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Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 2
by Iain C. Walker Part II Casemates 10-15 Right: DiscussionCasemate 13 Right The only three marks from Casemate 13 Right which can be identified are the fragments marked John Stephens. As noted when discussing the material from Casemate 1 Right, this appears to be John Stephens of Newport mentioned in 1751. In Casemate 1 Right, the two Stephens-marked fragments were datable to 1755-60, although one was also found in Layer 9M which contained a good deal of markedly earlier material (ca. 1700-1749/50). The one under discussion here has the sharply impressed letters. In the case of the examples under discussion and the three others from Casemates 14 Right and 15 Right, we have to assume that Stephens was working over 20 years prior to the only recorded mention of him. There is only one John Stephens recorded in England, but as noted in discussing Casemate 1 Right, the occurrence of his name on a pipe with a bowl datable to the end of the 18th century at the earliest suggests there may have been two, presumably father and son, in business. The occurrence of the same mark on the one hand in a 1745-60 context in Casemate 1 Right and, on the other hand, in three casemates with a terminus ante quem of about 1732, clearly indicates a long period of activity, for six such marks from these three right face casemates cannot be explained as strays. Stephens is mentioned in the Apprenticeship Rolls for 1751, apparently as a master, not an apprentice. The heel mark of the crowned letters LV and the apparent flying bird beneath are typically Dutch, but the mark is not listed by Helbers and Goedewaagen. (The initials are not, incidentally, in Oswald's list of English makers.) The stem fragment with the letters IHN together with the barbell-like motif is almost certainly of Dutch origin, but the inscription is too fragmentary for possible identification.
An unmarked bowl from this casemate, 4W.3.117 (Fig. 47, centre), has an unusual form. It does not resemble any of Oswald's types nor does it appear to be Dutch. If it is English, the shape indicates that it is later than about 1680, when Dutch influence apparently introduced the type of pipe already described as inspiring Oswald's type 9, for the bowl does show a general tendency towards this rather than the earlier English shape. The most reasonable assumption is that it must represent a rather early, and perhaps aberrant, example of this Dutch influence on the traditional English shape. Casemate 14 Right The only material that would appear to give indication of dating from Casemate 14 Right other than the John Stephens stem discussed earlier, is the fragment with the letters WM, each crowned, on either side of the heel. As already noted in discussing similar pipes from Casemate 1 Right, these initials occur at Williamsburg in contexts usually datable to about 1750-65; though one area in which pipes with these letters occurred was dated on a Binford analysis to 1740. In Casemate 1 Right, these letters occur twice in 1755-60 contexts and once in the layer that marked a floor level in 1755. There is a strong possibility, therefore, especially as this 14 Right fragment is the only example from these three casemates, that it is a stray from higher up in the rampart fill. As was noted, however, when dealing with the examples from Casemate 1 Right, pipes have been found with these initials, crowned and uncrowned, in London on bowls that are typologically datable from the late 17th century into the second half of the 18th century. It is possible that these letters were used by some makers as a trade mark — a less well-known and shorter-lived type of TD mark in fact — though one maker with these initials may have copied the idea of the crowns from another with the same initials. The mermaid mark is the same as that described in Casemate 1 Right where the context was 1755-60. As noted when discussing Casemate 1 Right material, there is an ambiguous reference to 1745 being the date when this mark was registered. It this were the case, then this example, which is the only one from these casemates, would also be an intrusive stray. At present, however, it is not possible to say whether or not this is the case. The crowned LV is a typically Dutch mark, and while the bowl shape is not among the common Dutch shapes, it is of interest in that it may be related to a type that was allegedly introduced into England in 1688 by the followers of William of Orange when he became William III, and which inspired Oswald's type 9 shape and its variants. (Omwake's description of this prototype [1964; 13] does not agree with this identification except for the plane of the rim being parallel to the stem — unknown in other Dutch pipes from the 17th to the 19th centuries [cf. Friederich 1964a-d] — but the bowl shape of the crowned LV pipe may be