Pitcher

Pottery vessels were used for storing food and drink, and for cooking. This spouted pitcher is made from a type of pottery called Late Saxon Shelly ware, after the abundance of crushed oyster shells added to the clay. Adding 'tempers' like shell, grit and sand to clay makes it stronger and less likely to crack during firing in the kiln. Late Saxon Shelly ware was traded over a large area centred on the Upper Thames Valley, and probably produced in the Oxford region. The vessels would have been brought to London by boat along the River Thames.