On some Jutish Pottery found in Kent

( 35 ) ON SOME JUTISH POTTERY FOUND IN KENT. BY W. WHITING. MR. H. HOPKINS has kindly presented to the Maison Dieu Museum at Ospringe a small brownish urn, which has been in his possession for many years, and is said to have been dug up in the King's Field at Eaversham about twenty years ago. The site of the extensive Anglo-Saxon cemetery in the same field is marked on the large scale ordnance maps. The Gibbs collection gathered from this source was bequeathed to South Kensington, and is now exhibited at the British Museum. It was catalogued by Roach Smith, where his description contains much valuable information concerning not only the bequest referred to, but Anglo-Saxon history and antiquities generally. Thanks to the foresight of Mr. Gibbs, this large collection is intact in the second best place possible ; naturally the ideal from the historical point of view would have been to retain it near the spot where it was found, especially in view of the subsequent discoveries in the neighbourhood, which have occurred continuously every few years for nearly a century. Considerable quantities of comparative relics from the same burial ground can be seen in the Ashmolean at Oxford, and the Walker Art Gallery at Liverpool, besides odd pieces at other places. The only other item of interest retained locally seems to be the string of beads kindly presented by the Mayoress of Eaversham on the occasion of the Museum's opening in 1925, and the Trustees are naturally pleased to place the urn (No. 1) beside them. The coincidence of an immediate parallel in a near City is strange. Mr. J. H. Kaehler, Natural History Steward, 36 ON SOME JUTISH POTTERY FOUND IN KENT. purchased the hard grey urn (No. 2) recently, and presented it to the Beaney Institute, Canterbury ; its exact provenance is as difficult to trace as the man who dug it up ; sold by him for what it would fetch it has passed through other hands in the meantime and the thanks of the City have been suitably expressed to the citizen who saved it. The small hard grey urn (No. 3) has been on view in the Beaney for many years as a " Roman " pot found in 1910 at Wickhambreaux ; it was acquired by purchase from its owner, a drover, and it is only its recent comparison with the King's Field urn which has caused it to be labelled and described correctly. These pots are typical of the Anglo-Saxon period. The Jutes who settled here and in the Isle of Wight impressed characteristic ornaments as illustration No. 4, upon their pottery [compare the illustrations in B.M. Guide to Anglo- Saxon Antiquities, 1923, pages 21 and 52 ; also illustrations of pots from Sarr in Arch. Cant., Vol. VII, plates IX and X ; also pottery of the same period in the Society's collection in the Maidstone museum]. Excellent illustrations of similarly ornamented food vessels can be seen in the 1920, or Fortyninth Annual Report of the Peterborough Natural History and Archseological Society. Eor much assistance in collecting these brief notes I am indebted to Mr. Reginald Smith, E.S.A., of the British Museum and also to the Curators at Maidstone and The Beaney, Mr. Hubert Elgar and Mr. H. T. Mead, respectively. Mr. Smith points out that the tall urn is a rare form in Kent; he remarks that the Maltese Cross in the loops may be, but is not necessarily, the Christian symbol. All three specimens are strongly allied to Frankish ware, rather than to the pagan Anglo-Saxon cinerary urns. No. 1 being a softer and brownish, clay, it would be more akin to the. Anglo-Saxon ware of the period than to the harder black or grey texture of the other two, occurring more often in France. In the absence of associated finds their date may well be the Seventh Century. PLATE I No. I from FAVERSHAM. No. 2 from CANTERBURY. Nos. 3 & 4 from WICKHAMBREAUX. JUTISH POTS IN KENT MUSEUMS. FURTHER ROMANO-BRITISH POTTERY. 