of a similar type current at the same time.) Omwake notes that the type 9 prototype to which he refers did not apparently become popular in The Netherlands. He describes the bowl as being conical — a shape which became the standard Dutch bowl shape that later inspired the German porcelain pipe bowl shapes — but relatively upright, set to the stem at approximately 100° and with no heel. Dutch bowls usually, though by no means always, had heels, and invariably set at an obtuse angle to the stem, a feature that tended to become more extreme with time, and continued until the end of the 19th century (Brongers 1964a; 79; cf. Friederich 1964a: 11, Fig. 7). In view of the extremely rigid tradition of bowl shape among Dutch pipes, therefore, it is quite possible that types that were an attempt to set a new fashion failed. The type referred to here may have been manufactured at the same time as the type 9 prototype and, like it, failed to last in The Netherlands. Thus the shape of this pipe in itself may be an indication of an early dating in terms of the occupation at Louisbourg. Neither of the other marks, both Dutch, offers much help with regard to dating. The trumpeter was first registered in 1674 but the first recorded owner is Jan Puyt who is recorded as a master pipemaker on 10 March 1738 (Helbers and Goedewaagen 1942: 196). According to this source, there is on the original stamp of this mark the legend "1769 January 3. Dit Merk hier in." The meaning of the Dutch phrase is obscure. Literally it means "this mark [is] in here;" however, if a date of 1769 is on the original stamp of a mark first registered 95 years earlier, then it either refers to the earliest surviving stamp or a re-registering of the mark after a period when it was not used. (This could also be the case with the mermaid mark which has "13 May 1745" on its original imprint.) Another unresolved problem is that the depiction of the trumpeter in Helbers and Goedewaagen (1942: 96, Fig. 58) shows a coiled horn (i.e., a bugle) whereas these pipes depict a straight horn (i.e., a post-horn). The other mark, which appears to be the letters CVC monogrammed with the second C reversed, cannot be traced at Gouda. The nearest approach to it is the emblem of the Dutch East India Company (used as a maker's mark), which comprises the letters VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) with the O and C on the arms of the V. Its first recorded owner is a Simon van Loon, noted in 1835, and it was registered with the firm of Jan Prince and Company in 1881 (Helbers and Goedewaagen 1942: 128, 193, 197, No. 198). That it was known in the 18th century, however, is indicated by its appearance on a portable board of pipe marks (Helbers and Goedewaagen 1942: Pl. VIII) but with an A above the other letters. Unless the mark found here could conceivably be an unrecorded earlier and inaccurate version, however, it seems unlikely that there is any connection. The fragment bearing the small portion of a raised circular medallion might be a Robert Tippet pipe, as pipes of this type were found in Casemate 14 Right; but as noted when dealing with the letters EC in a similar medallion found in Casemate 1 Right, other marks inside circular medallions are known from England, especially the West Country, and are datable to the early 18th century. As regards general dating evidence, all Dutch marks in 13 Right, 14 Right, and 15 Right are without the Gouda coat of arms, which is strong although not conclusive evidence that these deposits cannot be later than 1740. One unmarked bowl, 4X.1.270 (Fig. 46, left), belongs to a type dated by Oswald (1960: 51, Fig. 21, No. 7) to 1690-1730, and by Atkinson (1964: type 8, facing p. 73) to about 1720 in southeast England. Its occurrence in this casemate is therefore entirely in keeping with the historical evidence. Casemate 15 Right In Casemate 15 Right there are two stem fragments which appear to have been made by John Stephens of Newport and three bowls made by the Tippet family which constitute the direct dating evidence. As noted when dealing with the John Stephens stems from Casemates 13 Right and 14 Right, the occurrence of two Stephens stems here reinforces the opinion already expressed that Stephens must have been working for over 20 years previous to the only recorded mention of him. Tippet pipes have already been discussed in detail with the material from Casemate 1 Right. The bowl form indicates, as expected, that these pipes were made by either the widow of the first Robert Tippet, or the second or third Robert, the second becoming a freeman in 1678 and still working in 1713. Either he or his son (possibly the latter) is mentioned in 1724. Thus the occurrence of these pipes would agree with the historical dating for these casemates. The other marks — two trumpeters, one with the letters CVC and one with the crowned LV — indicate the contemporaneity of the three casemates.
