Romano-British Pottery--Upchurch Ware--Durobrivian Ware--Roman
Potters’ Kilns--Pottery in London--Salopian Ware--New Forest
Ware--Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, and other
Wares--Varieties of Vessels: Amphoræ--Mortaria, &c.--Sepulchral
Vessels--Tiles--Tile Tombs--Clay Coffins--Lamps--Penates--Coin
Moulds, &c.
During the Romano-British period the fictile art was much practised in
England, and not only was a large variety of wares produced, but an
almost endless number of vessels were made. Potworks were established
in many parts of the kingdom, some of which grew to very large
dimensions, while others of a less important character and size still
made wares of extremely good quality. The three principal potteries--at
least so far as present researches have enabled us to judge--in England
at this period were those on the Medway, in the Upchurch marshes,
extending towards Sheerness, in Kent; the Durobrivian potteries on
the river Nen, in Northamptonshire; and the Salopian potteries on the
Severn, in Shropshire. Smaller pot works, however, being scattered over
various parts of the kingdom.
With the well-known “Samian Ware,” the finest and most beautiful of
the pottery of the Romans which is found in this country, I have,
of course, nothing to do in my present work; for, although found so
frequently and so abundantly in England, it was not manufactured here,
and therefore does not come within its scope. I proceed, therefore, to
speak of the various English seats of the manufacture.
_Upchurch Ware._--The district wherein this pottery was made and
is found so abundantly, is of five or six miles in length, and from
one to two in breadth; and over the whole of this tract of country,
at a distance of some few feet below the surface, a regular layer of
remains of Roman fictile art occurs. To Mr. C. Roach Smith is due the
greatest credit of bringing these under notice:--“There can be no
doubt,” says Mr. Wright, “not only from the extent of ground covered by
the potteries, but from the frequent occurrence of the sort of pottery
made here, among Roman remains in Britain belonging to different
periods, that these potteries were in full activity during the whole
extent of the Roman period. The site of the kilns was moved as the clay
was used up, and at the same time the refuse pottery was thrown on the
ground behind them, so that, when at last abandoned, this extensive
site presented a surface of ground covered almost entirely by a bed of
refuse pottery.” Here, then, the Roman _figuli_ exercised, more
extensively than anywhere else in England their art, and continued its
practice for a long series of years. In those days the ground would of
course be firm and dry. Since then, as is usually the case in so long
a number of years, the soil has accumulated to the thickness of about
three feet--the inroads which the Medway is constantly making upon it
forming the creeks, and continually disclosing the remains left by the
potters.
[Illustration: Fig. 78.--Group of Upchurch Ware.]
The ware made at Upchurch must have been in considerable repute, for
it is found in Roman localities in most parts of the kingdom. On
Roman sites in France and Germany and in Flanders, &c., wares of a
precisely similar kind are found, and show that it is probable they
were simultaneously made at different places. The prevailing colour
of the ware is a bluish or greyish black, with a smooth and rather
shining surface. A good deal, however, is of a dark drab colour. The
black colour has been produced by the process of “firing” in “smother
kilns”--a process well known to potters. The forms of the vessels,
as well as the sizes, vary to a surprising extent, but they are all
remarkable for the gracefulness and elegance of their outline, and,
in many instances, for the simplicity and effective character of the
patterns with which they are decorated. The decorations consist chiefly
of circles or semi-circles; lines, vertical or otherwise; bands, and
numbers of raised dots arranged in a variety of ways. The clay used is
fine, and the vessels are light and thin, and remarkably well “potted.”
[Illustration: Figs. 79 to 83.--Upchurch Ware.]
[Illustration: Figs. 84 to 88.--Upchurch Ware.]
[Illustration: Figs. 89 to 93.--Upchurch Ware.]
The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery appear to
have been of a very rude description, and were, as it seems, chiefly
mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and others with a transverse
section cut into notches. The former were used in tracing the lines
already described; the latter had the section formed into a square or
rhomboid, the surface of which was cut into parallel lines crossing
each other so as to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on
the surface of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements.
Sometimes these dots are arranged so as to form bands;[5] and in
others simply “patch” ornaments. Other vessels were covered with
reticulation, the lines being simply scratched into the surface of the
clay; and others have bands of serrated lines.
The forms of some of the vessels from the Upchurch works will be seen
on Fig. 78, and a series of other characteristic examples are given on
Figs. 79 to 95.
[Illustration: Fig. 94.--Upchurch Ware.]
One example (Fig. 80) is ornamented with half-circles traced on the
clay as with compasses, from which run downwards rows of incised lines.
On Fig. 78 is an example of much the same character of ornamentation
although different in form.
Figs. 81, 85, 86, 87, and 88 are of different form, and are ornamented
with raised dots in bands and patches; while 83 and 84 are “engine
turned.” They are of remarkably elegant form.
[Illustration: Fig. 95.--Upchurch Ware.]
Figs. 91, 92, 93, and 95 are more bottle shaped--in fact, approaching
somewhat to the form of the mediæval bellarmine. Many varieties of this
general form have been found in the marshes and elsewhere. Fig. 89 is
particularly simple and elegant in shape, as are also several shown in
the groups on this and the preceding pages. Among these is an example
of another variety of ornamentation common to the Upchurch ware. It is
formed by diagonal intersecting lines, and in form is much the same as
the ordinary kind of Roman cinerary urns. In the group, Fig. 94, are
some examples of Upchurch and other wares.
No kilns have as yet been discovered in the Upchurch marshes, but
doubtless further researches will yet bring them to light. Mr. Roach
Smith, to whose incessant labours we owe the principal notices of these
potteries, has discovered the remains of the extensive village of the
potters, with traces of their habitations and of their graves, in the
higher ground bordering on the marshes.
_Castor Ware_, or _Durobrivian Ware_, as it is variously
called, is the production of the extensive Romano-British potteries on
the river Nen, in Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire; near Castor and
Chesterton, in those counties respectively. In this locality, as the
names of Chesterton and Castor undeniably prove to have been the case,
an important settlement of the Romans was made, and excavations have
brought to light the remains of a considerable town, and in connection
with it, of a settlement of potters with the remains of their works
extending over a district many miles in extent.