37 FURTHER ROMANO-BRITISH POTTERY FOUND IN KENT. IN Arch. Cant., Vol. XXXI, p. 284, the late Mr. George Payne records six graves exhumed in Syndale Valley, Ospringe, in the summer of 1913 ; the exact site is approximately 700 yards W.S.W. of Syndale House. The pottery was retained for some time by the Rev. Robert Wyllie, and it was being restored piece-meal under Mr. Payne's supervision before it came into the care of the writer. Unfortunately in the lapse of time and the process of repair some of the grave marks have become obliterated and the grave groups cannot now be definitely certified. As, however, all the pottery may be dated between A.D. 50 and 180, the matter is not of great consequence. The burial ground being practically the same distance away from Syndale House, the supposed site of Durolevum, although in the opposite direction from the larger cemeteries subsequently discovered, is a point which should be noted. The six grave groups in the valley would most probably have been buried before the other cemeteries were brought into use. It is also most interesting to compare three urns which are exhibited in the Beaney Institute at Canterbury, and numbered here 683, 684, and 685 ; having been presented to the Royal Museum there nearly a century ago by the late Sir Samuel Auchmuty, the then owner of Syndale. Mr. Reginald Smith suggests the date of these urns to be not later than A.D. 50; probably they were found at the spot marked " Roman remains found " on'the large scale ordnance map, at the Southern extremity of the camp, and are from the very first interments when the position was occupied soon after the Claudian conquest. During the great war in April, 1915, soldiers billeted at Syndale when digging a refuse pit discovered the Samian patera No. 682; this also being of about the same early date would appear to confirm the opinion, although no certainty can be expressed that this piece formed part of a burial group. 38 FURTHER ROMANO-BRITISH POTTERY SIX GRAVE GROUPS POUND IN SYNDALE VALLEY, 1913. No. 661. Two-handled Lagena, 6| in. high, 4|- in. diameter ; yellowish-red clay. No. 662. Globular bodied Flagon, 7 in. high, 4-f in. diameter ; bright red clay with cream coloured slip, local fabric. No. 663. Funnel mouthed Flagon, 6£ in. high. 5 in. diameter ; light reddish-buff clay coated with cream coloured slip. The texture of the clay is smooth and chalky. No. 664. Ovoid one-handled Flagon, 6-§ in. high, 5 in. diameter ; dull dark red soft clay. No. 665. Bag shaped Beaker, 3£ in. high, 3$ in. diameter ; of soft red local clay. No. 666. Belgic carinated Cup, 5£ in. high, 5£ in. diameter ; fumed grey clay with bitumen varnished surface. No. 667. Ovoid olla-shaped Beaker, 3|- in. high, 3£ in. diameter ; fumed brownish-grey clay. No. 668. Poppy-head Beaker, 5£ in. high, 5 J in. diameter ; fumed grey clay with thin coating of black varnish, Belgic technique. No. 669. Olla, 6f in. high, 7 | in. diameter ; fumed grey clay. No. 670. Belgic Bowl, 2£ in. high, 7 in. diameter ; fumed grey clay. No. 671. Belgic Bowl, 2-f in. high, 7 | in. diameter ; fumed grey clay. No. 672. Cup, Sigillata ware, form 35 Drag., If in. high, 3 | in. diameter; decorated with leaves on stalks en barbotine. No. 673. Cup, 2 in. high, 5J in. diameter ; as last. No. 674. Cup, If in. high, 5£ in. diameter ; as last. No. 675. Plate, Sigillata, form 36 Drag., 1£ in. high, 6 | in. diameter. No. 676. Plate, Sigillata, form 35/36 Drag., 1 | in. high, 6 | in. diameter ; good early Lezoux ware. No. 677. Plate, Sigillata, form 51 Drag., IJ in. high, 6£ in. diameter; shallow, poor late ware, much eroded by deposit in clay. FOUND IN KENT. 39 0 40 POTTERY FROM TONG AND No. 678. Wide shallow Plate, imitating Sigillata form 51 Drag., with ornamental rings in the place of potter's stamp ; bright red clay. No. 679. Patera, If in. high, 7-f in. diameter; Belgic fumed grey clay. No. 680. Belgic Bowl, If in. high, 7 | in. diameter ; fumed grey clay. No. 681. Patera, If in. high, 6-f in., diameter ; fumed grey clay. The Samian Patera found 120 yards North-west from the front door of Syndale House in 1915. No. 682. Patera, Sigillata, form 15, If in. high, 6 in. diameter ; an early and somewhat rare type of its form; potters stamp OF. VITA, A.D. 54-81. The three Syndale Urns at the Beaney Institute, Canterbury, dated Middle of the First Century : No. 683. Urn, 9£ in. high, 8$ in. diameter ; sandy grey clay. No. 684. Urn, lOf in. high, 9 | in. diameter ; smooth grey clay. No. 685. Urn, 7 in. high, 9 in. diameter; smooth grey clay. POTTERY FROM TONG AND MURSTON, SITTINGBOURNE. DR. PRIDEAT/X SELBY has kindly presented to the Maison Dieu Museum, Ospringe, the first century pottery from Tong, Nos. 686 to 693. As these have already been published and fully described in the Antiquaries' Journal for July, 1926, Vol. VI. No. 3, page 309, there is no need to repeat details here, except that to remark the chalice fragments from which No. 689 has been reconstructed are now beheved to be of South Gaulish manufacture, and not Arretine ware, as previously stated. As doctors differ, so pottery experts are continually acquiring fresh facts and knowledge, and modifying opinions previously expressed; our authority who in 1924, declared the fragments to be Arretine ware, feels confident in 1926 that their origin was several hundred miles West of his earlier attribution. MURSTON, SITTINGBOURNE. 