File:Medieval or post medieval mortar (FindID 798222).jpg

The mortar has been carved from a single block of carboniferous limestone. It is bioclastic and exhibits traces of crinoids, brachiopods and bivalves. There are a number of locally available sources of carboniferous limestone. The stone is possibly Devonian or Cannington limestone, but is more likely to derive from the Mendips (Dennis Parsons, pers comm).

The outer face of the mortar has a number of small angular dish shaped peck marks present, however, most of these appear to have been polished out. The outer face has been decorated with a series of incised vertical grooves which extend from the rim down the body of the vessel for a length of c. 40mm. Below this are a series of incised cross-hatched grooves which cover the rest of the object. The rim, base and the interior of the vessel have been polished smooth. This may have been due to wear through use, but it may have also been caused by deliberate polishing. On the upper edge of the mortar are two lobed projections positioned opposite one another on the circumference. Seen from above they are D-shaped. In profile they taper to a rounded point. The lobes measure c.51mm in width, 74mm in length and they project c. 39mm from the outer edge of the vessel. The walls of the vessel vary in thickness around the circumference from a maximum of 39.2mm to a minimum of 33.6mm. The mouth of the mortar has a diamater of c. 206mm. The inner edges slope gently, forming a U-shaped bowl 123mm deep.

The mortar is light grey in colour. It exhibits several chips in the rim and one large crack in the rim. This radiates down one side into several intersecting horizontal cracks.

The mortar measures 161.3mm in height, 280mm in diameter (internal diameter 206mm) and weighs 11400g.

Similar objects recorded on the database include: HESH-C66884; CPAT-642D74 & GAT-B5D7D5, although all three differ slightly from this example in having four lobes, rather than two.