The great interest attaching to this locality is in the fact that this
was not the first, but the first well ascertained discovery of a Roman
pot-manufactory in this kingdom, and that at this spot the first kilns
of that period have been uncovered, and the processes adopted by the
Roman _figuli_ brought to light.
[Illustration: Fig. 96.--Castor Ware.]
The situation of the potteries was well chosen for carrying on an
extensive trade with distant parts of the kingdom, and from researches
searches which were made, the late Mr. Artis, to whom the discovery is
due, computed that probably two thousand people had been employed in
the fabrication of fictile vessels. It is on the line of one of the
most important of the Roman roads--the Ermyn street--and close to the
navigable river Nen; and that the products of the manufactory were
supplied to places throughout the kingdom is abundantly testified by
the remains which are almost invariably found in course of excavations
wherever Roman occupation is known. Mr. Artis unfortunately, although
he published a fine folio volume of plates[6] of the more remarkable
of the objects he discovered, never issued the descriptive and
historical text which was intended to accompany it. The great bulk
of the information he had gleaned he never committed to paper, and
consequently it died with him. Mr. Artis, however, communicated some
valuable particulars to Mr. C. Roach Smith, and these have been
made public by him in the “Journal of the British Archæological
Association”[7] and in the “Collectanea Antiqua.”[8] Mr. Artis in one
of these says that during an examination of the pigments used by the
Roman potters of Castor and its neighbourhood, he was “led to the
conclusion that the blue and slate-coloured vessels met with here in
such abundance were coloured by suffocating the fire of the kiln at
the time when its contents had acquired a degree of heat sufficient to
insure uniformity of colour. I had so firmly made up my mind on the
process of manufacturing and firing this peculiar kind of earthenware,
that I had denominated the kilns in which it had been fired “smother
kilns.” The mode of manufacturing the bricks of which these kilns are
made is worthy of notice. The clay was previously mixed with about
one-third of rye in the chaff, which being consumed by the fire, left
cavities in the room of the grains. This might have been intended to
modify expansion and contraction, as well as to assist in the gradual
distribution of the colouring vapour. The mouth of the furnace and
the top of the kiln were no doubt stopped: thus we find every part of
the kiln, from the inside wall to the mouth on the outside, and every
part of the clay wrappers of the domes penetrated with the colouring
exhalation.”
[Illustration: Figs. 97, 98, 99.--Castor Ware.]
The researches further proved that the colour could not be attributed
to any metallic oxide (although it must be confessed that in many
instances the surface has a strongly developed metallic appearance)
either in the clay itself or applied externally, and this conclusion
is confirmed by the appearance of the clay wrappers of the dome of
the kilns; and it may be added, the colour is so fugitive that it is
expelled entirely, by submitting the pottery to an open fire. During
the examination of the Upchurch pottery, Mr. Artis remarked that he
thought a coarse kind of sedge had been used in the manufactory. His
practical eye alone guided him to this conclusion, for he had never
visited the site, and was quite unaware that below the strata of broken
vessels, a layer of sedge peat is in several places visible. The same
kind of arrangement probably obtained pretty generally with the Roman
potters.
[Illustration: Fig. 100.--Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field,
Castor.]
[Illustration: Fig. 101.--Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field,
Castor.]
The kilns for firing the Castor ware, discovered by Mr. Artis, are
among the most interesting of all the remains of Roman arts which have
been brought to light. The kilns which were removed in the course
of the investigations were “all constituted on the same principle:
a circular hole was dug from three to four feet deep, and four in
diameter, and walled round to the height of two feet. A furnace,
one-third of the kiln in length, communicated with the side. In the
centre of the circle so formed was an oval pedestal, the height of the
sides, with the end pointing to the mouth of the furnace. Upon this
pedestal and side walls the floor of the kiln rests. It was formed
of perforated angular bricks, meeting at one point in the centre; the
furnace was arched with bricks, moulded for the purpose; the side of
the kiln was constructed with curved bricks set edgeways (see Fig. 100)
in a thick slip (the same material made into a thin mortar) to the
height of two feet. The process of packing the vessels and securing
uniform heat in firing the ware was the same in the two different
kinds of kilns--namely, that before described, called ‘smother
kiln,’ and that for various other kinds of pottery. They were first
carefully loose-packed with the articles to be fired, up to the height
of the side walls. The circumference of the bulk was then gradually
diminished, and finished in the shape of a dome. As this arrangement
progressed, an attendant seems to have followed the packer, and thinly
covered a layer of pots with coarse hay or grass. He then took some
thin clay, the size of his hand, and laid it flat over the grass upon
the vessels: he then placed more grass on the edge of the clay just
laid on--then more clay--and so on until he had completed the circle.
By this time the packer would have raised another tier of pots, the
plasterer following as before, hanging the grass over the top edge of
the last layer of plasters, until he had reached the top, in which a
small aperture was left, and the clay nipped round the edge; another
coating would then be laid on as before described. Directly after,
gravel or loam was thrown up against the side wall where the clay
wrappers were commenced--probably to secure the bricks and the clay
coating. The kiln was then fired with wood.[9] In consequence of the
care taken to place grass between the edges of the wrappers, they could
be unpacked in the same size pieces as when laid on in a plastic state;
and thus the danger in breaking the coat to obtain the contents of the
kiln could be obviated. In the course of my excavations I discovered a
curiously constructed furnace, of which I have never before or since
met an example. Over it had been placed two circular vessels; the next
above the furnace was a third less than the other, which would hold
about eight gallons; the fire passed partly under both of them, the
smoke escaping by a smoothly-plastered flue, from seven to eight inches
wide. The vessels were suspended by the rims fitting into a circular
groove or rabbet, formed for the purpose. They contained pottery, both
perfect and fragmentary. It is probable they had covers, and I am
inclined to think were used for glazing peculiar kinds of the immense
quantities of ornamented ware made in this district. Its contiguity
to one of the workshops in which the glaze (oxide of iron) and other
pigments were found confirms this opinion.”
[Illustration: Fig. 102.--Potter’s Kiln, Castor.]
