Werra ware and Weser ware are names given to two very similar slip-decorated, lead-glazed earthenwares that were made in north-central Germany from the second half of the sixteenth century to the first half of the seventeenth century. Extensive slip-ware industry grew up along the Werra river in northern Germany in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Werra and Weser wares are named after two conjoined rivers situated midway between the Rhine and the Elbe. Werra ware was initially known as ‘Wanfried’ ware. Excavations in the nineteenth century had uncovered fragments from around 400 dishes at the small town of Wanfried-an-der-Werra in the middle of present-day Germany near Eisenach, Upper Hesse and for many years Wanfried was thought to be the sole manufacturing source of the ware. But after more finds further along the river Werra between the end of the 1930s and about 1980, including kilns and workshops, scholars began to regard the identification of the pottery with Wanfried as misleading. The wares were exported through the port of Bremen in large quantities to the Low Countries, England, Scandinavia and as far afield as British North America. The pieces are often dated; 1568 is the earliest and 1653 is the latest. Werra ware is found on many sites in England, predominately on the east coast. In Britain, it is suggested that imports of this ware influenced pottery made in Harlow, Essex (‘Metropolitan’ ware) throughout the seventeenth century as well as some Staffordshire and other wares. The lead glaze provided a transparent or near transparent glaze through which the body of the clay remained visible. Werra ware was red-bodied whilst Weser ware was made of a finer, white-firing clay. In addition to pottery vessels, Werra potters are known to have made a range of wall tiles, pipkins, tankards and jugs. However flatware (dishes, plates and bowls) were the most common forms of Werra production. The plate was found as part of excavations off Woolcomber Street in Dover ahead of the St James’s redevelopment project. Situated on the eastern side of Dover, below Castle Hill, the new development provided an opportunity to archaeologically examine a substantial part of the old town. The plate was found in seven fragments and recovered as part of the backfill of a large, deep, lined cess tank dating to the seventeenth century. This was located close to the junction of old St James’s Street and Woolcomber Street, in the north-west area of the site. The tank was probably originally built in the backyard of a house fronting onto one or other of these streets. It contained a quantity of domestic rubbish, including the plate (dated 1614) and also the partial a skeleton of a horse, presumably waste from some local butchers shop. The quality of some of material discovered indicates that there were some fairly well-to-do people living in the area. The archaeological and historical background of the site indicated that intensive occupation began here in the later twelfth century with a series of small building plots established. These extended on either side of what later became Clarence Street (since built over) and were occupied by the ephemeral remains of a complex succession of timber buildings, probably dwellings, characterised by floors of rammed chalk. Associated with these buildings were large quantities of domestic rubbish including broken pottery, small finds, animal bones and fish bones. The medieval pottery recovered represented a large and important assemblage, whilst the significant amounts of fish bone found, together with many fish-hooks and other fishing equipment underlined the importance of fishing to the people who lived in this area. The insubstantial nature of their houses indicates that these were some of the poorer townsfolk, most probably seafarers, fishermen and their families. There was a marked decline in activity from the end of the thirteenth century, perhaps due to the end of building work at the castle, the documented French raid of 1295, a continual threat of marine erosion and the construction of the new town wall. Some of the timber buildings, however, were replaced by new stone ones between c 1300–1550, and a number of earlier boundaries were then marked by new stone walls. Continuity of the same boundary lines over many centuries was a consistent feature. Intensive occupation resumed in the post-medieval period, c 1550–1900. A series of buildings was constructed along Clarence Street, although the entire area on the southern side of the street was eventually cleared to make way for Clarence House and later, the Burlington Hotel. The excavation revealed complex remains which related to many phases of activity, sealed by 2–3m of stratified deposits. Vast quantities of domestic rubbish of medieval and post-medieval date were recovered as part of levelling deposits, often mixed with chalk, beach shingle and demolition rubble. During the post-medieval period more formal arrangements for rubbish disposal came into being and a number of stone-lined cess tanks were constructed. These produced some large collections of pottery, much of it imported, and includes the Werra-ware dish.

Werra ware is a high-quality imported tableware that would have added prestige to any sixteenth or seventeenth-century household. The plate would have adorned the table of someone of wealth and perhaps local prominence. This dish forms a circular platter, 28.5cm in diameter. Decoration is a pale greenish-yellow slip with a variety of designs in the centre outlined in sgraffito. The decoration on the plate is typically ornate with the image of a man placed in the centre as the focal point of the design, encircled by concentric decorative lines and a border of swirls, again encircled by more concentric lines on the outside. Werra ware decoration typically used repeat motifs such as dots, dashes, wavy lines, spirals, loops, squiggles and scrolls. Imagery was frequently religious or drawn from military and courtly life. The image on this dish is one of an elaborately dressed and therefore presumably rich man.