41 r^76 *J r: 679 h r t m ) f T r f [ n f f r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^ r^ 42 POTTERY FROM TONG AND Nos. 686, 687, and 688, LAGEN^E, thin hard white clay, dated by parallels found at Haltern (Loeschcke, Haltern 1912) as 11 B.O.-A.D. 9. No. 689. CHALICE, Sigillata ware, form 11 Drag., restored in drawing from fragments only; see preceding remarks. No. 690. CUP, SigiUata, form 8 Drag. (Loeschcke 15), central stamp of potter Masclus, La Graufesenque, A.D. 41-75. Nos. 691 and 692. BOWLS, Sigillata, form 18 Drag.: potter's stamp illegible. No. 693. CUP, Belgic type, fumed grey clay. Our member Mrs. Elizabeth Selby of Beaugill, Lynsted, has kindly deposited for safe custody in the museum the four interesting pieces of Roman Pottery from Murston, numbered 694 to 697. The three first need no description, as illustrations have already been published among the Ospringe finds in these pages. No. 697, a fumed grey ware tettine, or baby's feeding bottle, is one of two examples which can now be seen here. The second one was exhumed from the Ospringe Cemetery on the 2nd March, 1925, and all being well it will be recorded as No. 542 in the Society of Antiquaries' report. A feeding bottle with handle and of bright polished red ware (? Samian) 4£ in. high, from the Roman Cemetery at St. Sepulchres, Canterbury, 1861, is illustrated as No. 15 on page 29 of Vol. V. Arch. Cant. Two more are recorded in Vol. XX. p. 53, one being in the form of a rabbit. Others can be seen in the British Museum ; one in the London Museum is more like a feeding cup than a bottle, and an interesting example of a feeding cup with a spout and an internal strainer of earthenware can be seen in the museum at Huntingdon. No. 694. FLAGON, buff clay. No. 695. THUMB POT, with five indentations, fumed grey clay. No. 696. BEAKER, fumed grey clay with white slip coating on under side of lip and shoulder. No. 697. TETTINE, or baby's feeding bottle, fumed grey clay. MURSTON, SITTINGBOURNE. 43 WUIUIUMW 44 POTTERY FROM TONG AND MURSTON. 1,1,11,11,1.1,1,1 MMWiItl l i r m f f iM / 701 j liiMinliirMiir^^r^^-T-Fr-f^^^W A FIND AT ST. MARY'S STREET, CANTERBURY 45 A ROMANO-BRITISH BURIAL DISCOVERED AT CRISMILL FARM NR. BEARSTED, NOVEMBER, 1926. MR. H. ELGAR has kindly furnished particulars of the following discovery. While levelling the lawn at Crismill Farm a workman came upon a cremated burial. He excavated three pots containing burnt bones and, in addition, a Samian ware patera, which he kept. Mr. J. W. Bridge was called in to see the pots and he discovered yet another. He thereupon instigated further excavations which, however, yielded nothing more. The fumed grey cinerary urn No. 698 and the buff flagon No. 699 may be dated early second century. Mr. N. C. Cook has kindly drawn these complete vessels. In addition there were fragments of the lower part of a fumed grey store vessel, with a bulge approximately measuring 14J ins. and a base of 4|- ins. ; the lower part of a sandy red brown urn with a base of 6 ins., and the Samian ware patera above mentioned. The pottery has been presented to the Maidstone Museum by Capt. Blogg. A FIND AT ST. MARY'S STREET, CANTERBURY. IN excavations for a manhole about 3 feet square in connection with drainage work at the junction of St. Mary's and Castle Streets, at a depth of 10 feet, some fragments of pottery were noticed by an observant plumber's mate. With commendable intelligence this youth, Mr. H. Long, submitted the sherds to Mr. H. T. Mead, who told him that they were fragments of Roman Pottery, and that a search should be made for more pieces to see if anything could be made of them. Curtailing his dinner hour and diligently scrutinising the soil which yet remained, he produced further fragments which, with patience and care, have been cleaned, 46 A ROMAN CEMETERY AT fitted together and drawn, and are illustrated as Nos. 701, 703 and 704. A little later the white ware beaker No. 700 and the almost complete flagon No. 702 were found. This group of pottery may be dated by comparing the white-ware beaker with Ospringe pot No. 86 (Vol. XXXVII.) and group XLI. (Vol. XXXVIII.) and the hard red-ware, black coated, and five times indented thumb pot No. 701 with those in groups LIX. and LXIV. This thumb pot also resembles