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The Roman Pottery of Kent
by Dr Richard J. Pollard  -  Chapter 4  page 40
Doctoral thesis completed in 1982, published 1988

is possible that the latter represents a technological development of the former, in which case the Cooling fabric should perhaps be given a post-Conquest origin. The ‘Granary Ditch’ at Lullingstone contained a large pottery assemblage, including a samian dish dated A.D. 55—75 in the primary silt. The pottery ‘consists mainly of vessels in coarse, shell-gritted fabric’ (Pollard 1987, Group I). Examination of part of the assemblage by the present author suggests that shelly ware predominates, with shell-sand, grogged, ‘Patch Grove’ and sandy wares also present. A mid-first to early second century group from Rochester (unpublished: see Appendix 5) included 16 per cent shelly wares (nearly 30 per cent if the coarse pottery is taken in isolation from fine wares), nearly 25 per cent (42 per cent) sand-tempered wheel-thrown ware, and 9 per cent (16 per cent) flint-sand tempered hand-made ware probably of Medway estuary derivation (see below). A Flavian-Trajanic group from Springhead (also unpublished: Appendix 5) included 21 per cent (36 per cent) shell-sand ware, 3 per cent (5 per cent) shelly ware, 6 per cent (11 per cent) grogged ware, and 23 per cent (39 per cent) sand tempered wheel-thrown wares. The bead-rim jar is predominant in both shelly and shell-sand wares, although straight sided dishes and everted-rim jars do also occur (see e.g. Philp 1973 and Pollard 1987, Fabric 70). One other form is of particular interest, a large storage-jar with short everted rim and decorated shoulder (no. 16 here; see Harrison 1972, 134, no. 22 also). This form is distributed throughout Kent, southern Essex, and London, but is found primarily west of the Medway and in Essex (Fig. 31). Its period of usage extends from the mid-first to the late second century, long after other shelly wares had disappeared from circulation in Kent and south-east Essex. ‘Patch Grove’ storage jars also outlived other forms in the ware, surviving into the early third century, and similar phenomena may be observed among the non-sandy wares of Essex and east Kent (see below).

   The conflation of ‘Patch Grove’ ware with ‘rather similar pottery. . . .with a poorer surface and orange-red specks in the paste’ by Philp (1973, 60) renders assessment of the importance of grog-tempered ware (which in the present author’s experience probably includes Philp’s ‘orange-red specked’ ware) somewhat problematical. The ‘Granary Ditch’ at Lullingstone contained narrow-neck everted rim jars in grey-and-brown fired grog wares (Pollard 1987, Fabrics 67, 74). Other grogged pottery from the villa site includes S-jars, a biconical bowl, and bead-rim jars, the latter in a mixed grog-shell fabric (ibid., Fabric 68). These vessels may all be Flavian or later in date, however. Grog-tempered wares at Southwark are generally Flavian (Tyers and Marsh 1978, forms IIA 1—4, IVF 1, 2, 5), but as the bowls in particular are of forms paralleled by products of the Highgate Wood kilns north of Roman London (Brown and Sheldon 1974) rather than sites to the south of the city this dating need not reflect the west Kent situation. The evidence from Charlton, Springhead and Rochester suggests that grog-tempered wares were little used in the later first century, shell and shell-sand wares being predominant on these sites. However, a pre-Flavian/Flavian deposit at Cobham Park (Tester 1961, Room 4, Layer D) contained somewhat more grog-tempered than shell and sand-shell ware.
   The final ‘indigenous’ fabric to be considered is sand-tempered ware. The origins of this ware, as with ‘Patch Grove’ and shelly wares, are uncertain. Sandy clays are widespread in Kent, particularly on the coastal plain and under what is now south London, comprising the Eocene Thanet and Woolwich and Reading Beds and the London Clay. To these strata may be added the Pleistocene and Recent Clay-with-flints drift which occur extensively on the higher parts of the Chalk dipslope of the North Downs (Gallois 1965, 59), constituting of flints and clay, with a mixture including sand present in many localities; and the loam or silt Brickearths, mostly head

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