North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century

Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 13
North Devon Pottery and Its Export
To America in the 17th Century
C. Malcolm Watkins
Figure 1.—North Devon sgraffito cup, deep dish, and jug restored from fragments excavated from fill under brick drain at May-Hartwell site, Jamestown, Virginia. The drain was laid between 1689 and 1695. Colonial National Historical Park.

By C. Malcolm Watkins
NORTH DEVON POTTERY AND ITS EXPORT TO AMERICA IN THE 17th CENTURY
Recent excavations of ceramics at historic sites such as Jamestown and Plymouth indicate that the seaboard colonists of the 17th century enjoyed a higher degree of comfort and more esthetic furnishings than heretofore believed. In addition, these findings have given us much new information about the interplay of trade and culture between the colonists and their mother country.
This article represents the first work in the author’s long-range study of ceramics used by the English colonists in America.