Late Roman Handmade Grog-Tempered Ware Producing Industries in South East Britain

The appearance and revival of handmade grog-tempered ware producing pottery industries during the late 3rd and 4th centuries using technology more appropriate to the Late Iron Age in the south and south-east of Britain is something of an enigma. This revival in the popularity of such primitive pottery took place on the Isle of Wight and in the Hampshire Basin, East Sussex and Kent at a time when the production of Romanised wheel-turned grey and fine colour-coated wares was still on a large scale in the south of Britain and elsewhere in the British provinces. This publication is the result of 25 years research into these grog-tempered wares: it presents corpora of forms associated with the various industries and discusses the distributions of their products at different periods. It also discusses the possible reasons for the revival of such wares, increasing popularity during the 4th century and disappearance during the 5th century AD. Table of Contents List of Figures Introduction and Acknowledgements 1: The Late Iron Age and Early Roman Background 2: Industry Group 5. East Sussex Wares 3: Industrial Grouping 6. Hampshire Grog-Tempered Wares 4: Industrial Group 7. East Kent Grog-Tempered Wares 5: Industrial Group 8. West Kent Grog and Grit Tempered Wares 6: The Late Roman Grog-Tempered Ware Industries: A Discussion 7: The End of Roman Pottery Production in Britain Appendix 1. Schedule of Quantified Site Assemblages including Late Roman Handmade Grog-Tempered wares Appendix 3. The grog-tempered ware industries: gazetteer of examples seen Appendix 4. Fabric breakdowns of quantified East Sussex Ware assemblages Appendix 5. Breakdown of the East Sussex Ware percentages of quantified assemblages as per vessel type Appendix 6. Breakdown of the Hampshire Grog-Tempered Ware percentages as per vessel type Appendix 7. Breakdown of Industries 7A, 7B, 8A and 8B percentages of quantified assemblages as per vessel type Bibliography The appearance and revival of handmade grog-tempered ware producing pottery industries during the late 3rd and 4th centuries using technology more appropriate to the Late Iron Age in the south and south-east of Britain is something of an enigma. This revival in the popularity of such primitive pottery took place on the Isle of Wight and in the Hampshire Basin, East Sussex and Kent at a time when the production of Romanised wheel-turned grey and fine colour-coated wares was still on a large scale in the south of Britain and elsewhere in the British provinces. This publication is the result of 25 years research into these grog-tempered wares: it presents corpora of forms associated with the various industries and discusses the distributions of their products at different periods. It also discusses the possible reasons for the revival of such wares, increasing popularity during the 4th century and disappearance during the 5th century AD. Cover 1 Copyright information 2 Contents 3 List of Figures 7 1: The Late Iron Age and Early Roman Background 9 1.1: East Sussex 9 1.2: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight 9 1.3: East Kent 9 1.4: West Kent 10 2: Industry Group 5. East Sussex Wares 11 2.1: Introduction 11 2.2: A history of previous research 11 2.3: East Sussex Ware fabrics 13 Introduction 13 The fabrics 13 2.4: Sources 14 2.5: Industry 5A (Bardown ware) 14 The evidence 14 A Corpus of forms produced 15 Jars 15 Bowls 17 Dishes 17 Lids 17 Technology 15 The exploitation of raw materials 15 Distribution 17 2.6: Industry 5B. (East Sussex Wealden Ware) 17 Sources and exploitation of raw materials 17 A corpus of forms produced 18 Jars 18 Bowls 18 Dishes 18 Lids. 18 Asham pots 20 Technology 18 Distribution (Figure 6) 20 The end of the industry 21 2.7: Industry 5C. East Sussex Downland ware 21 Centres of production 21 A corpus of forms produced 22 Jars 22 Bowls 25 Dishes 26 Cups 28 Dishes with handles 28 Large dry-storage jars 28 Lids 28 Fabrics 22 Sources of clay, filler and fuel 22 Distribution. 