The ornately decorated stem fragment 4Y.1.5 (Fig. 40, extreme left) has decoration similar to two patterns found on pipes from Chester, England (Webster and Barton 1957: 24, Fig. 1, Nos. 7 and 8; 20) and also on one from Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Douwes 1964: 364, Fig. 1). The former were associated with material from the first three decades of the 18th century. The dating of the latter was not stated. If the lattice pattern of diamonds on this stem did contain fleurs-de-lis originally (this part is too badly worn to show what, if anything, the diamond impressions contained), it would probably be Dutch in origin. Stems with this type of decoration have been found in London (Price 1900: 236-7, Fig. 20; Dunhill 1924: 222-4, Figs. 217-8, 220; Oswald 1960: 50; 1961: 56), Kingston-upon-Hull (Sheppard 1912: 15-16, 23, 27), and York (O'Neil 1961: 379, Fig. 1, 5, 378, 380) in England; in Amsterdam in The Netherlands (Sleen 1963: 260-3; Brongers 1964b: 54, Fig. d); at Green Spring Plantation, Virginia (Caywood 1955: Pl. 16), at the Oscar Leibhart site, Pennsylvania (Omwake 1959: 130, Fig. 20, 3-4, 133-4), at the Schurz site, New York City (Omwake 1958: 10, Fig. 1), at Maspeth, greater New York (Solecki 1948: 328, Fig. 2, 329), and at Fort Shantok, Connecticut (Salwen 1966: 29, Fig. 11, b).
They appear to be unanimously dated to the 17th century and to be considered of Dutch origin. Omwake gives detailed evidence, noting the early use of the fleur-de-lis mark at Gouda (cf. Brongers 1964a: 46). However, since the decorated stems mentioned above date to the 17th century and since Chester pipemakers were evidently producing elaborately decorated stems in the earlier part of the 18th century, such stems in an historically dated context of 1720-32 could plausibly have come from Chester. The latter could have been ultimately Dutch in inspiration, for although Dutch pipes would have been less likely to arrive in Chester than in London and other near the eastern coast of England such as Hull, York, and Colchester, if once Chester pipemakers had started to produce elaborately decorated stems, then any motif which a maker thought attractive would be used. (At Colchester there is a possibility that a Dutch pipemaker was working in the half of the 17th century [Blake, Hurst and Gant, 1961: 49] though at present this an isolated example.) It is thus possible that the diaper pattern of fleurs-de-lis in lozenges illustrated by Webster and Barton does ultimately come from an earlier Dutch design.
As for the stem under discussion, 4Y.1.4, the worn state of the lozenges precludes certain identification. The spiral pattern with rouletting on the top of the ridge is exactly paralleled in The Netherlands, and on a probable Dutch stem from St. Francis Xavier IV, 1696-1718 (Béchard, personal communication) though there are similar twisted stems from Chester; and while the diaper pattern of lozenge-enclosed fleurs-de-lis is found at Chester similar designs are common in The Netherlands. If the stems with floral decoration found in Casemate 1 Right are from Chester, the chances of this example coming from there are increased, but at present it seems safer not to decide whether this stem is English or Dutch. As to general dating, neither the fragment with the letters CVC nor the two with the trumpeter bear the coat of arms of Gouda, which suggests this layer may not be later than 1740. Further, the occurrence of these two marks both here and in Casemate 14 Right suggests at least a broad contemporaneity. It should be noted, too, that all the fragments bearing the monogrammed CVC, both in this casemate and in Casemate 14 Right, have a peculiar protrusion where the heel joins the stem on the side facing the smoker. This protrusion, seemingly overlooked by the pipe trimmer, is apparently caused by a flaw in the mould, which suggests that all these pipes came from one mould, and perhaps even one shipment. One bowl, 4Y.1. no object number (Fig. 47, right), may be from a Broseley pipe of Oswald and James' type 5 (Oswald and James 1955a: 189, Fig. 5, 190) datable to 1670-1730. The shape and size of the heel are compatible with this identification, as is the outline of the part of the bowl facing the smoker, and enough of the rim of the bowl remains to show that its plane was not parallel to the line of the stem. Broseley makers usually placed their initials or name on the large heel, but not apparently with this example.
The Broseley industry reached its height during the second half of the 17th century, and it appears to have had some trade abroad. A few Broseley pipes have been found in North America (Oswald and James 1955a: 188; Oswald 1960: 48); for example, one possibly made by John Clarke, active in the earlier 17th century, from the Joseph Howland Site, Massachusetts (Deetz 1960a: eighth page), three possible examples all datable to the second half of the 17th century from an unpublished site at Newport News, Virginia (Pearce, personal communication), and one from Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts (Snow, personal communication) datable to about 1700.
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