Ceramics home: Medieval glazed ware: London-type ware.

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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A27134 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; late 12th-mid 14th century	5579 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century	18291 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century	A27222 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century
78.177/2 jug; baluster jug. Medieval; mid 13th-mid 14th century	61.31/4 jug; cylindrical jug. Medieval; late 11th-mid 14th century	5575 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-14th century	5571 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-14th century
5590 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-14th century	22751 jug; drinking jug. Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century	5827 pipkin. Medieval; mid 13th-14th century	89.299/6 pitcher. Early Medieval; late 11th-12th century
11691 pitcher. Early Medieval; late 11th-12th century	89.299/5 pitcher. Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century	83.414 pitcher. Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century	89.160/7 pitcher. Medieval; mid 12th-mid 14th century?
24972 pot. Early Medieval; mid 12th century	A27900 vase. Medieval; late 11th-mid 14th century	NN24860 vessel. Early Medieval; late 11th-12th century	A16810 vessel. Medieval; 13th-mid 14th century

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