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THE POTTERY AND OTHER FINDS.
Part II of this paper (A.C., LIV (1941)) included an
appendix by Mr. G. C. Dunning, F.S.A., on Polychrome Pottery from
Stonar. This dealt with a series of sherds of jugs whose provenance is
S. W. France. Till the many other types of pottery can be submitted to a
detailed examination it is only necessary now to mention the main
classes of wares that were in use on this maritime site in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
As might be expected cooking pots of the stew-pan class
with nearly flat bases up to 9 in. in internal dia., and, in the better
potting, of thin body, form the majority of the sherds. With these are
deep dishes. Rims are usually broad and flat, sides spread and bulge
slightly; and there is an angle at junction of sides and base. The
interior in many cases has a thin hard brownish glaze which may also
spot the outside. These very fragile wares seem to have been the
commonest productions of the potteries on the London Clay of the Forest
of the Blean, whence they could have been transported down to and by the
Stour to Stonar. Preliminary notes on a recent exposure of a kiln site
in the above area, and a report by Mr. Dunning appear later in this
volume.
Handled jugs are many and various, and often full-bodied.
They may be partly covered with a yellow, brown or olive green glaze,
and they may also be glazed inside. |
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The typical lips are thin with a pinched-out spout
and with a moulding of two members. In coarse pottery an example of the
tubular spout has been found. The simplest handles are wide with plain
thickened edges, but these show an endless variety in shape,
massiveness, ornamentation and glaze. Stabbing of handles and rims to
allow for the shrinking of the clay in firing is general. The better
class of flagon, probably imported from the Continent, has a hard cream
or bluish-white body, and has a light mottled green glaze. The slightly
moulded base is flat and the spout, if parrot-beaked, is of the bridge
type (cf. A.C., LIV, 57). This type of spout is also found in
coarse heavy ware with greenish glaze. The common reddish or grey ware
jug of the period has the foot pinched out into a number of supports
which counteracted the sagging base (see Plate I ). A characteristic
article is a small, tall narrow beaker splayed out towards the top and
drawn in near the base.
Decoration takes the form of belts made by engraved wooden
wheels, by scale work, or by rosettes. These last are stamped on the
clay which has been pushed up from the interior. The separately made
rosette common on the Rye pottery is rare.
Among the glazes is a thick dark green one which was used
on a red body, and which flakes off much as does the tin glaze on Delf
ware.
Although fragmentary the most interesting object of this
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