Whilst the focus during the recent field survey was on identifying the locations of building remains, I couldn’t help but be seduced by some of the artefacts on the ground. The photos here show some of the ceramic shards.

The flow blue technique was popular between the 1820s and 1860s – a chemical reaction was used to achieve this ‘soft’ effect. This piece may be from the lid of a tureen.

Flow blue ceramic shard

Transfer printing, shown in the three shards below, enabled the mass production of perfectly matching tableware, and was in production from the mid to late eighteenth century. The most common transfer print, and one that most people are familiar with,  is the Willow pattern – the shard on the right bears some resemblance to Willow but I don’t think it is.

Three transfer printed ceramic shards

This piece of banded ware was one I got excited about. It has echoes of the old Carrigaline banded tableware (light blue or brown/mustard) that was common in Irish houses. To me, this shard looks very Irish. Comments and arguments welcome!

A ceramic shard, with two thin black bands and a wider blue band

We found a few ink pots scattered across the site, and this is one of them.

Stoneware ink pot