On Saturday 7th October, members of the South West Regional Group met for an Autumn meeting at Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth. The meeting was hosted in the Mary Rose Museum Learning Centre, and the group were welcomed by Dr Alex Hildred, Head of Research and Curator of Ordnance and Human Remains at the Mary Rose Trust, and Alastair Miles, Head of Collections.
In the morning, the group heard papers around the theme of maritime ceramics, with talks from Alex Hildred on the deposition environment and excavation challenges of the Mary Rose assemblage, Duncan Brown on the pottery associated with the Mary Rose, John Allan on the pottery of the South West ports 1500-1700, and from Alejandra Gutierrez on the pottery of the Studland Bay wreck. There was also an update from Kate Berlewen on the recently successful grant application to Historic England to begin the fabric type series for medieval and post-medieval pottery in Devon and Cornwall.
Maritime ceramics are of course of particular interest to the South West group due to the significant position of the South West peninsula within international trade networks in the medieval and post-medieval periods, and in the afternoon the meeting provided an opportunity to view the Mary Rose assemblage as well as associated later finds. During this afternoon handling session, members were also able to assist in identifying potential fabrics of some of the less studied pottery in the assemblage.
Finally, the group also enjoyed the privilege of a behind the scenes tour from Alastair Miles, getting to view the wreck of the Mary Rose up close, as well as viewing artefacts not currently on display, including ‘brand new’ Tudor arrows and bows that likely never had a chance to be fired, pulleys so well preserved that their mobile components still function, and a wooden parrel ball, part of a system used to move yard arms up and down masts, which was sent into space in 2011!
For those interested in learning more about the Mary Rose, the recently published ‘Mary Rose Book “Her Story, Their Story, Our Story”’ by Dr Hildred celebrates a major anniversary of the raising of the Mary Rose in 2022, and covers the extraordinary archaeological study that has taken place in the 40 years since.
