This pottery was produced in Hereford in the the 13th and 14th centuries, although it may have been produced in other places in North Herefordshire.
Hard: inclusions of limestone, sandstone and quartz sand. A few fragments over 2.0mm across but mainly under 1.0mm with quartz being smaller than sandstone or limestone. Clay matrix of quartz and mica silt up to 0.1mm. Most of the wares are reduced, so the cores are grey or black with oxidized surfaces. Some vessels are completely reduced. Olive glaze (5YR 4/4). Dates from the late 12th through the 13th centuries.
In Hereford City this pottery was absent from the 10th - 12th century deposits as recorded in Vince, 1985 (p39), but occurred in later 12th and early 13th century strata. 310 cooking-pot sherds and 221 glazed sherds, from either tripod pitchers or jugs were found on excavations in Hereford between 1976 and 1990 (Vince, 2002, 77) and 11 sherds were found at the Commercial Street site in Hereford in 1992. As A2 jugs had recently been found at Kilpeck, Vince suggested that the source of the fabric was to the south-west of Hereford (ie, towards Kilpeck). However, an A2 waster, together with A3 and A4 wasters, was found at the King's Fee, Hereford site, indicating that some at least of this material was produced in Hereford (Ratkai forthcoming).
A fabric which appeared to be A2 was found at an excavation at Eardisley, and although this was well outside the expected range of this fabric(Ratkai, 2001), petrological analysis confirmed that the fabric in question did indeed match A2 (Williams, 2001).
fabric in section
external surface of fabric
internal surface of fabric
Straight-sided cooking-pots of varying sizes with rim diameters of 150mm to 350mm. Tripod pitchers and jugs have also been found. Some examples in fabrics A2 and A3 were identical in terms of firing (suggesting they were made at the same kiln and are therefore the same thing). The calcareous inclusions are not evenly distributed throughout but are more noticeable in the handle section (Ratkai 2008). Similar forms can be found in A2, A3 and A4. A2 normally has rounded pitcher feet.
14th-15th century roof tiles in A2 occasionally occur in Hereford.
an A2 jug from the King's Fee site in Hereford.
an A2 cooking-pot from the King's Fee site in Hereford.