28 c. 200-270 AD. (Figures 5 and 6, Appendix 4) 28 c. 270-370 AD. (Figures 6 and 7, Appendix 4) 31 c. 370-400+ AD. (Figure 8, Appendix 4). 33 2.8: Industry 5D. (Beddingham/Ranscombe ware) 35 Source and exploitation of raw materials 35 Technology 35 The date of the industry 35 The forms produced 36 Jars 36 Bowls 36 Dishes 38 Distribution (Figure 10) 38 2.9: Industry 5E. Pevensey Grit-and-Grog-Tempered ware 38 Introduction 38 Fabrics 38 Source 38 A Corpus of forms 40 Jars 40 ?Jugs 40 Bowls 40 Dish/Bowls 40 Distribution (Figure 36) 40 2.10: The relationship between Pevensey ware and East Sussex wares. 41 2.11: Industry 5F. Barcombe/Burgess Hill vitrified ware 42 Introduction 42 A Corpus of forms 42 Jars 42 Bowls 42 Dishes 44 Flasks 44 Mortaria 44 Dating 42 Distribution 44 Figure 1: Industry 5A forms. 16 Figure 2: Industry 5B forms and 5C.36 storage-jar 19 Figure 3: Industry 5C jar and bowl forms 24 Figure 4: Industry 5C dish and storage-jar forms 27 Figure 5: The distribution of early 3rd century girth-cordoned jar and bowl forms (Scale 1:800000). 29 Figure 6: Percentage distribution of Industries 5B and 5C wares c.200-370 AD (Scale 1:800000) 30 Figure 7: Distribution of Industry 5C developed beaded-and-flanged bowl forms (Scale 1:800000) 32 Figure 8: Percentage distribution of Industry 5C wares. c.370-400 AD. (Scale 1:800000) 34 Figure 9: Industry 5D forms 37 Figure 10: Percentage distribution of Industry 5D wares. c.300-400 AD. (Scale 1:800000) 39 Figure 11: Industry 5E forms 41 Figure 12: Industry 5F forms 43 3: Industrial Grouping 6. Hampshire Grog-Tempered Wares 45 3.1: A history of previous research 45 3.2: Fabrics 45 Group 6A. Hampshire Pipe-clay tempered wares 45 Group 6B. Hampshire Camouflaged-grog tempered wares 45 3.3: Firing Technology 45 3.4: Industry 6A. Hampshire Siltstone-Grog Tempered wares 46 Source and exploitation of raw materials. 46 Technology 46 A corpus of forms produced 47 Jars 47 Bowls 47 Beakers 49 Dishes 49 Everted-rim storage-jars 49 Lid-seated bead-rim storage-jars 51 Lids 51 Rope-rim storage-jars 51 Trading patterns 51 c. 250-270 AD (Figure 15, Appendix 6) 51 c.270-300 AD (Figures 16 and 17, Appendix 6) 51 c. 300-370 AD (Figures 18 and 19, Appendix 6) 55 c.370-430 AD (Figure 20, Appendix 6). 55 Long distance coastal trade (Figure 21). 59 3.5: Industry 6B. Hampshire Camouflaged-Grog-Tempered Wares 59 Sources of and exploitation of raw materials. 59 Technology 59 A corpus of forms produced 61 Jars 61 Bowls 61 Storage-jars with everted rims. 63 Distribution 63 c. 250-300 AD. (Figures 15 and 23, Appendix 6) 63 c. 300-370 AD (Figures 24 and 25 Appendix 6). 63 c. 370- 400+AD (Figure 26, Appendix 6) 63 Figure 13: Industry 6A jar and bowl forms 48 Figure 14: Industry 6A dish, beaker and storage-jar forms 50 Figure 15: Distribution of late 3rd century Industries 6A and 6B jar and lid forms (Scale 1:800000) 52 Figure 16: Percentage distribution of Industry 6A products c.270-300 AD. (Scale 1:800000). 53 Figure 17: Distribution of late 3rd century Industries 6A and 6B storage-jar and bowl forms (Scale 1:800000). 54 Figure 18: Percentage distribution of Industry 6A products c.300-370 AD. (Scale 1:800000). 56 Figure 19: Distribution of 4th century Industry 6A bowl and convex-sided dish forms (Scale 1:800000). 57 Figure 20: Percentage distribution of Industry 6A products c.370-400+ AD. (Scale 1:800000). 58 Figure 21: The eastern distribution of vessels in fabric 6.1A (Scale 1:1267200). 60 Figure 22: Industry 6B forms 62 Figure 23: Percentage distribution of Industry 6B products c.250-300 AD. (Scale 1:800000). 