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The Roman Pottery of Kent by Dr Richard J. Pollard  -  Chapter 4  page 124
Doctoral thesis completed in 1982, published 1988
nos. 189-190 here) and Mucking (Jones and Rodwell 1973, Types C and D), and at Cooling in groups possibly to be interpreted as kiln discards (Pollard forthcoming, b; no. 188 here). With the exception of Mucking Type D, which is in a coarse sandy ware, these vessels are all in BB2, which apparently continued to be produced throughout the third century, although possibly declining in amounts relative to other wares (Appendix 5). Cavetto-rim jars in BB2, and angular roll-rim/everted-rim necked jars (nos. 197, 199 here) in grey sandy ware, were the standard jar forms of this period, with folded jars being of minor quantitative importance. Unburnished ware fabrics of the later third century are often finer than Antonine-Severan examples, and both these and BB2 can exhibit a russet-coloured 'scorching' possibly the result of improved technology enabling higher firing temperatures to be reached. This phenomenon is also seen on sandy wares in east Kent of third-century date (4.IV.3). One jar form which emerged in the later third century in north-west Kent has a finely-moulded 'swan's-neck' pendant-bead rim (no. 203 here). This form occurs infrequently in north-west Kent, but is seemingly abundant in the Roding valley, for example at Chigwell Little London (unpublished), and fairly common at Old Ford (e'.g. Sheldon 1971, fig. 8, nos. 32-5; Sheldon 1972, fig. 8, nos. 30-2, 38, fig. 10, no. 6). A vessel from Aldgate, London (Chapman and Johnson 1973, fig. 17, no. 253) is dated to the late second to early third century. This type usually occurs in a fine sandy ware, and is known from third-century kilns at Higham (Pollard 1983b, no. 64), Mucking (Jones and Rodwell 1973, no. 47, plus a narrow-necked jar no. 79) and Orsett (Rodwell 1974, no. 62), as well as from kiln sites further afield (e.g. Ecton, Northants.: Johnston 1969; Alice Holt-Farnham on the Surrey-Hampshire border: Lyne and Jefferies 1979, Class 3C 8-9).
   On the strength of the distribution of BB2 bead-and-flange dishes, it would appear that the lower Thames kilns  		maintained their marketing zone in Kent throughout the third century (Fig. 46, 'flanged bowl'; see also 4.IV.3-4). However, there is some evidence to suggest minor fluctuations in supply, or at least in the cost of products. A mid third-century rubbish deposit from the Maidstone Mount villa (unpublished), which includes a large quantity of BB2 and other reduced sandy wares, also contains sherds in grog-tempered ware, amounting to 11 per cent of the total assemblage. The forms are mostly recurved everted-rim jars and dog-dishes, plus an everted necked jar. There is no reason to suppose that these are not contemporaneous with the deposit, but the quantity is unparalleled on other sites of the third century in west Kent; for example, only a single rim sherd has been recorded from the sealed 'cellar' deposits at Chalk, and they were apparently absent from the filling of the west drain at Darenth (Philp 1973, 152-3 and fig. 45, nos. 420-440). Meates and his colleagues published a 'Patch Grove type' everted necked jar from the later third-century group in Room 10 (originally Room 15) at Lullingstone (Meates et al. 1952, no. 65; Pollard 1987, Group XXV). This pottery would appear to be chronologically distinct from the grog-tempered ware of fourth-century date found throughout Kent. The Maidstone site lies only some 25 km. from the Cliffe peninsula kilns, and is easily accessible by river. It is plausible that the pottery represents a short-lived 'household product' (cf. 6.II) made to supplement sandy ware and BB2 imports during a period when the latter were unable to meet local demand at a satisfactory cost. The unusually small quantity of fine wares from the rubbish deposit and the presence of the grog-tempered ware contrast with the wealth manifested in the alterations carried out on the villa prior to the accumulation of this rubbish, leading to the suggestion that the latter comprises kitchen waste. Other non-sandy wares of third-century date are confined to occasional sherds of storage jars in grog-tempered ware (e.g. the 'wedge' used to support Bust II in the late third-century

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