David Higgins

This note deals with a Staffordshire type coiled clay tobacco pipe of late eighteenth or early nineteenth century date that was originally published in America in 1883, but which has recently been identified in an English collection.  This enables the accuracy of the nineteenth century illustration to be compared with the actual object.  The pipe was originally published by (and may well have belonged to) Edwin Attlee Barber,  who was then curator of the Department of American Pottery and Porcelain at Pennsylvania Museum and later the Museum's director.

This paper provides a brief introduction to the Shropshire pipemaking industry and its products. It shows that pipemaking was established as a new industry early in the seventeenth century and that by the end of the century significant production centres had emerged in and around Ludlow, Cleobury Mortimer, Much Wenlock, Broseley, Benthall and Wem. Some of these production centres were based in historic market towns but others emerged in developing industrial areas, where they were able to exploit the clay and coal of the Shropshire coalfields. Distinctive local styles of bowl form, finishing and mark types were developed from the mid seventeenth century onwards and these distinctive forms were not only widely traded but also influenced pipe styles and production in other centres across large parts of England and Wales. The early industry seems to have reached its peak around 1680-1720 after which production in many of these early centres appears to have suddenly collapsed. There was a fundamental shift from the use of local Coal Measure clays to finer clays imported from the West Country and production became concentrated in the parishes of Broseley and Benthall.  The term 'Broseley' became synonymous with a quality long-stemmed pipe and many millions were exported from this production centre all over the world. The form and evolution of the early workshops and kilns is still poorly understood and remains a priority for future research. For the nineteenth century, however, Broseley boasts the only complete surviving pipe making complex anywhere in the country as well as an associated archive of tools and paperwork that remains to be studied in detail.

This is an archaeological report on a large group of clay tobacco pipes from the excavation of a late seventeenth to early eighteenth century pottery production site in North Wales.  This provides important evidence for the local manufacture of pipes in Buckley, particularly those made by Thomas Hayes who was using styles of bowl and mark from Broseley in Shropshire.  This is an important group for anyone studying pipe production and distribution in the region.

A detailed analysis of the clay tobacco pipes excavated from Big Lea Green, Sutton, Merseyside. The assemblage comprises 781 pipe fragments ranging from the seventeenth century onwards and reflecting the pipes produced and consumed in the Liverpool area of North-West England.  There are some good groups of seventeenth century material, primarily from the important pipe manufacturing centre at Rainford, and a large nineteenth century deposit dating from the early 1860s.  This includes imports from London, Ireland and France as well as a wide range of local products.  The close dating afforded by the marks makes this an important reference group for a period where few good quality groups have been previously published in the UK.

These "Guidelines for the Recovery and Processing of Clay Tobacco Pipes from Archaeological Projects" are designed to provide a first point of reference for anyone undertaking archaeological work involving pipes, whether this be planning archaeological fieldwork, collecting, analysing, cataloguing and curating pipes or carrying out specific research projects on them. These guidelines have been written with particular reference to British pipes but the same principles are widely applicable to assemblages from most other parts of the world. Each section is intended to provide an overview of the topic, with general advice and pointers as to where more detailed guidance or resources can be found.  The various sections are designed to enable non-specialists to undertake basic work themselves while at the same time gaining experience within broad guidelines as to ‘best practice’. They are also designed to encourage common standards amongst specialists and to enable archaeological curators and managers to assess the scope and quality of any given pipe report.  A glossary has also been prepared to explain the terms and abbreviations most frequently encountered in specialist literature dealing with pipes.

Doctoral thesis examining archaeological approaches to the recording and interpretation of clay tobacco pipes, with particular reference to the Broseley area industry of Shropshire, England.  The thesis looks at a variety of attributes that can be explored from pipe fragments, such as stem length, mould types and social status as well how pipes can be reassembled.  A study of museum and archaeological collections across a wide area of the West Midlands resulted in a corpus of well over 1,000 drawings, which are included in the thesis, together with a new list of Shropshire pipemakers.

The nearly 1,000 pipe fragments recovered from the 1995-7 excavations at the Tower of London provide a good sample of London pipes, especially for the period from c1670-1845. These include a number of examples of Armorial and other decorative pipe designs, as well as marked pieces.  The combination of soft silts and tightly documented historical events has produced a well preserved and closely datable body of evidence. This has provided much new information about the production and changing styles of pipes in London as well as shedding light on their supply and use at the Tower. The nineteenth century groups are particularly valuable since good excavated deposits of this date are extremely rare in London. The recovery of three complete pipes has filled gaps in the evolution of stem lengths as well as suggesting a date for the introduction of curved stems. Two new bowl forms that should be added to the London typology have been identified, as has a new variant of the Prince of Wales feathers motif. An analysis of the bowl form and mark data has shown the relative frequencies with which these attributes occur and has shown that, during the eighteenth century, some 6.5% of the Tower pipes had armorial decoration. The use of internal bowl marks has been shown to be unconnected with the use of moulded makers' marks but it has been shown that there is a significant correlation between bowl form and the use of marks. In this respect the mark can be seen to be an integral element of a pipe's design and style.

