Origins Lunchtime Talk: A Century of Extraordinary Potters

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From the middle of the 13th century until around the middle of the 14th century small-time potters in Monmouth, working with the simplest of kilns, were producing artwork which would match any others in Britain.

It may have been a talented family dynasty which began with the most complex rouletting on pottery of the Middle Ages and who were later producing ornate jugs and unique horned devil louvers, unmatched elsewhere.

The final potters vanish around the time of the Black Death when their highly distinctive wares are found in the final layers of many abandoned houses in and around Monmouth.

Leading ceramicists could not believe the claim that these potters were using the simplest firing techniques known - clamps - until one was found.

With Steve Clark, Chairman, Monmouth Archaeology.