Handles of the type used on the mugs and tankards from the poorhouse were press moulded and applied to the body once both had dried out a bit. It is often possible to see where the side of the tankard or mug has been pushed in as a result of the handle being applied. Press-moulding is done by pushing the clay into a mould of a given number of parts, usually two or three for handles, and joining the parts of the mould together until enough of the moisture from the clay has been absorbed into the mould for it to be taken out without being deformed.
The oval ashets and vegetable dishes would have been press moulded as well. It is not possible to turn an oval object on a wheel. The bowls, mugs and tankards would probably have been wheel-turned using a jolley profile tool. A mould shapes the outside of the object while the profile forms the inside surface while the mould sits on the wheel. The plates could either have been press-moulded or made using a jigger profile tool. Using the jigger, the top side of the plate is formed by the mould while the underside is formed using the profile tool - the plate is made upside down.
All decoration on the blue and red striped sets was applied under the glaze. The stripes could be easily applied if the brush was held at one point while the pot was rotated on a hand-turned turn-table. The crest appears to have been applied with a stamp as it has made indentations in many cases. After application of the under-glaze decoration the pots could then be dipped in liquid glaze, which was then allowed to dry before the pots were fired. It is likely that these pots did not undergo a biscuit firing before the glost firing, given that the pot was still soft when the crest was applied. This would make them particularly cheap to produce, as they would require only one of the customary two firings.
In order to relate the crockery found on the surface of the midden and that from to excavation to the documentary evidence from Craiglockhart Poorhouse, it is necessary to be able to date the deposits with a reasonable accuracy. The midden deposits can be no earlier than 1870, when the Poorhouse was opened, and no later than 1907 when the land of which the midden forms a part was feued to MEGC. In order to get more accurate dates within this 37 year period, date indicators from the surface of the midden and from the excavation can be examined.
| Date indication details | ||
| a | the Poorhouse at Craiglockhart was opened in 1870, so midden deposits would not start from this source before that date; and Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Club started feuing the land on which the midden lies in 1907, so deposits from the Poorhouse must have ceased then. This latter fact is used to put an upper bound on all subsequent date estimates. Therefore deposits must be between 1870 and 1907. | |
| b | a white earthenware bowl from the surface bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | |
| c | a white earthenware bowl from the surface bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11)||
| d | a white earthenware bowl from the surface bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11)||
| e | a white earthenware mug from the surface bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | |
| f | a white earthenware mug from the surface bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11)||
| g | an invalid feeding cup, Find No. 2FB from excavation bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | |
| h | a base sherd, Find No. 1BR from excavation bearing a printed Maling mark on their base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | |
| i | a bowl, Find No. 2DO from excavation bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | j |
| a large bowl, found in the top half of the trench during excavation bearing a printed Maling mark on the base, including the word 'England', which was used after 1891 to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act (Godden 1991: 11) | ||
| k | a clay tobacco pipe stem sherd, -CH... on one side and ...URGH on the other, from the surface, manufactured by William Christie, of 102 Pleasance, Edinburgh from 1895 to 1901, after which he moved to Leith (Post Office 1867-1907 or Davey 1987), and the mark changed accordingly, as Leith was at that time not part of the City of Edinburgh. Therefore the clay pipe was manufactured between 1895 and 1901. | |
| l | a pipe sherd, Find No. 1bAF, from excavation, with CHRISTIE on one side, and EDINBURGH on the other manufactured by William Christie, of 102 Pleasance, Edinburgh from 1895 to 1901, after which he moved to Leith (Post Office 1867-1907 or Davey 1987), and the mark changed accordingly, as Leith was at that time not part of the City of Edinburgh. Therefore the clay pipe was manufactured between 1895 and 1901. | |
| m | a thermometer, from grid square 110 from excavation. On one side it says ...Stores Ltd Guaranteed English Make. It was made in England, and the Druggist selling it has marked it with the name of their own company - ...Stores Ltd. Using the end of the name, the druggist was traced and found to be Inman's Stores Ltd., Edinburgh. Formerly W. Inman & Co. Ltd, the name changed in 1896 to become Inman's Stores Ltd. The thermometer therefore dates to during or after 1896. | |
| n | a urinal, Find No. 2BB, from excavation, with Maling mark incorporating patent Rd. No. 297.132, registered between January 1897 and January 1898, the 6109th out of over 10000 registered in that period (Godden 1990: 11), putting it fairly firmly in 1897. It was therefore manufactured during or after 1897. | |
| o | a sherd from grid square 250 from excavation, with part of the same mark as Find No. 2BB (see 'n' above), i.e. during or after 1897. | |
| p | a sherd from the surface, with part of the same mark as Find No. 2BB (see 'n' above), i.e. during or after 1897. | |
| q | a sherd from the surface, with part of the same mark as Find No. 2BB (see 'n' above), i.e. during or after 1897 | |