This report deals with the clay tobacco pipes from an outstanding pit group containing early seventeenth century glass, ceramics, etc., excavated at the Kitto Institute in Plymouth, Devon, England.  The pipes form a tightly dated group of c1625-35 that includes coastally traded pieces as well as Dutch imports.  Parallels for these pipes can be found in the New World since Plymouth was an important maritime centre engaged in the trans Atlantic trade.  The pipe report forms part of a paper that was published in honour of John Hurst and provides an important reference point for early seventeenth century pipes from the south-west of England.

A survey of all the archaeological and museum collections of pipes in the country of Surrey, which lies immediately to the south of Greater London in England.  The paper describes the bowl forms, makers' marks and decorative styles found here and provides an important regional reference work for pipes from the South East of Britain.  The paper includes a provisional list of pipemakers and is illustrated with hundreds of drawings of the pipes produced and found in the county.

A short note on a new Shropshire clay tobacco pipe maker identified from a marked pipe found in Wrexham, Wales.  This dates from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century and is unusual because it is a woman who is named as the maker - Mary Russell.

This is a short note that describes and illustrates a mid-nineteenth century group of domestic clay tobacco pipes recovered from the Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool, UK.  The pipes include a wide range of locally produced and imported types that reflect the cosmopolitan nature of this internationally important trading centre.  Illustrations of selected marked and decorated pieces.

Archaeological excavation report on clay tobacco pipes from Causeway Lane, Leicester, UK.  The material includes a range of domestic material dating from the seventeenth century onwards but is principally of interest for the two dumps of production waste from two different pipe kiln sites.  One group dates from c1820 and was produced by Richard King and the other from c1865 and was produced by John and Martha Chennery.  The analysis of this material sheds light on pipe production in the English Midlands during the nineteenth century and includes numerous illustrations of the different forms produced.

This study looks at the clay tobacco pipe industry in Merseyside, England, from c1600-1750.  The archaeological and historical evidence for pipe production in the neighbouring counties of Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire is briefly reviewed before a detailed description of the Merseyside industry.  Liverpool shipped considerable numbers of pipes both coastally and overseas from the pipe workshops in Liverpool and Rainford.  This paper details the bowl forms and marks produced and includes a regional bowl form typology.  This paper provides a key reference work for anyone seeking to date or identify pipes produced in, or traded from, this region.

This report details clay tobacco pipes found during archaeological excavations in the Manifold Valley on the western side of the Pennines in Staffordshire, England.  This was a relatively remote hill farming area but the inhabitants were clearly still able to access a regular supply of goods from surrounding markets up to 50 miles away.  The mid-seventeenth century pipes were generally local in character but, by the 1680s, pipes from the Broseley and Much Wenlock area of Shropshire nearly 50 miles to the south west were regularly traded to the area, with other products coming from diverse centres in Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire.  These show that, far from being a remote farming community, the inhabitants were well connected with contemporary fashions from a large surrounding area.

This paper deals with an excavated archaeological assemblage of clay tobacco pipes from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, England.  The pipes are primarily of seventeenth century date and include a rare fragment from a Dutch 'Jonah' pipe.  The pipes are likely to represent debris from one of the inns in the town and analysis of the bowls shows that a very large number of different individual moulds was used to produce them.  Stamped and marked pipes provide an important reference point for local products.  The paper also includes details of pipes held in St Alban's museum, including material from London and some Ottoman pieces.

Specialist report dealing with a very large assemblage of clay tobacco pipes from a excavations at a moated hall site in the north-west of England.  Most of the pipes date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and they provide one of the best reference groups for this region.  The report looks at the pipes consumed in this high status household, most of which were obtained from local production centres such as Rainford, near Liverpool, and Chester.  The report includes an extensive illustrated catalogue of bowl forms and makers marks, which provides a useful reference point for the identification of products from this region.

This study brings together evidence for the 'exotic' composite smoking pipes that were used by the British at home and abroad and provides a preliminary chronological and geographical framework for them. In this paper the British use of these pipes is viewed in the widest possible terms, so as to include material from former settlements, colonies and shipwrecks as well as places where they lived, visited or worked. The four main aims of this study have been as follows:
• To carry out a brief review of the historical evidence for ‘exotic pipes’.
• To draw together and illustrate a representative sample of the different styles of ‘exotic pipe’ used by the British.
• To try and identify the origin and date of the imported pieces.
• To assess the mechanisms by which composite pipes came to be circulating in British circles and their influence, if any, on home pipe production.
A large part of this paper deals with the British use of Ottoman pipes but there are also sections on Russian, Central European, Italian, French, American, Asian and African pipes.  The role of pipes in gift exchange, as souvenirs and as trade items is considered as well as the influence that these exotic imports had on home production.  The paper concludes with an extensive illustrated catalogue of the pipes discussed.

