Transactions

Volume LVII of the Society’s Transactions contains a detailed account of the excavation of a Roman villa, an analysis of 16th to 18th century wills, a report on an excavation of 19th- to 20th-century pottery kilns, and the usual summaries of recent archaeological work in Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Walsall and Wolverhampton.

“Excavation of a Roman villa at Acton Trussell, Staffordshire, by the Penk Valley Archaeological Group” written by the excavation director, the late Tony Habberley, and myself, is part of the Society’s work of encouraging publication of hitherto unpublished archaeological work. It follows the collection of reports on excavations in Lichfield, and an overview of them, in Transactions LI. At Acton Trussell, 34 years’ work, which began with the intention of establishing whether the isolated St James’s church originally lay within a medieval settlement, unexpectedly located a Roman villa. Subsequent excavation showed that its stone walls succeeded an earlier timber structure and that the buildings lay within a ditched, and later stone-walled, enclosure. In addition, there were Bronze Age and Iron Age features, Neolithic pottery and Neolithic and Mesolithic worked flint.

Lynda Holland’s “An analysis of Stafford Wills, 1500-1760” analyses 562 wills, which were made by adult males and widows and spinsters and are housed in ecclesiastical record depositories. There was a general growth in will-making during the 17th century and most of the wills included in the analysis date from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 18th century. Comparison with burial records at the churches of St Mary, St Chad and Castlechurch shows that only a small percentage of the total population left wills. Wills were often made some time before death rather than on deathbed, sometimes while the person was weak or sick. Signatures indicate that the growth in literacy over time was slower in women than in men. There was no gender preference for executors. Some witnesses acted on several wills. Some wills have formulaic preambles. A neutral religious preamble was more common than one expressing traditional (Catholic) or protestant beliefs. In the later period, more wills have no preamble. Burial instructions in wills include specification of the location within the church and the method of burial.

“Evaluation and excavation of two 19th- to 20th-century pottery ovens at the former Registry Street Works, Stoke-on-Trent”, by Helen Daniel describes the investigation of kilns first built in the 1880s and repaired or rebuilt about 1916. The ash pits in one kiln had been extended after the areas between them had been filled with 20th century glazed tiles stamped R S Morris. A machine sondage over 2.5m deep under the second kiln did not reach undisturbed ground, possibly reflecting a sawpit shown on maps of the site prior to kiln construction. In addition to pottery wasters, kiln furniture on the site included clay stilts, saggars, spurs and saddles. The saddles were larger than usual, possibly because they were used in the manufacture of plain wall or fireplace tiles which were found on the site. Pottery underlying the kilns, which helps date their construction, included 19th-century Minton products. It results from widespread dumping by several factories and the secondary use of this material for “corks”, the base of kilns. Stamped refractory flue tile and stamped refractory bricks were the products of local and Scottish works.

Archaeological work in Staffordshire has included observation of slurry tank construction on the site of Dieulacres Abbey near Leek. This revealed robbed stone walls which were possibly an extension of the monks’ “day rooms”. 16th- to 18th- century surfaces and walls, which probably relate to the former Nether Hall, were found in Burton-on-Trent. In Market Street in Tamworth, an ostensibly 18th century building was found to incorporate timber framed walls of an earlier date. Details of Victorian villas in Stafford included tiled floors. Early 19th century farm buildings were recorded in Marston and Eccleshall. Other building recording included the 19th-century Convent in Stone, designed by Hansom and Blount, and a Second World War pillbox at Willington Quarry. Volunteers are undertaking condition surveys of sites on Cannock Chase, and heritage trails have been created at Froghall Wharf and Beaudesert Park.

Recent investigations in Stoke-on-Trent have included the 19th and 20th cent Albion Pottery in Hanley, Longton Hall brickworks and Tunstall refractory brick works. Down-draught pottery kilns at the Phoenix works may be the earliest surviving examples of this type in Stoke-on-Trent.

On the site of Wolverhampton Old Hall a curtain wall and the moat platform were recorded. Roof tiles of 15th to 17th century date may be from a precursor to the 16th century Hall. Also in Wolverhampton, work as part of the canalside development revealed remains of the 19th century Midland Railway transhipment basin.

Mike Hodder