Ospringe beaker No. 6 (Vol. XXXV.) in not being coated with a darker slip covering about £ in. upward from the base. Query—did the potter immerse these cups upside down by their bases in the liquid slip, and forget, or perhaps never intend, to immerse them completely. The most ornate vessels are unfortunately incomplete ; the upper portion of one, No. 703, may be compared with the Ospringe Dice Cup, Group XXXVII. The lower portion of a similar pot of very hard ware with a metallic brownish lustre, No. 704, was at first thought to be the base of the same pot, but when pieced together proved to be part of a separate vessel. A ROMAN CEMETERY AT ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. IN February, 1926, Colonel W. Hawley, F.S.A. and the writer were asked by H.M. Office of Works to visit a Telephone Repeater Station which was being erected at St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, and report upon some Roman finds which had been met with in the course of the work. Mr. H. Silverston, A.M.I. Struct.E., clerk of the works on the job, reported that during excavations in December, 1925, two urns, a beaker, a goblet, a plate, and fragments, were unearthed at an approximate depth of 3 | feet; the pottery was not observed to be in any definite group, and the spot where it was found was about 38 feet from the school railing and 72 feet from the H.M.O.W. building line. In May, 1926, three more burials were found and photographed in situ. ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 47 -poM/jn Rajcr rou/w ony/rr or nwmmioriE 7?rpr^Tr^/YoT/n/y SCHOOl PLArenouw OFNEW TELEPHONE HSiLrtftsron /mis,.,.,, e.. unMM (/m fire ATTOrnr/ arme tynuati Ais-it-a s-'fjxer. zm. tk. 48 A ROMAN CEMETERY AT Through the kind help of Mr. J. H. Kaehler and Mr. Geoffrey Wells, the pottery was restored, and Mr. H. T. Mead, Curator of the Beaney Institute, Canterbury, has furnished the following particulars respecting previous finds in this locality. The site is without the City walls, about 300 feet from the main London Road, and was originally part of the Westgate Court Farm. John Brent, F.S.A., in Arch. Cant., Vol. IV., p. 27, 1861, mentions the discovery of the cemetery. In his " Canterbury in the Olden Time," second edition, 1879, he again alludes to it as an extensive cemetery at St. Dunstan's, extending from the South Eastern Railway cutting to the London Road on the N.N.W. and abutting on, or including, the whole length of St. Dunstan's Road, and extending in places, especially by Roper House (St. Dunstan's Street) to the opposite side of the way, whence bending round by the London Road, it occupies the present churchyard. It appeared to be rectangular in shape, and was several acres in extent. Brent's conjectures have been fully borne out by discoveries that have been made in the locality during the last twenty-five years. To Mr. Mead's knowledge many Roman cinerary urns have been found by the grave digger when performing his task in St. Dunstan's Churchyard. A large Samian bowl with figures and decoration in high relief and a red earthenware flask were found by Corporation workmen when carrying out drainage work at the entrance to the Recreation Ground in 1913. These objects are now in the Royal Museum. Mr. Thomas May, F.S.A., has kindly given the following full description of the pottery comprising the latest discovery. GROUP A. No. 705. URN, Wide bulged slightly bagged olla with outbent, level, slightly grooved rim, divided by girth grooves at intervals into zones. Hard sandy grey clay. (A bowl of red glazed sigillata served as a cover, see No. 707.) ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 49 50 A ROMAN CEMETERY AT No. 706. URN, of similar character to the foregoing, with conical lid. No. 707. BOWL, Terra Sigillata, form 36 Drag., decorated on the top of the rim with leaves on stalks. Lezoux type. I t served as a cover on the mouth of the urn No. 705. No. 708. FLAGON, bag bodied with cylindrical mouth piece and three-ribbed handle. Tile red clay much eroded by deposit in a clay soil. No. 709. BEAKER, thick set with obhque rim and shghtly raised foot. Soft grey clay. The end of the 1st century may be assigned as the date of deposit. No. 710B. Large carinated bowl or beaker with outbent thickened rim (used as Urn). The shape is a coarsened and enlarged survival, or imitation, of a drinking cup copied from an Arretine cup of the Augustan (B.O. 30-A.D. 14) period into the 2nd century. Cf. May York Pottery, p. 53, pi. xixb. 10. See also Silchester Pottery, p. 172, pi. lxxii, 169. Research VII. Richborough Report, 1926, p. 100, pi. xxvi., 75-77. No. 71 lo. Small flagon with four ringed mouth-piece, tworibbed handle and pear-shaped body. The tall neck and shape of handle point to a late 1st or early. 