This paper describes and illustrates a substantial assemblage of clay tobacco pipes from Reading in Berkshire that was excavated prior to the construction of the Oracle Shopping Centre.  This is a part of Britain where there has been little previous work on pipes and so this report provides an important corpus of forms, particularly for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  A large number of stamped and moulded marks are illustrated and a typology established for the regional bowl forms.  The pipes not only provide evidence production within Reading itself, but also for the town's widespread trading connections during the Post-Medieval period.

This paper describes, illustrates and discusses an assemblage of clay tobacco pipes excavated from Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon.  Two main phases of pipe deposition are represented, the first associated with building works at the castle in about 1600 and the second associated with its abandonment and partial demolition c1680-1720.  The early group is particularly important since it includes one of the largest groups of very early pipes, typologically dating from c1580-1610, ever to have been excavated in Britain.  These represent consumption of a newly arrived luxury product in a high status household and provide important information about the production and distribution of pipes at this date.  Regional styles of pipe, most likely produced in the Plymouth area, are identified and the early introduction of pipe making reflects the early New World contacts that this part of the country enjoyed.  The pipes from this site reflect trade, social status and the introduction of new goods to England during the Tudor and Stuart periods and provide a material culture reference point of regional and national importance.

This note describes a particular type of metal smoking pipe bowl that has been recovered in increasing numbers, particularly by metal detector users, from sites right across northern Europe as well as in North America.  The bowl form is described and identified as coming from toy whistles produced for children.  These objects most likely date from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century and may well have been produced by German toy manufacturers.

Archaeological report on the clay tobacco pipes, hair (wig) curlers and other pipe clay objects from excavations at Launceston Castle, Cornwall, England.  The excavations produced 3,438 fragments of pipe, making this by far the largest assemblage to have been recovered from Cornwall.  The report describes and illustrates pipes ranging from the late sixteenth century onwards, including marked and decorated forms.  The regional trade in pipes in the south-west is discussed and the large number of illustrations makes this an important reference point for pipes used in or traded from this region.  The report is also important in putting forward a methodology for recording hair curlers, 30 of which were found on the site.

The widespread transmission of goods and ideas is one of the defining characteristics of the Post-Medieval period.  This paper shows how smoking pipes can be used to explore not only the actual movement of goods but also the transmission of ideas between one place and another.  It also examines the ways in which new trades and commodities were introduced into societies and how the demand for them could be met by differing types of social structure and production unit.

Pipemaking started in England during the second half of the sixteenth century and, during the early seventeenth century, became widespread in many small towns and villages across the country.  The regional styles of bowl form, decoration and makers’ mark allow these pipes to be used in tracing both local and longer distance trading activities.  It is argued that both organised and ‘incidental’ trading activities can be recognised from studying the distribution of finds and that the picture obtained from artefactual evidence is not always the same as that provided by documentary evidence.

At a broader level pipes were traded internationally and this trade is also reflected in the movement of bowl forms, decorative styles, manufacturing techniques and even the pipemakers themselves between one place and another.  There were particularly close links between the early English and Dutch industries, but the influence of British pipe making spread right across Europe from the Mediterranean to the Baltic.  This paper uses the movement of pipes and pipe making technology between Britain and Scandinavia as a model for the transmission of other less durable ideas and commodities throughout the Post-Medieval world.

Over the last few years the research which has been carried out on pipes has followed three main themes; identification, analysis and interpretation. Although a broad understanding of pipes has been established there are still many areas where particular questions remain to be answered.  Typologies need to be checked and refined and regional studies carried out to define stylistic and marketing patterns in more detail.  New questions are being asked of the existing evidence and fresh material is constantly becoming available for study as post medieval archaeology comes of age.  Some of the most dynamic and exciting developments in respect are now taking place in field of underwater archaeology.  It is a consideration of the pipes from wreck sites to which this paper is directed; to the contribution which they can make to existing studies and to the new avenues for exploration which they offer.

This report deals with the clay tobacco pipes recovered by Oxford Archaeology during excavations in Southampton’s French Quarter. The site covered approximately half a hectare and was bounded to the west and east by the historic frontages of French St and the High St (formerly English St). The assemblage itself comprises 1,095 fragments of pipe, which span the seventeenth to early twentieth centuries and provide a good sample of the pipes that were being produced and used in the town during this period. There are some important pit groups that provide benchmarks for the evolution of styles and manufacturing techniques as well as a number of previously unrecorded bowl forms, decorative schemes and makers’ marks.  Southampton was an important port with extensive national and international trading connections during this period and pipes exported from here have been found as far away as the Channel Islands and North America.

Synthesis reviewing the current state of clay tobacco pipe research in England.  This provides an overview of the pipemakers and the styles of pipes they were making as well as the exports and imports for each century.  Concludes with future research objectives, principal collections and key publications.

This paper outlines the value of pipes to Post-Medieval archaeologists and discusses the potential contribution of
underwater groups. It seeks to encourage closer collaboration between underwater archaeologists and finds
specialists by suggesting some priorities for future research and by drawing attention to the key publications and
organizations concerned with the study of pipes.