This page hold finds from the Post-Medieval era. This period starts from around 1500AD and, strictly speaking, carries on to the present day. However, for ease of use, finds up till the 19th century are included here. A lot of the finds appearing are from the time of the English Civil War, as there was a lot activity around St John's Church at this time. (Area B)
Copper alloy buckle with moulded decoration, a small fragment of leather survives attached to the central bar. Late 17th or 18th century.
The remains of an apple-corer or cheese scoop carved from a piece of bone, objects like this were used from the 17th century until well into the 20th.
This triangular piece of glass and lead window panes would have formed part of a window in a church or house.
A cast copper alloy bell with a corroded iron pea. The lower half of the bell has badly worn moulded or engraved decoration. The decoration appears to have been a daisy-like flower, in the centre of which are the very worn remains of the maker’s initials. The bell was probably made in the 17th or 18th century and might have been used on a horse harness.
Lead nozzle from a powder flask. Along with the shot and powder holder cover found last year this object is probably the remains of equipment used on the site during the Civil War, in the mid-17th century.
Lead spindle whorl. The spindle whorl is damaged but was originally biconical in shape and decorated on both sides. A series of raised dots alternating between radiating line can be seen on one surface. Spindle whorls are weights placed on the end of spindles used for spinning thread. This type is medieval.
It is the second whorl to be found, in addition to this one
Above you can see part of the hollow moulded stem of a wine glass that has been retrieved from Area B.
The stem is a baluster shape moulded with a lions head on each side. The stem has the remains of gold leaf surviving over its surface. Glasses such as these would have been imported to Chester and were possibly made in London or the Low Countries in the late sixteenth or first half of the seventeenth century.
A number of similar wine glasses have been found from other sites in the city but gilded examples are rare and none have been noted from Chester before.
Found in Area C, these are fragments from the base and bowl of a 17th Century wine glass.
The seal matrix is a flat pointed oval (25 mm long, 19 mm wide) and has a suspension loop on the back. It needs cleaning so that the inscription can be read and the design properly understood but it appears to show a bird (a stylised pelican) and her young in a nest.
The matrix would have been used on wax to seal personal documents such as letters or business agreements. The image of a pelican feeding her young is found on a number of personal seals in the medieval period. People would often choose popular images, sometimes of a religious or heraldic nature for their seal or they would use something that was a pun on their name.
The pelican was thought to feed its young on blood pricked from its own breast by its beak. This translated into an image of religious significance becoming a symbol for Christ the Redeemer, self-sacrifice and also charity. The image also became used as a heraldic symbol.
Wax seals were used to show that a document was authentic and to prove that no one had tampered with it once written. If a seal was missing or broken it meant that what ever was written in the document was no longer valid.
A fragment of a Cistercian-type ware cup, late 15th - late 16th century.
Found in Area A
Fragments from a slipware dish possibly 18th century. Found in Area B
Fragments of a creamware teapot with painted over glaze decoration. It may show a picture of 'Aurora', goddess of the dawn, in her chariot. This image is found painted or printed on creamware teapots dated to the second half of the 18th century.
Found in Area B
Another Creamware fragment painted with a horse’s head, perhaps also from a teapot showing ‘Aurora’ in her chariot, again probably from the second half of the 18th century.
Chinese export porcelain coffee cup, possibly from the 18th century
A bone domino and dice and two pottery gaming pieces. The gaming pieces have been made by trimming broken fragments of pottery. They date from the 18th century. (back to top of page
A piece of slipware cup with an inscription. The cup may have been made to celebrate a wedding or other event. The inscription would have shown names and perhaps a date. (Late 17th / early 18th century) (back to top of page)
The base of a post-medieval wineglass (back to top of page)
A late 18th-early 19th-century vessel, it looks to have been used as a paint-pot. (back to top of page)
Sherds from various 17th-18th century slipware dishes. (back to top of page)
A tray full of 17th-18th century clay tobacco pipes. The reason there are so many of these pipes is because they were disposable. Therefore they are the medieval equivalent of cigarette ends. (back to top of page)
Numerous balls of lead gunshot. These are possibly associated with the Civil War siege of Chester, when the Parliamentarian forces set up a gun emplacement in St John's churchyard. (back to top of page)
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