2nd Century date. Soft red clay. With this flagon was an urn, shown clearly on a photograph taken in situ, but unfortunately too friable to be restored or drawn. GROUP D and E, and apparently one burial. No. 713D. Large portion of a boldly outbulged olla, the outcurved rim wanting all but a small fragment. A cooking pot of ordinary Roman character. Fumed grey clay. No. 712B. Terra Sigillata (Samian) bowl, form 31 Drag., with high coned base and remains of central potter's stamp illegible, glaze and surface being eroded by deposit in a clay soil. ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 51 1 i-J.1 • i f.l • ; fl • i f I • i rl • 11 52 A ROMAN CEMETERY AT I t dates from the Antonine period A.D. 140-190. Cf. examples from the Pan Rock series, Reg. A. Smith, P.S.A. London, vol. XXI, 2nd ser. p. 279, No. 11 Pan Rock Series, A.D. 150-190. GROUP F, G and H., pots about 3 ft. apart. ? one burial. No. 714i?. Small shallow plate, or saucer, with a step, or offset, half way down the inner side, and imitation potter's stamp within a double circle in the centre. Belgic type. Sandy pale grey clay. Native or local Belgic type 1st Century. No. 715G. Body of a round boldly outbulged olla, rim wanting ; has been divided from the body by double-girth grooves, representing the dying out of the early cordons on the Aylesford urns. Hard sandy fumed grey clay, red at core. No. 716H. Broad deep S mouthed bowl of 1st Century type. No. 717J. Shallow Sigillata (Samian) bowl form. 35 Drag., decorated on the top of the rim with leaves on stalks en barbotine, of the shape employed by potters of Lezoux. The surface is eroded, but it appears to be of about the first half of the 2nd century. No. 718K. OLLA, with recurved rim, of coarse sandy grey clay, reddened outside by exposure to wood flames, the ordinary well potted Roman cooking pot. The ornaments and incurved support, which indicate a Belgic influence are wanting, 2nd Century type. No. 719N. URN. Small round bodied olla or beaker with recurved rim and rising base. Red clay with a fumed grey surface and core red between. GROUP L. No. 720. URN, Broad boldly • outbulged olla with triangular obliquely outbent rim and rising base, decorated with wavy scored lines on two groove-bordered zones'on the upper part of the body. Soft sandy red clay with grey core. ST. DUNSTAN'S, CANTERBURY. 53 111. i n •1 ft • i ."i i*a 54 A ROMAN CEMETERY. No. 721. BOWL, Sigillata form 31 Drag, with central stamp of potter illegible, the glazed surface eroded. The form and high coned base indicate a date of about the mid. 2nd Century for the burial. The burnt bones inside the urn are stained by clay to a dull reddish colour. No. 722M. URN. Broad thick set squarish bodied olla with outcurved thickened rim, decorated with grooves in pairs on the obtuse angled corners, on a raised foot and rising base. Hard sandy pale grey clay. No. 723P. BEAKER. Lower portion of a carinated cup of fumed brownish grey clay of Belgic type used as drinking vessel. This indicates the character of the interment to be one of the invading population surviving into the second half of the 1st Century, or ear her. No. 724Q. URN. Beaker with thickened outbent level rim and slightly bagged body, the Belgic prototype of the bag-shaped beakers used for Castor ware hunt cups, which became, at a later date, 4th Century, form 55 Drag. Sandy brown clay. In consideration of the publication of this illustrated record of the Pottery, the Authorities at His Majesty's Office of Works have been pleased to give the relics exhumed to the Beaney Institute at Canterbury; naturally the gift is much appreciated by the citizens and the committee and curator of the Royal Museum ; it is an example which might be followed with advantage in many other instances, as it must always be the ideal to keep local history on the spot where it is found. For very much help in this direction thanks must be given to the Architect, Mr. D. N. Dyke, O.B.E., A.R.I.B.A., and while expressing our appreciation of his kind assistance we cannot refrain from mentioning how pleased we are to notice the increasing attention and help that is being given by members of his profession whenever relics of archseologioal interest are discovered in the course of building operations.