Fig. 102 is a kiln of a different construction. “In it, instead of
modelling or moulding bricks for the kiln, the potters, after forming
a tolerably round shaft, commenced plastering it three inches thick
with clay, prepared for that purpose, leaving a flange twenty inches
above the furnace floor to receive the floor of the kiln; a mode of
construction unnoticed by me before in these kilns. In the centre
was placed an oval pedestal, for the double purpose of dividing the
fire and of giving support to the centre of the floor. To attach the
pedestal to the back of the kiln, and to shut out the cold air which
would lodge in the angle formed by the pedestal being so placed, the
angle was filled with coarse materials, which were stopped up with
clay, so as to draw the flame more towards the centre, and induce a
union with the flame and heat entering the front part of the kiln.”
The more usual plan with the potters of this district in packing their
kilns was, when the contents had reached the surface of the earth, to
form a dome by covering the urns and vases lightly with dry grass,
sedge, or the like, and plastering it over with patches of prepared
clay, divided by strewing a small quantity of hay between each portion
to facilitate removal. In place of this usual process, in this kiln
bricks were used of an oblong shape, four inches by two and a half
inches, wedge-shaped at one end, with a sufficient curve to traverse
the circumference when set edgeways, with the wedge ends lapped over
each other. The sides would be thus raised for three or four courses
or more, as circumstances might require, and probably be afterwards
backed up with loose earth. These bricks were modelled and kneaded with
chaff and grain.”[10] The numbers indicate as follows:--1, front of
the pedestal supporting the floor of the kiln; 2 2, slopes, probably
intended to produce a more uniform heat; 3 3, part of the kiln floor;
4, bricks, before used; 5, area of the furnace; 6, mouth of furnace; 7,
wall of kiln; 8, top of the pedestal. The mouth of the furnace, No. 6,
was arched over.
The ware of the Durobrivian potteries was superior both in style of
art and in form and material to that of Upchurch, and has an especial
interest over it in the fact that it bears figures and various
ornaments in relief, in the same manner as on the Samian ware. The
ornament, especially the scrolls, &c., were laid on “in slip.” The
vessel, after having been thrown on the wheel, would be allowed to
become somewhat firm, but only sufficiently so for the purpose of the
lathe. In the indented ware, the indenting would have to be performed
with the vessel in as pliable a state as it could be taken from the
lathe. A thick slip of the same body would then be procured, and the
ornamentation would proceed.
[Illustration: Fig. 103.
Fig. 104.
Fig. 105.
Figs. 106 and 107.
Fig. 108.
Fig. 109.
Fig. 110.
Representations of Field Sports on Castor Ware.]
“The vessels--on which are displayed a variety of hunting subjects,
representations of fishes, scrolls, and human figures--were all glazed
after the figures were laid on; where, however, the decorations are
white, the vessels were glazed before the ornaments were added.
Ornamenting with figures of animals was effected by means of sharp and
blunt skewer instruments and a slip of suitable consistency. These
instruments seem to have been of two kinds--one thick enough to carry
sufficient slip for the nose, neck, body, and front thigh; the other
of a more delicate kind, for a thinner slip, for the tongue, lower
jaws, eye, fore and hind legs, and tail. There seems to have been no
retouching, after the slip trailed from the instrument. Field sports
seem to have been favourite subjects with our Romano-British artists.
The representations of deer and hare hunts are good and spirited;
the courage and energy of the hounds, and the distress of the hunted
animals are given with great skill and fidelity, especially when the
simple and off-handed process by which they must have been executed is
taken into consideration.”[11]
[Illustration: Fig. 111.--The Colchester Vase.]
[Illustration: Fig. 112.--Castor Ware.]
[Illustration: Figs. 113 to 115.--Castor Ware.]
[Illustration: Figs. 116 and 117.
Fig. 118.
Fig. 119.
Fig. 120.
Figs. 121 and 122.
Fig. 123.
Fig. 124.
Foliated patterns on Castor Ware.]
Two vessels with these hunting subjects are given in Figs. 108 and
110; and other designs of this character, exhibiting stag and hare
hunts, are shown on Figs. 103 to 109.
Gladiatorial combats are also frequent subjects for representation on
the Castor vases. One of these is given on Fig. 111, which represents
one side of the celebrated “Colchester vase;” Fig. 103 being the
design of another of its sides. The next engraving (Fig. 112) shows
the chariot race in the Roman racecourse or stadium--the quadriga
being well, although rudely, fashioned, and the position both of the
horses and charioteer boldly conceived. Mythological subjects were also
common. One of these, of the indented form, restored from fragments, is
given in the accompanying engraving (Fig. 113).
[Illustration: Fig. 125.
Fig. 126.
Fig. 127.
Castor Ware.]
Another and equally pleasing variety of ornamentation, and one
peculiar, it may be said, to the Durobrivian potteries, is that whereon
the pattern consists of scrolls and flowers in white slip on the dark
bluish black ground. The effect of these simple patterns, which are
generally graceful and always elegantly formed, is remarkably pleasing.
Examples of these are given on Figs. 114 to 124, which will serve to
show the general style of this kind of decoration. Figs. 125 to 128 are
admirable examples of the indented form of vessel. Many other shapes
and varieties of Castor ware might be adduced, but the illustrations
I have given will be sufficient to give a clear insight into their
general characteristics.
[Illustration: Fig. 128.--Engine-turned Ware.]
[Illustration: Fig. 129.--Leicester Museum.
Fig. 130.
Fig. 131.
Fig. 132.
Fig. 133.
Fig. 134.
Fig. 135.
Fig. 136.
Fig. 137.
Roman Pottery.]
One of the most curious and interesting urns of this ware (Fig. 129)
was dug up in Leicester in 1869, and is preserved in the museum of that
town. It is of a fine rich deep colour, with the pattern in white slip,
and has borne an inscription, also in slip, the only letters of which
now remaining are M E I I VI. In the same museum, among other
varieties of Romano-British ware, are the beautiful vessels shown on
Figs. 132, 133, 134. There are also fragments of ware which seem to
point at pottery which I believe, at one period of Roman occupation,
existed in the neighbourhood of Leicester.
[Illustration: Fig. 138.--Potter’s Kiln, St. Paul’s Churchyard.]
Potters’ kilns of the Romano-British period have been found in other
places, but those at Castor are the most perfect, and in every way the
best. Indeed, the others may be said, more appropriately perhaps, to
be indications of kilns rather than the kilns themselves. A curious
record of the discovery of a kiln in London, at the north-west of St.
Paul’s Cathedral, in 1677, by John Conyers, a collector of antiquities,
is preserved in the British Museum,[12] and has been published by Mr.
