In several of the leases of land by copy of Court Roll of the fifteenth and sixteenth century the right to dig marl or clay (_argillium_ or _luteum_) is conceded, but I suspect it was usual even then to use such marl as manure. The filling in of pits or lakes (_laca_) in the roads is also a constant cause of trouble in these Rolls, but they may have been due to honest wear and tear and not to the temptations of a cheap raw material. It should be mentioned however that we have hardly one quarter of these early Tunstall Court Rolls, and must not assume that these few casual notices of clay or pots is exhaustive. We now skip a century and pass to:— 1549. The jurors present Richard Denyell for that he dug mud called clay (_fodit luteum vocatum cley_) in the King’s way at Bronehillslane (Brownhills), and in Burselem. 1604. Penalty laid (i.e. _sub pœna_). It is ordained by the jury that any person who digs “_argillum vocatum_ clay” in a certain way called Wall Lane, which shall be prejudicial to the passage by that way, or if he do not fill up the same well and sufficiently, shall forfeit to the lord 6_s._ 8_d._ So far still no mention of potting. Various leisured people began now to describe England, relating what they saw and heard. Many of them dealt with Staffordshire, but they notice no special and curious feature about the North Staffordshire moorlands. Leyland in 1537, Camden in 1586, Erdeswick in 1590, say nothing of a “Potteries.” Speed’s list of the Shire products in 1625 omits pottery. It is just possible that some of the impetus for the local manufacture may have come from the dissolution of the monasteries. There is reason to believe, judging from the remains at the Cistercian Abbey of Hulton, that the monks there made such encaustic tiles as are to this day called Cistercian. Now Hulton Abbey and the Abbey’s grange of Rushton both lie in Burslem parish. Some rudimentary practice in the art and mystery of potting may well have come from the seven[2] scattering brethren of this dissolved monastery, and may account in part for the development which was to come. For now we begin to find potters thick on the ground in Burslem. In legal documents the practice grew of adding after any man’s name, his trade; leases, depositions, wills, all show this. After 1600 one would certainly expect to find some trade description, and at last, in 1616, we find our first “potters.” 1616. Richard Middleton demises to Thomas Danyell of Burselem senior, potter, a pasture called Brownehills and another pasture called The Hill in Burslem containing 3 acres, with right to dig claye, “ffillinge upe the pitts after him,” for 21 years at a rent of 4s. He demises also to John Leigh 3 acres in Withiemore, with liberty to dig clay in the Withiemore when need be. (_Tunstall Court Rolls._)