A stoneware jug imported from the Rhineland

Finds of imported Dutch earthenware and German stonewares are very common in Topsham, reflecting the great import trade in household goods from Rotterdam during the boom years of the Devon cloth industry in the years 1660-1750.

This recent find, recovered during building work at 7 White Street, Topsham, is a good example of one of the most popular and easily recognised types of import- the grey stoneware with blue and purple decoration from the Westerwald area of the central Rhineland. This particular type, with all-over ornament in the form of moulded hearts in relief, is datable to c. 1660-90.

Acknowledgments: Exeter City Museums