Roach Smith,[13] the eminent archæologist, to whom the antiquarian
world is indebted for so much valuable information concerning Roman
antiquities. This very curious and valuable record is as follows, in
the handwriting of Conyers, and the accompanying engraving is carefully
reduced (see Fig. 138) from Conyers’ own drawing:--
“This kill was full of the coarser[14] sorts of potts or cullings,[15]
so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urnes, dishes.
“The forme of a kill in which the olde Romans’ lamps, urnes, and other
earthen pottes and vessels was burnt, and some left in the kill; and
that within a unstired, loamy ground about 26 foot deep near about the
place where the Market House stood in Oliver’s tyme, the discovery
made anno 1677 at the digging the foundacion of the north east part
of St. Paull’s, London, among gravel pitts and loam pitts, where the
ground had been at tymes raised over it 3 or 4 tymes, and so many 8
foote storyes or depths of coffins lay over the loamy kill, the lowest
coffins made of chalk; and this supposed to be before or about Domitian
the emperor’s tyme.
“Of these (kilns) 4 severall had been made in the sandy loam on the
ground in the fashion of a cross foundacion and only this height
standing, viz. 5 foot from topp to bottom and better; and as many feet
in breadth; and had no other matter for its form and building but the
outward loame as it naturally lays, crusted hardish by the heat burning
the loame redd like brick. The floor in the middle supported by and cut
out of loame, and helped with old-fashioned Roman tyles shards, but
very few, and such as I have seen used for repositorys for urns in the
fashion of like ovens, and they plastered within with a reddish mortar
or tarris; but here was no mortar, but only the sandy loam for cement:
“observed and thus described
“by JO^N CONYERS, Apothecary.”
In accordance with the above description, the sketch by Conyers shows
also the four kilns placed crosswise, leaving ample space in the centre
for the workmen. The vessels found in the kiln are thus described by
Conyers, who also made sketches of them, which are preserved along with
his MS., and have been engraved in the “Collectanea Antiqua:”--
“1. 1 quart earthen dish.--2. 2 gallons, whitish.--3. 4 quart
bason, whitish.--4. 8 ounce censer or lamp, whitish earth.--5. 2
quart colinder, whitish.--6. 2 pint lipp waterpott.--7. Lamp, or
censer, reddish.--8. 3 pint urne.--9. 3 quarts urne, whitish.--10. 2
ounce lamp, gilded with electrum.--11. 2 quart, white.--12. 1 pint
bottle.--13. 2 pint black urne.--14. 1 pint urne, black.--15. 6 ounce
urne.--16. 3 quart urne, blewish.--17. Half pint urne, electrum
Britan.--18. 1 pint dish, blewish.--19. 1 ounce urne, whitish.--20. 3
ounce urne, cinamon collour.--All these a sort of earth almost like
crucibles, except the black, will endure the fire like brass, as in
this day in use about Poland.”
From the drawings which accompany these descriptions, the
Romano-British origin of the examples found actually in the kiln
is placed beyond doubt. Most of them are precisely the same types
as hundreds of fragments which have been found all over London, and
are the common table and culinary ware of the period. Some bear a
very striking resemblance to the vessels from the Upchurch pottery.
Amongst them is a mortarium. Most of the vessels are plain, but some
are ornamented with rows of dots, &c., and others with a reticulated
pattern. The forms are elegant and simple.
In another part of his MS. Conyers describes other kinds of pottery
found during the excavations. “Now these pottsherds,” he writes, “are
some glass and some potts like broken urns, which were curiously
laid on the outside with like thorne pricks of rose trees and in the
manner of raised work: this upon potts of murry collour, and here and
there grey houndes and stags and hares all in raised work: other of
these cinamon collour urne fashion and were as gilded with gold but
vaded: some of strange fashioned juggs the sides bent in so as to be
six squares, and these raised work upon them and curiously pinched as
curious raisers of paist may imitate: some like black earth for pudding
panns; one the outside indented and crossed quincunx fashion. Now many
of these potts of the finer kind are lite and thinn and these workes
raised or indented were instead of collours; yet I find they had some
odd collours, not blew, in those tymes, and a way of glazing different
to what now; and here takes notice that the redd earth before mencioned
bore away the belle.”
The manuscript contains also the following note:--
“The labourers toulde me of some remains of other such kinds of small
kills that was found up and down nere the place of the other pott
kills, and these had a funnel to convey smoke which might serve for
glass furnaces, for though not anny potts with glass in it whole in the
furnaces was there found, yet broken crucibles or tests for melting of
glass, together with boltered glass such as is to be seen remaining
at glass houses amongst the broken glass, which was glass spoyled in
the making, was there found; but not plenty, and especially coloured
and prepared for jewel-like ornament, but mostly such as for cruetts
or glasses with a lipp to drop withall, and that a greenish light blew
collour; and of any sort of glass there was but little.”
Remains of potteries of this period have also been discovered in
Norfolk (between Brixton and Brampton); at Botham in Lincolnshire; in
Somersetshire; at Worcester; at Marlborough; at Sibson; at various
places in Yorkshire; in Shropshire; in Oxfordshire; in the New Forest,
Hampshire; at Colchester, in Essex; at Wilderspool, near Warrington;
and in many other parts of the kingdom. Of some of these I shall now
proceed briefly to speak.
[Illustration: Fig. 139.--Salopian Ware.]
[Illustration: Fig. 140.--Pottery from Uriconium.]
[Illustration: Figs. 141 to 151.--Pottery of the New Forest.]
[Illustration: Figs. 152 to 157.--Pottery of the New Forest.]
To the Shropshire potteries--those of the clays of the Severn Valley,
probably at Brosely,--a vast number of varieties of vessels are to be
traced; and it is, as I shall show in a later chapter, interesting
to know that the same bed of clay which at the present day produces
articles of daily use, produced fifteen hundred years ago the vessels
for the table, &c., of the inhabitants of the then great neighbouring
city of Uriconium. In the excavations which have been undertaken on the
site of this ruined city immense quantities of fragments of pottery
have been found, and, with the exception of the Samian ware and the
Durobrivian ware, it is not too much, perhaps, to say that the whole,
or nearly so, has been made in the Severn Valley. Of these wares, two
sorts especially are found in considerable abundance; the one white,
the other of a rather light red colour. The white, which is made of
what is commonly called Brosely clay, and is rather coarse in texture,
consists chiefly of rather handsomely shaped jugs or bellarmine-shaped
vessels, of different sizes, the general shape of which somewhat
resembles Fig. 96; of Mortaria; and of bowls of different shapes and
sizes, which are often _painted_ with stripes of red and yellow.
