Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

138
Sarah Jennings
Th e urinal is 19.4 cm high to the top of the handle with a body
height of 16.6 cm and a base diameter of 12.2 cm; it weighs
1989 g. Th e opening has a chamfered edge and measures 3.6 by
3.8 cm; at that point the lead sheet is 3.4 mm thick. It has not
been possible to measure the thickness of the base with any
accuracy but it seems likely that it is slightly thinner than the
main sheet used for the body, perhaps some 3 mm thick. Th e
surviving surface is in good condition, it is fl at and reasonably
smooth except at the joins, and the only marks on the surface
are a series of short and shallow parallel lines on the shoulder
of the right hand side. Th e composition of the lead is not distinctive
in any way but is standard for the later medieval/early
post medieval period2.
3 Ceramic urinals
Amongst the pottery found with the lead urinal were sherds of
at least seven ceramic urinals (fi g. 3: 1-3) and with one exception
all of these have the same basic shape as the lead urinal – a
circular opening and a loop or basket handle attached to the
top of the vessel (fi g. 3: 2-3). However, in the case of the ceramic
versions their bodies are globular not cylindrical, the opening
is circular and formed by the inturned rim at the top vessel,
while the handle is not vertical but is placed on the shoulder at
an angle leaning away from the opening; the attachment points
on the shoulder are approximately one third of the circumference
apart (fi g. 3: 2). Th ree of these have rod handles and the
forth a strap handle, the handles of the other two are missing.
Only one of the ceramic urinals has a knob top as opposed to a
loop handle (fi g. 3: 1). Th is was formed by elongating and narrowing
the neck before widening the rim and then folding it
inwards until it closed; the roughly oval opening was cut into
the bottom of the neck. Th is is not a common form of urinal in
the region where nearly all are variations of globular forms
with an opening at the top and some form of loop handle.
Purpose made ceramic urinals fi rst occur in the late medieval
period and are more common in the Midlands, northern
England, and Scotland than the south3. Urinals are frequently,
although not exclusively, found on monastic sites and would
have facilitated the collection of urine which had a number of
uses including in tanning and cloth making. Th e ceramic urinals
found at Jervaulx came from a number of diff erent production
centres showing that the Abbey was being supplied
from several sources within the region.
4 Archaeological context
In common with the destruction that took place at all of the
great abbeys Jervaulx’s drain probably went out of use during
the time of the Dissolution in the late 1530s and any material
in its fi ll was deposited by that date, much of it abandoned
when the abbey was fi nally deserted. Th e pieces of earlier
ceramic vessels found in the drain represent small numbers of
casual losses over several centuries, but the bulk of the vessels
2 Pers. comm. David Dungworth.
3 McCarthy & Brooks 1988, 115.
4 Watkins 1991, 98 fi g 85 no. 254.
5 Jennings 1992, 24-9.
6 cf Didsbury & Watkins 1992, 116 fi g. 63 no. 315.
7 cf Watkins 1987, 140-1 and fi g. 102 no. 360.
date to the 15th or the earlier part of the 16th century. Because
the section of the drain cleared in the 1994 operation that
yielded the lead urinal was relatively short, only eight metres,
it is diffi cult to tell if any or most of the later vessels were
deposited intact or were already in a fragmentary state when
they went into the drain, as additional sherds could easily be
outside the area excavated. Certainly the smaller numbers of
earlier vessels are noticeably less complete and these are mainly
jugs and pipkins of types widely available in the region. Th ere
are a few sherds dating to the late 12th or 13th century including
a horn and body fragment covered with fl attened pellets
from a Scarborough ware aquamanile in the form of a ram4.
Slightly later in date are a number of jugs of Th irlby, Humber
and Brandsby wares5 dating to the late 13th and 14th centuries
and pipkins with hooked handles6. Th e range of local ceramics
vessels probably deposited at the same time as the lead urinal,
and likely to be contemporary with it, is fairly limited, in the
main drinking vessels, urinals and jugs. Th ere are no cooking
pots in the later pottery and only one in the earlier group; none
of the pipkins, also associated with cooking, show signs of having
been used for that purpose but at least two of the jugs have
sooted bases.
Only a few imported wares were found, all from the early post
medieval period. Th ese are the top of a Low Countries red ware
jug or one-handled pipkin with a small lip7, two Rhenish stoneware
mugs, and part of the central medallion from a South
Netherlands Maiolica ring-handled fl ower vase or jug which
were common fi nds in England in the early 16th century8.
Drinking vessels are represented by fragments of two typical
Langerwehe/Raeren stoneware mugs of the type with frilled
bases, a largely complete elaborately decorated Cistercian mug
(fi g. 3: 6), and fragments of a smaller simpler mug decorated
with applied circular motifs (fi g. 3: 7). Similar stoneware mugs
were recovered from Dissolution deposits from one cell at the
Carthusian Priory at Mount Grace, some 30 km to the east of
Jervaulx, but in greater numbers and with a wider range of
imported vessels9. A single urinal was also part of this group.
Although these stoneware mugs are not nearly as common on
inland sites in the north of England as they are in East Anglia,
London, and particularly along the southern coast10, they are
found in places with contacts outside their immediate area.
Together with decorated Cistercian drinking vessels stoneware
mugs represent the better quality ceramic drinking vessels
available in North Yorkshire in the earlier 16th century. Two
elaborate lobed bowls, one in Humber ware and the other
Hambleton ware also date to the late 15th or early 16th century.
Both have numerous tight lobes and the Hambleton ware bowl
(fi g. 3: 5) has two irregular concentric circles of rosette-shaped
stamped motifs in the base and two handles while the Humber
ware example has a moulded tree like form projecting from the
inner base (fi g. 3: 4). No handle for the Humber ware lobed
bowl was found but suffi cient of the sides survives to show that
there could only have been one at the most. Th ese lobed bowls
are also associated with drinking but usually thought to be for
8 Hurst 1999, 91-106.
9 Roebuck and Coppack 1987, 16-20.
10 Allen 1983, fi g 4.1.