FINDS

Taken from the report of: C Underwood-Keevill

Pottery Report
Only a small assemblage of pottery was recovered, all of which came from later grave fills were are very mixed in date and fabric types. It is, however, possible to say from this limited evidence that medieval activity was evident especially within certain contexts. The assemblage consisted of 87 sherds weighing 0.614kg, of which 14 sherds (weight:0.161kg) were medieval. The remainder were post-medieval dating from the 16^th century onwards. For clarity, the medieval pottery has been divided into three fabrics:
1. A White Gritty ware with abundant orange-red quartz (0.25mm+) and white quartz in a grey-white, hard paste with a thick yellow-green or deep green glaze.
2. A sandy pink-orange fabric with orange and white sub-rounded quartz and occasional red iron ore (up to 0.5mm) with speckled green glaze and thick grey-black sandy fine fabric with dense clear quartz.
3. Fine occasional limestone (MDQL).

The White Gritty ware and the orange fabric compare well with the main fabric types and the form types from Chilvers Coton, Nuneaton (Mayers and Scott 1984) which is to the east of Birmingham near Coventry. Chilvers Coton fabric type "A" is similar to the white gritty fabric type and Chilvers Coton type "B" closely resembles the gritty orange fabric. These fabrics date from the 13th century onwards, and the few diagnostic sherds from Penn indicate dates from 13th to the 14th centuries with: a lid seated flat clubbed cooking pot rim dating to the 14th century from context 113 (fabric MDQI); an inturned collared jug rim in White Gritty ware from context 202 dated to the 13th century; a slashed handle in the same fabric dating from the 13th to 14th centuries; and an incised wavy line and rilled neck jug sherd in the same fabric and from the same context dated to the 14th century. The dark grey sandy fabric has not been correlated to other fabric types with any certainty although course sandy grey-black wares are noted from Walsall and have been dated to the 13th-14th century (McCarthy and Brooks 1988, 359).

The medieval pottery was concentrated in five contexts: 104, 113, 148, 200, 202, with the majority in context 202. The only other medieval ceramic evidence consists of small fragments of probable bell mould. The fragments are of a highly friable course organic and abundant quartz fabric with obvious differential firing evident with bands of reduced grey and oxidized light orange margins. A shaped fragment with a long hollowed out interior (Context 121) could be the void from the presence of an iron rod used for the fastening of a strap for the raising and moving of the bell-mould as indicated by similar fragments from Kirkstall Abbey (Duncan and Wrathmell, 1987, 150).

Post-Medieval Glass
A total of 36 small shards of post-medieval window glass was retrieved from the upper fills of the 19th century graves and the layers which overlay them. No further analysis of the glass has been undertaken at this stage.

Coffin Fittings
Of the 31 burials excavated in the evaluation, at least 20 contained iron coffin fittings, consisting of plaques, handles, and nails. Another two burials contained copper alloy plaques and handles. Three of the iron plaques were coated in black enamel, and the inscriptions on two of these were instantly legible (and were dated 1830 and 1848). A copper alloy coffin plaque observed in the vault of trench 2 (but not removed) was dated 1899. No further analysis or X-raying of the coffin fittings has been undertaken at this stage.
The only other finds associated with the burials were a small amount of decayed textile and 7 (cast) copper alloy buttons, found near the skull in grave 312 (trench 3), and a single shell button in grave 226 (trench 2).

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