| r | a glass bottle base from the surface with MADE IN ENGLAND in relief writing on the base, making it of twentieth century date (Godden 1990: 11), i.e. during or after 1900. | |
| s | a plate base, from grid square 250 from excavation, with impressed mark , i.e. during or after 1900. | |
| t | a clay tobacco pipe sherd, Find No. 2DG, from excavation, with W. CHR... on one side and ...ITH on the other, manufactured by William Christie, of 2 St. Anthony's Lane, Leith, from 1901 to 1911 (Davey 1987), i.e. during or after 1901. | |
| u | a clay tobacco pipe stem sherd from the surface with W. CHRIS... on one side and LEITH on the other, manufactured by William Christie, of 2 St. Anthony's Lane, Leith, from 1901 to 1911, (Davey 1987), i.e. during or after 1901. | |
| v | a base sherd, Find No. 2EU , from excavation, with impressed mark , i.e. during or after 1902. | |
| w | a base sherd, Find No. 2CM , from excavation, with impressed mark , i.e. during or after 1902. | |
| x | a blue striped pudding bowl, Find No. 2ED, from excavation, with impressed mark , i.e. during or after 1902. | |
| y | a plate base from the surface, with impressed mark , from midden surface, i.e. during or after 1903. | |
| z | Asiatic Pheasants soup plate with T & S mark on, Find No. 2DP from excavation, probably by John Tams & Son, Crown Pottery, Staffordshire (Godden 1991). This manufacturer is the only recorded possibility fitting the T & S initials to produce the Asiatic Pheasants pattern (Wood & Coysh 1987). T & S as initials is not recorded in the marks book - J. T. & S. appearing instead (Godden 1991). The pottery only included the ending 'and Son' between 1903 and 1912 (ibid.). Therefore, the soup plate dates to during or after 1903. |
Having established a probable date range of 1903-1907 for the surface deposits, excavated material can be examined in order to gauge the time-span represented by approximately 1m of midden deposits. From Figure 11 it can be seen that the date for the Christie, Edinburgh clay pipe, Find No. 1bAF, appears to be contradicted by three date stamps of 1902 below it (Find Nos. 2CM, 2ED and 2EU), so it could be intrusive. From the depth the base sherd date stamped 1902, Find No. 2EU, and 'v' in Figures 9 and 10, it can be seen that excavated deposits cover the period from in or after 1902 to before or during 1907.
A selection of the different articles of crockery with variations on the red striped and blue striped patterns have been illustrated.
The first group is the 3 stripe pattern:
1. Red three striped soup bowl (R3B) rim sherd, showing part of crest, from the surface of the midden
2. Blue three striped soup bowl (B3B) rim sherd; bowl would have had crest, from the surface of the midden
Only sherd of the three stripe pattern were found during excavation. In spite of the fact that this was a pattern of particular interest and was therefore collected from the surface on sight, the only articles bearing this pattern were soup bowls.
The second group is the 2i stripe pattern:
3. Red 2i striped soup bowl (R2iB) rim sherd, showing entire crest, Find No. 1BW from the excavation (see Plate 13)
4. Blue 2i striped soup bowl (B2iB) rim sherd, showing entire crest, from midden surface (see Plate 13)
5. Red 2i striped tankard (R2iT) sherds, shown together to give complete profile, with part of crest, all from midden surface (see Plate 16 for crested sherd)
6. Blue 2i striped tankard (B2iT), entire but with most of handle missing, Find No. 2EL, from excavation (see Plate 14)
7.Blue 2i striped mug (B2iMg); note the difference in the handle, which is unique for the stripe patterns, almost certainly by a different manufacturer to all the others - could have been a piece supplied as a
sample which was then deemed unsuitable because of the lack of sturdiness in the handle (though it is complete); Find No. 2FD from excavation (see Plate 27)
8.Red 2i striped coffee cup or child's cup (R2iCC), from midden surface
For the 2i pattern there were 29 tankard rim sherds and 13 soup bowl rim sherds. Two rim sherds from possible milk jugs, one red 2i striped and one blue 2i striped just short of the rim, are not illustrated as they are both about 1cm2 in area.
The third group, by far the most numerous of the three both in terms of rim sherd numbers and different articles of crockery, is the 2 stripe pattern:
9. Red 2 striped soup bowl (R2B), from midden surface (see Plate 15)
10. Blue 2 striped soup bowl (B2B) sherds, both from midden surface (see Plate 15 for base sherd)
11. Red 2 striped mug (R2Mg) (there are a lot of these in blue from the surface as well, but more incomplete), Find No. 2EG from excavation (see Plate 16)
12. Blue 2 striped tankard (B2T), Find Nos. 2AA, 2BL, 2AH from excavation (see Plate 14)
13. Red 2 striped tankard (R2T), Find Nos. 2CV, 2DG from excavation (see Plate 16)
14. Red 2 striped oval asset (RP), showing only information directly discernible from the sherds - note the absence of any footring, pointing to it being oval in plan; from midden surface
15. Red 2 striped plate (RP), flat rimmed, from midden surface
16. Blue 2 striped plate (BP), flat rimmed, Find No. 2EI from excavation
17. Blue 2 striped soup plate (BP), lipped, from midden surface
18. Red 2 striped pudding bowl (RPB), from midden surface (see Plate 17)
19. Blue 2 striped pudding bowl (BPB), Find No 2ED excavation (see Plate 17)
20. Blue 2 striped vegetable dish (BV), note the depression on the rim which would have held the lid; Find No 2DM from excavation
It was thought important to be able to compare numbers of different types of crockery in order to relate the crockery to what is known of the diet in the Poorhouse. In practice it was impossible to distinguish between rim sherds from flat plates and soup plates, so they have been lumped together into one category for analysis. On comparing the relative numbers of bowl, and flat plate/soup plate rim sherds from the surface of the midden and from the excavation, the following results shown in Figures 16 and 17 were obtained.
