The Imported Pottery from Fast Castle, Near Dunbar, Scotland

Fast Castle is situated on the coast 17 km (12 miles) east of Dunbar. During the late 15th and early 16th centuries the castle was used as the principal residence of Sir Patrick Home, the 4th son of Sir Alexander Home who headed a family of great power and prestige, for whom a Lordship was created in 1473. The castle was sufficiently important for Margaret Tudor to stay there in 1503, on her way north for her marriage to James IV. The excavation of a large pit, or quarry, in the courtyard of the Castle yielded a significant group of imported pottery and a range of locally produced wares. The wide range of 15th- and 16th-century imported pottery is very unusual in a Scottish context; with the independent dating evidence deriving from coins and documents, this is an exceptional assemblage for this area. This report deals primarily with the imports from the castle: vessels from Germany, the Low Countries, France, Italy and the Iberian Peninsula. The detailed examination of the local wares will form the basis of a future report