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not been pursued by the present author. Marsh's
selective gazetteer (1978, 125-9) of 'compass-scribed' wares
includes sites throughout Kent. His contention that London fine ware
products, including the fine reduced wares, are generally unlikely to have
been distributed much over 20 miles (32 km.) (ibid., 202) is
supported by the evidence of the most frequently encountered product,
mica-dusted ware, with six out of nine sites falling within a 30 km.
radius of London (Fig. 21). Platter, cup, beaker and flagon forms in this
ware have been found on Kent sites (Appendix 3), but not paterae or
biconical strainers (Marsh 1978, Types 32 and 46, respectively). In
general, identifiable London products are rare in Kent; the present author
has seen no more than eight sherds from any one site of 'eggshell'/'marbled'/mica-dusted
wares, Springhead containing that number of finds.
Three other wares thought to have been manufactured to the
north or west of London ought to be mentioned: cream ware 'ring-and-dot'
beakers, 'Staines' lead-glazed ware, and 'LondonEssex' stamped
wares. The first-named are globular vessels with short-everted rims and
usually decoration of rings and dots 'en barbotine'. They have
been discussed by Green (1978b), who suggests a date-range of
Neronian-Flavian, and a source in the South Hertfordshire/North Middlesex
area. They appear to have been common in London and to a lesser extent
Verulamium, but rare elsewhere in south-east Britain: five sites are known
in Kent, each comprising only a single sherd with the exception of
Richborough (four sherds, Appendix 3 and Fig. 21). The lead-glazed wares
of Roman Britain have been discussed by Arthur (1978); his 'south-east
English' group includes globular beakers, 'imitation Dr. 30 beakers,
Dr. 37 bowls' (ibid., 300) and pear-shaped flasks, in a grey to
red-brown ware with white barbotine decoration, the whole covered by a
translucent glaze usually appearing a medium green and yellow over the
barbotine. Wasters from Staines suggest a source thereabouts for at least
some of the group.
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Six find-spots are known in Kent, four of which are west of the Medway
(Fig. 21 and Appendix 3). On the grounds of the distribution, a riverine
traffic down the Thames was envisaged by Arthur (ibid.); the
apparent scarcity of the ware at Richborough (one sherd only seen by the
present author) suggests that beyond the mouth of the Thames the volume of
this trade, as of that in other fine wares from the London area, was small
in the extreme. A Flavian-Hadrianic date encompasses all dateable finds of
this ware. The stamped wares of Rodwell's Group 2C, the only one of his
'London-Essex' groups (Rodwell 1978) known to have been found in Kent,
are entirely confined to the western part of the county (Fig. 33; Rodwell
1978; Philp 1980). The fabric is fine, sandy, and usually oxidised, with
bar- and ring-stamps; forms are predominantly carinated sub-cylindrical
bowls, plus, possibly, hemispherical bowls (Rodwell 1978). Only seven
sherds have been published from Kent and its bordering districts, three of
which come from Springhead. The four sites -
Springhead, West Wickham, Fawkham and Titsey -
all fall within a 30 km. radius of London, but outliers to the
south of the Thames are represented by two find-spots in Sussex (see
Appendix 3). Rodwell (1978) has argued in favour of a source in the Hadham
area of east Hertfordshire, but no wasters or kilns are known. The dating
of the ware is also open to speculation, but an origin in the mid-Flavian
period seems likely (ibid.), with a termination of production
within the first half of the second century.
The development of Romano-British fine ware industries in the
Flavian period may be considered to have been the result of two processes:
the economic progress of the province and the demise of competitors on the
Continent. The former is fully discussed elsewhere (Pollard 1983a, 480-92);
briefly, the taxation system was reformed during the Flavian period,
possibly involving a switch from taxation in kind to taxation in cash, at
least in the south-eastern half of
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