparese angular and rounded quartz grains (0.4mm) rounded grey (?) micaceous gravel (1-2mm with some up to 4.0mm) sparse angular grey to black coloured grit with infrequent red grit, Sparse soft white limestone.

Glaze: None

Class: Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric Type HER (Hereford) A3

Comments: Dr. Alan Vince - identified this as Herefordshire silty micaceous Ware Fabric A3 and states that this was probably locally produced but no production sites / kilns are known. The fabric has the following distinguishing feature: are the presence of rounded fragmnets of fine-grained grey sandstones and fragments of rounded quarts (up to 1mm across). The groundmass is silty and micaceous. These features all indicate a source in Herefordshire; the silt micaceous clay is probably the Devonian Marl or Boulder Clay derived from this marl whilst the sandstones and quartz grains are probably derived from the outcrops of Silurian Rock and Old Red Sandstone. At Hereford, this ware first appears in assemblages dating to the later 12th or earlier 13th centuries and is one of the earliest wares found there to be locally produced. No production sites are known, but a source in or close to Hereford is likely.

Other vessels known from this fabric include handmade cooking pots which are straight sided and incompletely oxidised but with brown oxidised surfaces, Tripod pitchers with gglobular bodies are also known - these have cylindrical or everted rims.

Note: Vince notes that this fabric has sandstone and quartz inclusions which are more common in cooking pots. Only a few grains exceed 1mm. The colour varies with the type of vessel.