Monument record MDR11577 - Post medieval pottery works (site of), south of Main Street, Ticknall

Excavations for a garden pond at Ivy Leigh on the south side of Main Street have shown that the rise of the land here is not natural but is made-up ground rich in pottery fragments and occupation debris. There was once a small cottage in what is now the garden to the west, and a range of outbuildings linked to the house on the east side. The house was probably built in the mid 18th century, perhaps for a craftsman; it has been suggested that this may have been a potter, accounting for the pottery debris in the garden. The Tithe Award of 1843 lists the occupier as John Shaw, a butcher according to directories. The Tithe Map shows a large square building on the street front east of the house, presumably the butcher's shop. (1) There was a pottery in this area in the late 17th century - Richard Cox was potting here from 1698, although some of the pottery found may be older. He was born in 1674, the son of a potter who worked in what is now the Limeyards area, and died in 1732. The present house on the site, Ivy Leigh, may have part of Richard Cox's house as its core. An inventory made at his death details a three-roomed cottage and also records a workhouse outside where his potting tools and boards were kept. His wife remarried the year after his death to John Knifton, who took over the running of the pottery. In the pre-enclosure survey of 1762 the site is the only pot works listed as such: 'house, Pothouses, yard and garden' in the occupation of John Knifton. Knifton's inventory taken in 1766 did not amount to much and is perhaps a reflection of how the potting trade was decreasing, with many items being described as old. (2) An archaeological investigation was undertaken on the southern boundary of the garden at Ivy Leigh, Ticknall. Because documentary evidence indicated that this was a site of pottery production and examples of unstratified pottery and kiln furniture had been found. Features found during the excavation included a pit and gully of 15th-16th century date, possibly related to the early pottery industry, and a probable buried subsoil of 16th-17th century date. These had been overlain by 17th-18th century dumping of kiln waste and kiln furniture including a smashed and redeposited kiln floor of probable 16th-17th century origin. During the 18th century or later these dumps had been cut by a drain formed of rough limestone blocks. The main categories of finds were kiln furniture and pottery of late 15th to 18th century date, providing further evidence of pottery production on the site. (3) Further limited excavation in the garden of Ivy Leigh in 2010 revealed a sequence of dumped deposits associated with the practice of pottery making. These contained mostly mid 16th to mid 17th century pottery, although some earlier 13th to 14th century pottery was identified, suggesting that earlier deposits had been disturbed and raising the possibility of an earlier phase of pottery making at the site. A mid 16th to 17th century kiln was revealed, along with three stone structures which post-dated the kiln but were of roughly the same date. These included a culvert, a probable building and another stone culvert or possible wall. These structures were overlain by more dumped deposits containing mid 16th to mid 17th century kiln waste, kiln furniture and pottery fragments. (4)