Maryland Archeology Month

-April 2008-

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Archeology in Annapolis

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Lloyd Plate

Lloyd Plate

The "Lloyd Plate"

Providence, the earliest European settlement of Anne Arundel County, was founded in 1649. This hamlet-like settlement has disappeared from the landscape, but played a significant role in the 17th century as the precursor to the Capital City of Annapolis. The Broadneck site (18AN818) is one of the earliest of the Providence sites discovered so far and consists of the remnants of a 'sill on the ground' structure approximately forty feet long by sixteen feet wide, with a large earthen cellar that would have been under the floorboards of the dwelling.

The Broadneck site was first occupied by Edward Lloyd in 1649 and archaeological evidence suggests that the structure burned in the 1650s. Artifacts recovered from the ash-filled cellar included such as a large iron pestle, an axe, and a key along with an abundance of food remains. Ceramic finds included Rhenish brown salt-glazed stoneware, tin-glazed earthenware Borderware and redware. No North Devon Gravel Tempered earthenware found at this site, which is interesting to note because North Devon Gravel Tempered is extremely common on all other Providence sites, sometimes reaching as high as 80 percent of the total ceramics recovered.

As excavations neared the bottom, a pile of large ceramic sherds appeared to be deliberately stacked on the original cellar floor surface. When mended, these fragments formed a Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware plate bearing a painted armorial device: a lion rampant surrounded by foliage and surmounted by a closed helmet. The arms are an exact match for the crest of the Lloyd family!

Edward Lloyd was the first "Commander" of the Providence settlement and a member of what became one of the wealthiest families in the Chesapeake. The Lloyd family also built Wye Plantation (18TA314) on the Eastern Shore and lent the family crest seen on the Lloyd plate to the official seal of Talbot County, Maryland.

This plate, however, is not the only example of the lion rampant motif. Examples of the Lloyd family arms have been found in New England, Amsterdam, and Brazil. The armorial device is not only associated with the Lloyd family but has also been attributed to the Portuguese General of the Armada Francisco Correa da Silva. The exact relationship between the Lloyd family and the armorial plate continues to be explored, but the Broadneck plate is "unquestionably one of the most important examples of seventeenth-century tin-glazed earthenware yet found in America." Today it is on permanent display at the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, Maryland.

Lauren Franz and Jane Cox, The Lost Towns Project.