The other variety, the red Romano-Salopian ware, is also made from
one of the clays of the Severn Valley, but is of finer texture, and
consists principally of jugs not dissimilar to those in the white
ware, except in a very different form of mouth; and of bowl-shaped
colanders.[16]
Two examples of Romano-Salopian ware--the first of the white, and the
second of the red variety--are given on Fig. 139, and on Fig. 140 is
represented a group of vessels of this make, from the cemetery at
Uriconium.
[Illustration: Fig. 158.--Derby Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 159.--Jermyn Street Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 160.--York Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 161.
Fig. 162.
Fig. 163.
Fig. 164.
Fig. 165.
Sepulchral Deposits, Colchester.]
The potteries of the New Forest in Hampshire, for a lucid account
of which we are indebted to Mr. Wise,[17] were of great extent,
and, as is proved by the researches which have been made on their
sites, of considerable importance. The potteries were noticed in
1853 by the Rev. J. P. Bartlett,[18] who prepared an account of his
researches for the Society of Antiquaries, and since that period
both that gentleman and Mr. Wise have with great success continued
their explorations. The names of the localities where these ancient
potteries exist--_Crockle_ (crock kiln or crock hill) and
_Panshard_--are highly suggestive. During the excavations kilns
were found in a perfect state. The kiln at Crockle was circular, and
measured six yards in circumference, its shape being well defined by
small hand-formed masses of red brick-earth. The floor, about two
feet below the natural surface of the ground, was paved with a layer
of sand-stones, some of them cut into a circular shape so as to fit
the kiln, the upper surfaces being tooled, whilst the under remained
in their original state. At the potteries at Audenwood no kilns were
discovered; but at Sloden, where the works cover several acres, “two
large mounds marking the sites of kilns” are remaining, along with
the sites of potters’ huts, &c. At Island Thorn more kilns and
innumerable fragments of vessels of various kinds were discovered. In
_Pitts Enclosure_, besides mounds opened by Mr. Bartlett, Mr.
Wise discovered in one mound five kilns, ranged in a semicircle, and
paved with irregular masses of sand-stone. They were close together,
separated only by mounds of the natural soil. Besides fragments of
various vessels, “two distinct heaps of white and fawn-coloured clay
and red earth, placed ready for mixing, and a third of the two worked
together, fit for the immediate use of the potter,” were found with
these kilns.
Some of the more usual and more striking forms of the vessels from New
Forest potteries are grouped together on Figs. 141 to 151. A selection
of patterns from the wares are grouped on Figs. 152 to 157, some of
which will be seen to bear a close resemblance to those of the Castor
ware.
[Illustration: Figs. 166 and 167.--Potter’s Mould, Headington.]
Of the potters’ kiln, &c., found near Colchester, where probably some
ware in imitation of the fine red Samian was produced, a notice will
be found in “Collectanea Antiqua.”[19] In the Yorkshire potteries--for
there can be little doubt that at Potters Newton, at York, and at other
places pot-works existed in these early times--the curious vessels
ornamented with what are usually called “frill patterns” were made, as
also other slip and scaled patterns, as on Figs. 158, 159, and 160.
[Illustration: Figs. 168 to 170.--Mortaria, from Headington.]
[Illustration: Fig. 171.--From Headington.]
[Illustration: Figs. 172 to 175.--From Headington.]
At Headington, Oxfordshire, I had the good fortune myself to discover
in 1849, along with the remains of a villa and other buildings,
traces of a kiln and of many other interesting features, of which I
published an account in the _Journal of the British Archæological
Association_.[20] The fragments of pottery found on this site were
extremely varied, and attended with some very unusual facts. One of
the most curious and interesting matters was the discovery of a clay
mould bearing a beautifully formed female head (a bacchante), with a
wreath of vine leaves encircling her brow, for the forming of heads on
Romano-British pottery. Fig. 166 shows this mould, and Fig. 167 gives
the impression taken from it.[21] The face has a remarkably pleasing
expression, and is beautifully formed. The mould is a rough lump of red
clay, and has been broken on its sides.
[Illustration: Fig. 176.
Fig. 177.
Fig. 178.
Fig. 179.
Fig. 180.
Fig. 181.
Fig. 182.
Fig. 183.
Roman Pottery, Headington, Oxfordshire.]
The pottery, with but one or two exceptions, was in fragments; from
these the engravings here given have been carefully restored. One very
remarkable feature was the immense assemblage--a cartload at least--of
fragments of mortaria. In form and material they differed considerably
from those found in other localities. Some were of a fine buff-coloured
clay, others of a lead colour, as produced by the smother kiln, and
all well studded with broken quartz. In size they varied from seven
and a half inches to nearly two feet in diameter. The larger one on
Fig. 168 was one foot nine inches in diameter, while the smaller one
is only seven and a half inches. The sections of the rims of the
Headington mortaria are dissimilar to others, as I have carefully
pointed out in the communication referred to. Fig. 171 exhibits a
vessel of fine red ware, the rim of which is painted black, on which
the white scroll-pattern is laid. The sections of rims which accompany
it for comparison sake are, besides its own rim,--1, red with white
pattern; 2, a fine red ware; 3, a fine ware, with a metallic surface;
and 4 and 5, imported Samian. Fig. 175 is of chocolate colour, and is
ornamented with an indented pattern of lines of squares, alternating
with flat circles. Fig. 172 is of blue-gray colour, of fine and close
and very hard texture; the sides are indented. Fig. 173 is of light
buff colour. The curious assemblage of vessels grouped on Fig. 176
are formed of a fine black clay mixed with sand. They are beautifully
formed, and many of them are ornamented with surface lines traced on
the clay without incision or indentation. The two examples (Figs. 181
and 182) are of tolerably fine red ware; the taller one (which has had
a handle) has been surface-coated with a red pigment. Fig. 178 is of
coarse red ware, and, as will be seen, is much the same in form as our
modern soup-plates. Fragments of vessels of the form of Fig. 180 were
very numerous. They were of coarse buff-coloured ware. Other examples
found during the excavations which I carried on are shown grouped on
Fig. 183. Fig. 179, like the rest, restored from fragments, is a small
and delicately formed cup, three and a quarter inches in diameter, of
rough-cast ware[22]; of these, examples were found, some of red, and
others of a chocolate colour.
