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Description: | Upper stone form a Medieval to Post Medieval pot quern. The stone is circular, plano-convex with a flat base, relatively straight sides and domed top. It is c.240mm in diameter at the base and a maximum of 107mm tall. There is a large circular hole through the centre, which is flared outwards at the top. The top of the hole is flanked by two trapezoid lugs, one almost complete, the other missing its outer edge. The more complete example is rectangular in section, narrowing in width towards the outer edge from 113mm wide by the central hole to c.60mm at the edge. It projects c.24mm out over the edge of the rest of the stone. Both lugs have worn oval sockets in the top for handles, the one in the broken lug appears more worn and broken. The top of the stone is well dressed with angled chisel lines visible in many places. Around the lower part of the side it is worn very smooth where it rubbed against the lower stone of the pot quern. The base also worn smooth from use with no evidence of dressing. The central hole is flanked by two rectangular slots with rounded ends, they are 25-26mm wide, one is 33mm long by 23mm deep the other 36mm long by 26mm deep. It weighs c.9kg.Pot querns have two parts, the upper stone and the larger lower stone which is 'pot shaped' with raised sides around a central recess within which the upper stone sits. A spout is cut into the side of the lower stone through which the meal exits. Evidence from Winchester suggest they were is use from the mid 12th century (Watts 2006:4). A similar example to this but with only one handle lug and a splay flanking the slot on the base was found in a late 13th century context in the priory kitchen in Exeter with part of a base. Those examples were quartze-muscovite-sericite greywacke similar to the Pennant Grit of the Bristol coalfields (Allen 1984:297-8, S18 and S19).Documentary evidence suggests the continued use of hand querns into the Post Medieval period and were replaced by examples with cranked handles and gears in the 17th century (Watts ibid):4. Pot querns have been found in 17th century contexts, usually in rubble and hardcore, but it is not clear if they are residual or discarded in these context (Watts ibid:4). The findspot of this example, in rubble fill, is typical. There is a record on the Somerset HER (ref 10328) of the find of a similar upper part of a pot quern in a wall that was being demolished in Catcott before 1958. That example was of Niedermendig lava.Numerous gas bubbles (vesicular structure) within the stone suggest it is igneous, probably lava. Dennis Parsons (Natural history Curator, Museum of Somerset) has examined the stone and agrees it is likely to be igneous and is not a local stone. Querns of imported German lava were popular in the Medieval period although this does not appear to be Niedermendig, the most common type (R Croft, pers comm).
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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