This richly illustrated book presents the first comprehensive study of the making and marketing of pottery in medieval Ireland. Focusing on a well-preserved 14th-century pottery production centre which was excavated in 2006 at Highhays, outside the walls of the renowned Anglo-Norman town of Kilkenny in south-east Ireland, the authors describe its kiln, workshops and working areas, as well as its ‘Highhays Ware’ products: jugs, jars, cooking-pots, money-boxes and ridge tiles.
Foremost amongst the outputs from the kiln site were high-quality, wheel-thrown, green-glazed jugs that were closely modelled on French Saintonge and Bristol Redcliffe archetypes and the volume describes the distinctive processes, kiln-firing technology and raw materials that were employed to produce these, and the other wares, represented on the site. The book also presents the results of an innovative plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis of Highhays Ware, which facilitated identification of the source for the raw potting clays areas – located at a considerable distance from Highhays in north county Kilkenny – used in its production, in addition to allowing for a study of the uncharacteristically broad distribution of the ware throughout the south-east of Ireland. The authors also place the production of pottery at Highhays in its broader context by presenting an overall review of the archaeological and historical evidence for pottery making and consumption in medieval Ireland, as well as by exploring the cultural background and social status of potters in the Anglo-Norman colony. Supporting the analysis and interpretation of the Highhays site and its assemblage are specialist and scientific contributions on the pottery, tiles, ceramic production material, metal finds, coins and archaeobotanical and animal bone remains from the site, archaeomagnetic and radiocarbon dating and plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis.

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Authors and contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Note on conventions
• Archaeological excavation archive
• Foreword by Minister for Heritage Malcolm Noonan
• Preface
• Summary
• 1. Introduction
  • Introduction
  • The medieval town of Kilkenny, summary history
  • The medieval suburb of St John’s, Kilkenny
    • The Augustinian Priory of St John the Evangelist
    • Magdalen leper hospital
    • The town wall of St John’s
    • Streets and routeways
    • Housing and burgage plots
    • The Fair Green
    • Common land
    • Trades and occupations in St John’s
    • Milling
    • Eighteenth–twentieth century St John’s
  • Highhays specific history
  • Excavation circumstances and project sequence
  • Archaeological chronology of Highhays
    • Period 1
    • Period 2
    • Period 3
• 2. The Pottery Production Centre Excavations (Area 1, Period 1)
  • Introduction
  • The pottery kiln, by Emma Devine and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
    • The kiln structure
    • Finds from the kiln
    • The kiln’s fuel charge and superstructure deposits
  • Pottery production material analysis, by Niamh Curtin
    • Methodology
    • Quantification
  • Kiln superstructure, by Niamh Curtin and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Highhays kiln affinities: structure and chronology, by Niamh Curtin and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • A reconstruction of the Highhays kiln, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Buildings and pitting in the production centre (Area 1), by Emma Devine and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
    • Pot store/workshop (Structure A)
    • Clay store (Structure B)
    • Workshed (Structure C)
    • Drying oven
    • Cess-pits
  • Pitting
    • Forming the pots, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
    • Throwing
    • Glaze production
    • Reduced ware production
• 3. Bake-Yard Excavations (Area 2, Period 1), Abandonment and Subsequent Land-Use (Areas 1 and 2, Periods 2 and 3)
  • Introduction
  • Boundary ditch
  • Bake-yard
    • Boundary walls
    • Corn-drying kiln
    • Bake oven
    • Storeshed? (Structure D)
    • Cereal processing and baking
  • Abandonment and subsequent land-use (Areas 1 and 2, Period 2)
    • Area 1, Period 2
    • Area 2, Periods 2b–c
• 4. The Products of the Highhays Pottery
  • The medieval pottery from Highhays, by Clare McCutcheon
    • Methodology
    • Highhays ware
    • Kilkenny-type cooking ware
    • Leinster Cooking Ware
    • Imported pottery
  • Highhays ware pottery: fabrics and forms, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
    • Highhays creamy ware
    • Highhays Redcliffe ware
    • Highhays cooking ware
    • Highhays Redcliffe coarseware
  • The scale, chronology and duration of ceramic production at Highhays, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Clay building material, by Joanna Wren
  • Methodology
    • KCT1 fabric (ridge-tiles)
    • HHTT2 fabric (ridge-tiles)
    • KCT3 (floor-tiles)
    • KCT2 fabric (ridge-tiles)
    • KCFT2 (floor-tile)
    • HHFT3 (floor-tiles)
    • Discussion
• 5. Highhays Ware, a Provenance and Distribution Study
  • Introduction and methods, by Niamh Curtin and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Chemical characterisation by plasma spectrometry (ICPS) of medieval pottery and clays from Kilkenny and Wexford, by Michael J. Hughes
  • The petrology of medieval pottery and clays from Kilkenny and Wexford, by Richard Unitt
  • Interpretation of combined ICPS analysis and petrological analysis results, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil and Niamh Curtin
  • Distribution
• 6. Non-Ceramic Finds
  • Metal artefacts, by Órla Scully
  • Small stone objects, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Bone objects, by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
  • Clay pipes, by Joe Norton
  • Coins, by Jimmy Lenehan
  • Metalworking residues, by Paul Rondelez
• 7. Archaeobotanical and Charcoal Analysis
  • Archaeobotanical remains from Highhays, by Mary Dillon
    • Methodology
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Archaeobotanical remains by context
    • Comparative studies from Kilkenny
  • Charcoal remains from Highhays, by Ingelise Stuijts
    • Methodology
    • Summarised results
    • Charcoal in specific contexts
    • Comparative studies
    • Conclusion
• 8. Highhays and Pottery Production in Medieval Ireland
• Bibliography
• Appendix 1: Archaeomagnetic dating of the pottery kiln at Highhays, Kilkenny, by Vassil Karloukovski and Mark W. Hounslow
• Appendix 2: Radiocarbon dates
• Appendix 3: Post-medieval pottery, by Clare McCutcheon
• Appendix 4: Post-medieval clay building material, by Joanna Wren
• Appendix 5: Animal bone, by Karin Ilseth
• Appendix 6: Disarticulated human remains, by Karin Ilseth