Some good fragments of Castor ware were discovered, from which the
group (Figs. 97 to 99) has been restored. Fig. 174 is a small cup of
buff-coloured ware. Some small fragments of a green glazed ware were
also found.
[Illustration: Figs. 184 and 185.--From Wilderspool.]
Among the most curious of the discoveries were fragments of vessels of
fine clay, of a buff colour, with the patterns _painted_ in red on
their surface. One of these bears the rude representation of a cock;
others have waved and scrolled patterns; and others again, lines, dots,
circles, &c. Many other varieties of wares were also found, as were
some few fragments of Samian.
An interesting discovery of the remains of what appears to have been a
potter’s workshop was made in Dorsetshire, in 1841, by Mr. Warne, of
which he gives some very interesting particulars.[23] The foundations
were rectangular and clearly defined--in length forty-four feet, in
breadth twenty-five feet--constructed of flints, which are plentiful in
the neighbourhood. “In clearing out there was found a great quantity
of fragments of the ordinary smooth black and firm-grained ware: the
bottoms of some vessels were perforated like colanders. In the course
of the excavations, remains of instruments used by the potter were also
found; the most interesting being a considerable portion of a wheel,
formed of that peculiar bituminous shale well known as ‘Kimmeridge
coal.’ It is part of a circle, originally a wheel or plate, fifteen
inches in diameter and one inch and a quarter thick. It has undergone
the process of a careful and well-finished turning in the lathe. It may
at once be seen that it formed part of a potter’s wheel, the rotatory
table on which the workmen moulded, or rather when brought to the
desired form, the ductile clay received the finishing touches. There
are to be seen two or three counter-sinkings, in which were fixed the
arms of the metal axis on which it revolved. Portions of other wheels
in limestone were found, and one of great thickness, in conglomerate,
the use of which would seem to have been for pulverising the crude
material. Numerous pieces were scattered about of small and very thin
stone, of a rude but markedly angular form, similar to such as are
still, or lately were, used in the manufacture of coarse earthenware.
Amidst the _débris_ was a knife fixed in a rude bone haft; with
the remains were a large brass coin of Marcus Aurelius, and three
denarii of Severus Alexander, Gordianus III., and Philippus.”
[Illustration: Fig. 186.--Mask, Wilderspool.]
At Wilderspool, the presumed site of _Condate_, an outskirt of
Warrington, evidence exists which warrants the supposition that pottery
of various kinds was there made by the Romans. A large quantity of
fragments, including many interesting examples, have been collected
by Dr. Kendrick and placed in the museum at Warrington; these include
many well-known varieties of Roman wares, and some which are peculiar
to the place; among these are excellent examples of “engine-turned”
bowls, in which the engine-turning is surmounted by scoriated ornament;
these are in red clay. Of Durobrivian ware were found portions of a
bowl with overhanging rim, ornamented with the ivy-leaf pattern in
slip; on one portion is a potter’s mark, PAT, which has been
impressed on the side. Of imitation, or English, Samian, are several
fragments, with relief ornaments, some of which are pretty close
copies of the true Samian, while others are rather clumsy adaptations
of the Samian borders, &c. Examples of Upchurch ware were also found.
The wares which seem to be peculiar to Wilderspool, and which were,
there is every reason to believe, made there, are the two varieties
engraved on Figs. 184 and 185, and the “rough-cast” ware, of which a
small vessel found by myself at Headington, and engraved on Fig. 179,
will serve as an example. Fig. 184 is of a light red clay, which has
been surface-coloured. It is ornamented with a mammal ornament--a
series of raised circles, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter,
dying off in their lower half, and having a knob or nipple in the
centre. This has evidently been the ornament of the upper part of a
vessel, the lower being engine-turned in diagonal lines. Fig. 185
is of a dark-coloured clay, with a similar kind of ornament, but of
much smaller size, the discs being only rather more than a quarter
of an inch in diameter. The “rough-cast” ware, as this variety (Fig.
179) has been appropriately named by Dr. Kendrick, is a fine kind of
red-ware, the vessels in which, after having been “thrown,” have, while
in their soft, moist state, been powdered all over with small bits of
dry clay, and then dipped in thin slip before firing--the roughness
having previously been carefully removed from the rims and other parts
which were intended to be left plain. Dr. Kendrick claims this to be
hitherto “unnoticed, and therefore undescribed;” but here he is in
error, for in 1850[24] I described a similar ware--the only fragment
then known--which I discovered at Headington (Fig. 179), that example
being, perhaps, a little finer and of better quality than the present
Wilderspool specimens.
[Illustration: Figs. 187 and 188.--Tetinæ, Wilderspool.]
Another variety of ornament, supposed by Dr. Kendrick to be unique, is
on a hard bluish-grey ware; it is a series of patches of fine lines
scratched into the surface, as though done by a fine comb or a hard
brush.
[Illustration: Fig. 189.--Wilderspool.]
Among the most special objects found at Wilderspool are two tetinæ, a
tragic mask, and a triplet vase. Of the mask, engraved on Fig. 186, Dr.
Kendrick says:--“Although it is sadly mutilated, an earthenware mask
or visor for the human face is certainly the most rare and curious of
the Roman antiquities discovered at Wilderspool. As such it has been
described and figured in the seventeenth volume of the _Journal of
the Archæological Association_. In the British Museum is a single
specimen of the comic mask, such as we often see represented on Greek
and Roman sculptures or intaglio seals; there is also another mask,
with the mouth closed, for the silent actor. The Wilderspool mask
appears to be an equally solitary example of the tragic mask, although
Pollux, an ancient writer, enumerates twenty-five typical or standing
masks of tragedy--six for old men, seven for young men, nine for
females, and three for slaves.”
The tetinæ, or feeding-bottles, are engraved on Figs. 187 and 188;
they have tubular spouts at the side, and, when used, they were no
doubt furnished with soft nipples or teats for the tender mouth of
the infant. When found the mouth of each was covered by a fragment of
pottery, and, from their upright position and contents, there can be no
doubt that they contained the ashes of one or more children. It is also
curious to remark that one handle was suited for the right hand of the
nurse, and the other for the left, as if to compel a change of posture
for the infant.
