a).  Pilgrim's ampulla

In 2008 a small lead flask was found lying on the surface of bare soil where turf had been removed, within 100 metres to the north west of All Saints Parish Church. It measures 41 x 29mm and has a small handle on either side at the top, one of which has been pushed in towards the body of the flask. It has been identified as a Pilgrim’s Ampulla: a miniature flask worn around the neck designed to hold Holy Water or Oil. In medieval England the Church encouraged people to make pilgrimages to special holy places called shrines. It was believed that if you prayed at these shrines you might be forgiven for your sins and have more chance of going to heaven. Others went to shrines hoping to be cured from an illness they were suffering from.

The two most important sites of pilgrimage were the shrines of St Thomas a Becket at Canterbury (Becket was murdered on the 29^th December 1140) and the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Other shrines include St Albans, Lindisfarne, Glastonbury, Windsor and Bromholme.

Pilgrim’s badges and ampulla could be purchased by pilgrim’s at various shrines as proof of a pilgrimage. The earliest simple forms date to the late 12^th century. By the 15^th century designs were considerably more intricate with the flask shape being spread out into the shape of a scallop shell or as a wheel with spokes. They were made of poor quality pewter or lead and were cast in stone moulds. The tops were closed by pinching and hammering the mouth of the flask shut.

The ampulla has no distinguishing marks so it may not be possible to associate it with any one shrine. It is similarly just as difficult to accurately date. They are quite unusual finds. The Portable Antiquities Scheme run by the British Museum lists a total of 554 ampulla found in the UK since 1998, including 20 ampulla found in Nottinghamshire (nearest to us was at Barton in Fabis and Gunthorpe), 25 in Leicestershire (nearest was found at Wymeswold and Barrow on Soar) and just 2 in Derbyshire. In the past it was suggested that these ampulla were used in the middle ages for an outdoor church service called “Blessing of the Fields” held in the Spring, however archaeologists now believe they were for purely personal use.

b). Lead spindle whorl

A complete cast lead spindle whorl was found in a newly ploughed field close to the centre of the old village. The whorl is biconical with a hole through the centre where it would have been slipped onto the spindle and weighed 38g with a diameter of 27mm. The sides of the whorl are decorated with letters and symbols. Miss Charlotte Burrill, the Regional Finds Liason Officer for the East Midlands, has spent some time deciphering the inscription, which reads "IESUS" which was the old way of writing "Jesus". After the final 'S' and before the starting 'I' there is the symbol of a skull. The under side of the whorl has the letters "MARIA" which was the Latin version of "Mary". Between the last letter 'A' and the first letter 'M' is another skull symbol. You can envisage the difficulty of carving the mould for this spindle whorl when you see that some of the letters have been accidentally carved back to front and some are inverted. It is believed that the presence of the two skulls is serving as "memento mori" symbolism ('remember that you must die'). This symbolism came into common usage in the middle of the Medieval period, which might possibly be related to the devastation caused by the Black Death which first struck the country in 1348/9 and re-occurred several times in later years. It must be remembered that over one third of the entire UK population had died from this plague.

Cast lead items are notoriously difficult to age but this spindle whorl was assigned a date range of 1350 to 1550 with a 'best guess' of 1400 AD. So far as is known a spindle whorl with this legend and symbolism is unique. The 'Wolds' of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have always been the home of large numbers of sheep. Sheared wool was first teased by fingers or comb to remove foreign objects and would then have been washed in lye (an alkaline solution of wood ash) to degrease it. The final stage before spinning into thread was carding or combing until it was soft. Spinning was achieved by attaching the fibre to the spindle which was weighted by a perforated stone or lead spindle weight. This was spun by hand with the weight of the whorl acting similarly to a flywheel drawing out the wool fibres into a yarn that was wound into balls ready for hand-knitting or weaving on a loom . Hand spinning was not replaced by the spinning wheel until the end of the Medieval period.

c). Some Stanton fields have produced Medieval pot-sherds during field-walking.  A variety of different wares have been found and identified including Nottingham sandy ware, Nottingham green-glazed splash ware, Midland early purple ware and various coarse wares.

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