ABSTRACT
The Shapwick assemblage is an important group of pipes so far as Somerset is concerned. The parish is more or less geographically just off-centre to the various pipemaking towns and villages of the county, and this collection is the first of any size to emerge from archaeological fieldwork on the Polden Hills. The opportunity presents itself not only to establish the sources for the pipes but also to consider contrasts with groups elsewhere and the background of the marketing choices of the pipemakers. In all there were 2567 fragments of clay pipe from excavation, test-pits and fieldwalking at Shapwick. A complete catalogue can be found in the site archive. The vast majority of the fragments are stems, to which relatively wide date brackets have been applied. The shape and profile of most bowl fragments have been used to date pipes, although the number of bowls is far outweighed by stems of which the majority are quite small.