The excavation and surface samples compare well in terms of the relative proportions of each class. The slight bias in the surface sample away from white rim sherds, mentioned in section 2.1, can be seen by comparing the graphs, but the overall proportions have not been significantly affected.
Overall, there are more bowls than plates, with only the blue-stripe pattern having consistently the reverse trend, i.e. more plates than bowls. The sample from the excavation is relatively small, and so, allowing for the fact that the number of white rim sherds is a bit less than it should be, a more representative picture can be gained by combining the two samples as shown in Figure 18.
The numbers of rim sherds of different red and blue articles, not only plates and bowls, was also examined. Looking at Figure 19 it can be seen that there is not by any means an exact correspondence between the blue and the red, with the main discrepancies being in the tankards and plates. With the items which overall are in low numbers comparisons are harder to make with any accuracy. The excavation sample, being smaller, showed slightly different results, but Figure 19, showing the total sample available from the midden, is the most representative.
One point which was immediately noticeable about the midden was the lack of a substantial amount of patterned crockery other than the blue and red striped set. Figure 220 shows the proportions different sets of crockery as shown by rim sherds from the surface and excavation of the midden combined, and from it can be seen how small a percentage of miscellaneous patterned crockery there is. Serving crockery such as vegetable dishes and ashets which form part of the tableware sets has been included in the definition of crockery here. Of the miscellaneous patterned, the only set which separates itself off from the rest is the porcelain tea set consisting of tea cups, saucers and a sugar bowl. It is not particularly fancy. The majority of the rest has only one rim sherd per pattern represented. There are only three Willow pattern rim sherds, and even they are all different variations of that pattern. There are eight spongeware rim sherds, and more body sherds.
Numbers of rim sherds of bowls and tankards with different stripe patterns are compared in Figures 21 and 22. It can be seen in Figure 21 that approximately the same number of 3-stripe and 2i-stripe pattern bowl rim sherds were found on the surface of the midden. Whereas more 2i-stripe tankard rim sherds were found than 2i-stripe bowl rim sherds, no 3-stripe tankard rim sherds were found at all, indicating that there were almost certainly no 3-stripe tankards in existence.
In Figures 23 and 24 numbers of rim sherds of all articles of crockery with different stripe patterns are compared. The complete dominance of the 2-stripe pattern in terms of numbers of rim sherds is very apparent.
With a view to establishing a chronology based on pattern the depths of various articles of patterned crockery were plotted. The only items of crockery to have crests are bowls and tankards - no flat plates, soup plates or pudding bowls have crests. For analysis the crockery was divided into three categories - 1. bowls and tankards with the 2-stripe pattern 2. bowls and tankards with the 3-stripe and 2i-stripe patterns 3. flat plates, soup plates and pudding bowls.
Figure 25 assumes that layers were laid down parallel to the slope in a constant manner, where zero is the point directly above the find on the surface of the left hand edge of the trench. The crested crockery of group 2 does not show any clustering.
There were very few makers' marks on the crockery from the midden. This is perhaps not surprising, since the vast majority of it would have been very cheap and potteries are less likely to want to have their names associated with cheap or sub-standard wares. The marks given here are shown in an attempt to complete an incomplete record, as neither of them appear in the literature either on pottery marks or, in the case of the Maling mark, on the manufacturer and its products.
Plate 18 shows a T & S mark on an Asiatic Pheasants soup plate, Find No. 2DP from excavation, probably manufactured by John Tams & Son, Crown Pottery, Staffordshire (Godden 1991). This manufacturer is the only recorded possibility fitting the T & S initials to produce the Asiatic Pheasants pattern (Wood and Coysh 1987). T & S as initials is not recorded in the marks book, J. T. & S. appearing instead (Godden 1991). The pottery only included the ending 'and Son' between 1903 and 1912 (ibid.).
Plate 19 shows a mark on base of urinal manufactured by Maling: 'Rd.No.297.132 Aberdeen, CTM Trade Mark, Newcastle, England'. The registration of the design can be placed between January 1897 and January 1898; it was the 6109th out of over 10000 registered in that period (Godden 1990: 11), putting it fairly firmly in 1897. It was therefore manufactured during or after 1897, as stated in section 3.2.
In addition to the two marks illustrated, several Maling marks appear on plain white wares - on bowls of various sizes, on a feeding cup and on mugs. The occurrence of these marks is recorded in the finds catalogues for the appropriate finds. The marks are the same as mark no. 2487 (Godden 1991: 409) with the addition of the word England, and they are all printed in black. Mark no. 2487 is similar to the urinal mark above and reads 'CTM Trade Mark, EstaBD - 1762, England'.