The triple, or triune vase, restored on Fig. 189, is an excellent
specimen, the connecting bands being hollow tubes, so that when the
liquor was placed in one, it rose to the same height in each. Many
other objects of great interest were found at Wilderspool, and have
been carefully described by Dr. Kendrick and illustrated by his
daughter.
At Ashdon, in Essex, a potter’s kiln was discovered by the Hon. R.
C. Neville in 1852. It was of square form, being, as nearly as could
be measured, eighteen feet square, inclusive of the outer walls. The
furnace appeared to have been at the south-west end, immediately
communicating with the central and largest flue; in it was a
considerable quantity of charcoal and black ashes. This flue was two
feet six inches across at the entrance and two feet in width along the
entire length, which divided the structure into two equal portions.
From it eight lateral flues (each seven inches wide) diverged opposite
each other on either side. It was closed by the north-eastern wall,
which was carefully constructed of Roman tiles, which, as well as the
flanged tiles in other parts, had evidently been used in some former
building. Many fragments of tiles and pottery were strewed about, but
no perfect vessel was found.
[Illustration: Fig. 190.
Fig. 191.
Fig. 192.
Fig. 193.
Fig. 194.
Fig. 195.
Fig. 196.
Fig. 197.
Amphoræ, &c.]
[Illustration: Fig. 198.--Chesterfield.]
[Illustration: Fig. 199.--Chesterfield.]
[Illustration: Fig. 200.]
[Illustration: Fig. 201.--Colchester.]
A kiln was discovered in 1868 at Winterton, near Brigg, on a site about
half a mile from the Roman road, and not far from where a tesselated
pavement had been previously discovered. By the falling of a portion of
the side of a pit where sand was being dug, there was exposed a rudely
constructed kiln or oven, made by sinking a circular cavity about
six feet deep and six feet in diameter at the top, becoming narrower
towards the bottom, so as to be in fact an inverted cone. The lower
half of it is in the sand, and the upper half in the surface soil, and
in a thin bed of clay between this and the sand. A little more than a
foot in depth of the bottom of the pit had been filled with soil from
the surface, quite compact, as if it had been mixed with water and
well rammed down. On the top of this rested the oven itself, formed
by lining the pit with a mixture of coarse mud or clay with small
stones and pebbles, to a thickness of about four inches at the bottom,
increasing upward to ten inches at the brim, which is about one foot
and a half below the present surface of the field. From the centre of
the floor thus made rises a pillar of one foot nine inches in height,
and widening from one foot diameter at the bottom to one foot ten
inches at the top, which pillar widens suddenly so as to form a sort
of mushroom head, continuous in structure with the clay or mud floor
and walls just described. Two shallow grooves run all round the inside
of the oven, a little above the top of the pillar, and broken pieces
of blue Roman pottery are laid across from the pillar to the side of
the basin so as to cover in a sort of circular flue. Over these has
been spread a thin coat of clay similar to the rest of the lining, so
that the upper storey, so to speak, is a shallow pit, about three and
a half feet diameter and one foot and a half deep. A large quantity of
black ashes, and of fragments of Roman pottery, was found in and around
the kiln. An account of this discovery, with an engraving of the kiln
appeared in vol. ix. of “The Reliquary.” Another, in the same county,
was discovered near Ancaster; and in Somersetshire a kiln has been
uncovered.
[Illustration: Fig. 202.--Little Chester.]
[Illustration: Fig. 203.--Cirencester.]
Many potteries besides those whose productions have been here spoken
of might be described; but as their productions were the usual classes
of domestic or sepulchral vessels, or flue and other tiles, it is not
perhaps necessary to enumerate them. I will therefore proceed to speak
of some of the vessels not already particularised in this chapter.
[Illustration: Fig. 204.--Cirencester.]
[Illustration: Fig. 205.--Cirencester.]
Amphoræ were undoubtedly made in the Roman pot-works of Britain;
evidences of their manufacture having been observed in various
localities. The most extensive of these indications was at Colchester,
from which place the example (Fig. 194) is taken. These vessels are
of large dimensions, strongly formed, and usually of a buff, or
reddish-yellow colour. The forms of these vessels are of two distinct
kinds--the one being tall and slender, as in Fig. 194, and the other
more globular, as in Figs. 196 and 197. They were mostly pointed at the
bottom, for the purpose of fixing them, it is believed, in the earth,
or in stands made for their reception.
[Illustration: Fig. 206.--The Jewry Wall, Leicester.]
[Illustration: Fig. 207.]
[Illustration: Fig. 208.]
[Illustration: Fig. 209.]
Mortaria, of which three examples have been given (Figs. 168 to 170),
formed another extensive class of domestic vessels. Their use appears
to have been the pounding and beating up, for culinary purposes, of
vegetables and other articles. Some of the examples which have been
found bear unmistakable signs of long and hard use. Their inner surface
was studded, while the clay was soft, either with small fragments of
quartz or with scoriæ of iron, so as to promote trituration. The
example (Fig. 198) is of somewhat different character, having more
upright, and somewhat higher, sides than usual. It has been much used.
Another of the more usual of the domestic vessels, of Romano-British
manufacture, is the very convenient kind of basin (Fig. 199), which
will be seen to be of the same general shape as Fig. 171. The form of
this basin is infinitely better, more elegant, and more convenient than
those in use among us at the present day. The central flanged rim is a
very secure and handy arrangement for holding. This example, and the
mortarium (Fig. 198) were found together--in fact, inverted one into
the other--in the churchyard at Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. Many other
varieties of domestic vessels were also extensively made, but to these
it is not necessary farther to refer.
[Illustration: Fig. 210.--Walesby.]
[Illustration: Fig. 211.--Walesby.]
[Illustration: Fig. 212.--Headington.]
[Illustration: Fig. 213.--London.]
[Illustration: Figs. 214 and 215.--Headington.]
The sepulchral urns of Romano-British manufacture are of extremely
varied form and ornamentation. Figs. 78, 135, 137, 140, 161 to 165, and
183, will serve as examples of some of the varieties. The most usual
forms, however, are perhaps Figs. 200 to 205. They are of various kinds
of clays, and were generally plain, or but slightly ornamented.