64 Figure 24: Percentage distribution of Industry 6B products c.300-370 AD. (Scale 1:800000) 65 Figure 25: Distribution of vesicular Industry 6B products (Scale 1:800000) 66 Figure 26: Percentage distribution of Industry 6B products c.370-400+ AD (Scale 1:800000) 67 4: Industrial Group 7. East Kent Grog-Tempered Wares 68 4.1: A history of previous research. 68 4.2: Industry 7A. East Kent Siltstone-Grog-Tempered ware 68 The Fabrics 68 Sources 68 A Corpus of vessel forms 69 Jars 69 Bowls 69 Dish/Bowls 69 Lids 71 Technology 69 Distribution 71 c. 270- 370 AD (Figures 28 and 29, Appendix 7) 71 c. 370-400+ AD (Figure 31, Appendix 7) 75 4.3: Industry 7B. Richborough/Canterbury Grog-tempered ware 75 The Fabric 75 Sources 75 Technology and utilisation of natural resources 76 A Corpus of forms produced 76 Jars 76 Jugs 76 Bowls 76 Dishes 76 Distribution (Figure 31, Appendix 7) 78 Figure 27: Industry 7A forms 70 Figure 28: Percentage distribution of Industry 7A products c.270-370 AD (Scale 1:800000) 72 Figure 29: Distribution of 4th century Industries 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B and 6A.18 bowl forms (Scale 1:800000) 73 Figure 30: Industry 7B forms. 77 Figure 31: Percentage distributions of Industries 7A and 7B products c.370-400+ AD (Scale 1:800000) 79 5: Industrial Group 8. West Kent Grog and Grit Tempered Wares 81 5.1: Introduction 81 5.2: Industry 8A. West Kent Grog and Grit-and-Grog-Tempered wares 81 Fabrics 81 Sources 81 A Corpus of forms produced 82 Jars 82 Beakers 82 Bowls 82 Dish/Bowls 82 5.3: Industry 8B. West Kent Sand, Shell and Calcite Tempered wares 82 The Fabrics 82 A Corpus of forms produced 84 Jars 84 Bowls 84 Dishes 84 Flasks 85 Source and dating 84 The Distribution of Industries 8A and 8B wares 85 c .270-370 AD (Figure 33, Appendix 7) 85 c. 370-400 AD (Figure 33, Appendix 6) 87 c. 400-430/450 AD (Appendix 7) 88 Figure 32: Industries 8A and 8B forms 83 Figure 33: Percentage distribution of Industries 8A and 8B products c.300-400+ AD (Scale 1:800000) 86 6: The Late Roman Grog-Tempered Ware Industries: A Discussion 89 6.2: The reasons for the revival of handmade grog-tempered pottery during the Late Roman period 92 The period to c. 270 AD. 92 c. 270-370 AD 93 c. 370-400+ AD 95 Figure 34A: North-south transect through Industries 6A and 6B marketing zones. B: East-west transect through Industry 5C marketing zone. C: North-south transect through Industries 7A and 7B marketing zone. D: Transects through Overwey/Portchester D ware m 90 Figure 35A: Transects through the New Forest greyware marketing zone c.300-370 AD and c.370-400+ AD. B: Transects through the combined Industries 6A and 6B marketing zones c.300-370 AD and 370-400+ AD. 91 7: The End of Roman Pottery Production in Britain 97 7.3: The end of Roman Pottery production in southern Britain 100 Introduction 100 Kent 100 London 103 Hertfordshire 104 South-Central England 105 Figure 36: Transects through the Alice Holt/Farnham industry marketing zone c.300-370, 370-400 and 400+ AD. 99 Figure 37: Dishes with solid hemispherical bosses. 106 Figure 38: The distribution of dishes with bosses, Industry 5E products and Roman towns with grubenhauser (Scale 1:1267200). 107 Appendix 1. Schedule of Quantified Site Assemblages including Late Roman Handmade Grog-Tempered wares 108 Appendix 3. The grog-tempered ware industries: 131 gazetteer of examples seen 131 Appendix 4. Fabric breakdowns of quantified 169 East Sussex Ware assemblages 169 Appendix 5. Breakdown of the East Sussex Ware percentages of quantified assemblages as per vessel type 170 Appendix 6. Breakdown of the Hampshire Grog-Tempered Ware 172 percentages as per vessel type 172 Appendix 7. Breakdown of Industries 7A, 7B, 8A and 8B percentages of quantified assemblages as per vessel type 178 Bibliography 182 Ceramic,Pottery,Roman,Britain,Grog-Tempered Ware,Industries