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London-type ware

(1080 - 1350)

London-type ware was the major glazed pottery made and used in the London area from the middle of the 12th until the late 13th century. Archaeological evidence shows that the industry began towards the end of the 11th century and that it continued up to the time of the Black Death, in the mid 14th century. At its height, London-type ware provided the capital with large numbers of good quality and highly decorative jugs, although other, more mundane forms were also made. After a hiatus in the later 14th century, production resumed around 1400, when the fabric is known as late London-type ware.

The London-area potters used local red-firing brickearth and sands, which compare closely with samples from sites in the City, although no production sites have yet been identified. A number of fabric variations are known, although all share the same basic characteristics. The most common of these are the 12th-century coarse and calcareous London-type wares. All medieval London-type wares are thrown on a potter's wheel (with the exception of a few slab-built forms), and most have a lead glaze applied, often over a white slip and frequently coloured green by adding copper.

Late London-type ware, made during the 15th century, is far plainer than the earlier medieval wares. Glaze is used sparingly and decoration is more or less absent. Forms include rounded jugs, cooking pots, pipkins and dripping dishes. The fabric was to develop into the main London-area post-medieval red earthenware used from the 16th century onwards.

The museum holds the largest collection of London-type wares in Europe, supported by a considerable body of archaeologically excavated material.

Publications

Pearce J, Vince A and Jenner A, 1985. A Dated Type-series of London Medieval Pottery Part 2: London type ware, Trans London Middlesex Archaeol Soc Special Paper 6

Related objects

There are 524 related objects.

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C2337 aquamanile. Early Medieval; early 13th century	C154 jug; baluster jug. Early Medieval; late 12th-mid 13th century	A5230 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-14th century	A5223 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-14th century
A27722 jug. Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century	A27515 jug; baluster jug. Early Medieval; late 12th-mid 13th century	A22488 jug. Early Medieval; mid 12th century	A16774 jug. Early Medieval; late 12th-mid 13th century
64.93 jug. Medieval; late 11th-mid 14th century?	5691 jug. Early Medieval; late 12th-mid 13th century	5568 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century	14563 jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century
77.182/23 finial. Early Medieval; mid 12th century	12780 jar (cooking pot). Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century?	A13848 finial.	21176 pot; watering pot. Medieval; late 11th-mid 14th century
18931 cauldron. Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century	5660 jug. Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century	A20607 pipkin. Late Medieval; 15th century	22773 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century
21186 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century	17244 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century	5670 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century	5589 jug; baluster jug. Medieval: late 12th-mid 14th century

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