Other good examples of sepulchral urns of various kinds, and of
different shapes, will be seen on the three groups of pottery, &c.,
found at Cirencester, shown on Figs. 203, 204, and 205.[25] On the same
engravings will be seen many other characteristic examples of Roman
Ceramic Art, as well as some metallic remains.
[Illustration: Fig. 216.--Tile Cist, Colchester.]
[Illustration: Fig. 217.]
Building-tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles, and drain-tiles were a branch
of manufacture which was carried on to a considerable extent in various
parts of the country, and, no doubt, generally in the immediate
neighbourhood of the buildings where they were used. The building-tiles
which are to be seen in the remains of the period, as in the Jewry
Wall at Leicester, engraved on Fig. 206, where occasionally they form
“herring-bone” masonry, are usually from about seven to ten inches
square, and about an inch and a half in thickness. They are frequently
marked with letters, and with feet of animals which have passed over
them (Figs. 207 and 209). The flue-tiles are of various dimensions.
They are usually of an oblong square form, hollow throughout, with a
lateral opening in one side for the heated air to pass through (see
Fig. 214). Others have two channels through their entire length, and
are without side openings. They are much ornamented with incised
patterns, and occasionally are stamped with letters. Some, too, have
figures of dogs, stags, &c. They were used for various purposes.
Another example is shown lying down in the centre of the group of tiles
on Fig. 210. In this group, the tall example, represented standing
upright, will be sufficient to show the form and excellence of
construction of the drain-tiles--the small end of each being made to
fit with an elbow joint into the thick end of the next. In the same
group are some open-flanged drain-tiles. An inscribed flange-tile is
shown on Fig. 217.
The roofing-tiles were much more calculated to resist the wind and
rain than those of later invention. They had flanged sides, which
fitted close to each other and were covered at the joint by a small
semicircular tile, like a draining or ridge-tile, imbedded in mortar
and resting on the two roofing-tiles, as a draining-tile rests on its
sole. This arrangement is shown on Fig. 211, which represents some
roofing-tiles found at Walesby. Of the ridge-tiles, of semicircular
form, to cover the joints, two good examples (Figs. 212 and 215), from
Headington, are here given.
[Illustration: Fig. 218.--Tile Tomb, York.]
It may be added that, on tiles of one kind or other, the name of the
legions and cohorts quartered in particular localities where they were
made, are frequently found impressed. The soldiers were brick-makers
and masons, and made the tiles and built the houses, &c., at the places
where they were stationed. Tile-stamps thus become important aids to
history.
It is curious to add that some of the tiles which have been found
tell a silent tale, which they were never intended to carry, of the
dress or hand or foot of the maker, which have become accidentally
impressed upon their surface while in a soft state, and are afterwards
rendered imperishable by firing in the kiln. One example of this kind
of accidental ornamentation (Fig. 207), which exhibits the impress of
a man’s feet, or, rather, shoes thickly studded with nails,--like the
“hob-nailed” boots of our own day,--will suffice as an illustration.
[Illustration: Fig. 219.--Clay Coffin, Aldborough.]
One extraordinary and highly interesting use of tiles among the Roman
inhabitants of Britain was that of forming them into tombs.[26] A
large tile was laid flat on the ground; two others of the same length
were placed upright, one at each side, to form the sides; two shorter
ones were placed upright as ends; and another tile formed the cover
(Fig. 216). Thus a fictile cist, or chest, was formed, and in this was
deposited the sepulchral urn containing the ashes of the departed,
with its accompanying group of smaller vessels. Cists of this kind are
found frequently in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester. “The practice
of enclosing or covering the sepulchral deposits with tiles appears to
have been so general, that the word _tegula_, a tile, was often
used to signify a tomb. The reader will at once call to mind the lines
of Ovid:--
“Est honor et tumulis; animas placate paternas,
Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras.
Parva petunt manes; pietas pro divite grata est
Munere; non avidos Styx habet ima deos.
_Tegula_ projectis satis est velata coronis,
Et sparsæ fruges, parcaque mica salis.”
It appears from these lines that it was the custom for the relatives
to place garlands, fruit, and salt on the tile which covered the
sepulchral deposit.[27]
At York, graves, or rather tombs, formed of a number of roof-tiles,
have been found. Fig. 218 represents one of these curious tombs. It was
formed of ten roof-tiles, four of which were placed on either side, and
one at each end, and four ridge tiles arranged along the top. Each tile
bore the impressed stamp of the VI. Legion (Leg. VI., _Legio sexta
victrix_--the sixth legion victorious). In these tile-tombs urns had
in one instance been placed; in another (the one engraved) were the
remains of the funeral fire, with the ashes of the dead. Clay coffins
have also occasionally been found. One of these, from Aldborough, is
shown on Fig. 219.
Lamps were undoubtedly made in various parts of this kingdom, and were
more or less ornamented; some bear excellently executed figures and
other devices. Many appear to have been made at Colchester, and are
spoken of by Mr. Roach Smith in his “Collectanea Antiqua.” The pot
works at this place appear to have been on the Lexden Road, where a
kiln and many other remains have been brought to light.
Penates and other figures, or statuettes, were also made in this
country; and these, again, it is pretty certain, were made in
considerable numbers at Colchester, as were also lachrymatories,
unguentaria, &c.
[Illustration: Fig. 220.--Colchester.]
[Illustration: Fig. 221.--Coin Mould.]
Coin moulds, for the manufacture of spurious Roman coins, were also
made of clay, and the arrangement was very simple, but effective.
The clay being properly tempered and prepared, was formed into small
round tablets of uniform size and thickness. A coin was then pressed
between two tablets while the clay was soft, so as to leave a perfect
impression, and these impressions, which had thus become obverse and
reverse moulds, were arranged together in little piles; the upper and
lower being impressed on one side only. Down the sides of each of these
little piles or heaps a nick or notch was then cut, so as to admit
the molten metal. Two or three of these heaps were then, as shown in
the engraving (Fig. 221), placed side by side with the notches joined
together, and these were then surrounded by a clay cone with a hole
at the top, into which the metal was poured, and ran down through the
notches, and so into the moulds. Impressions were thus taken the exact
counterpart of the original coin from which the moulds had been taken.