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reorganisation of the ‘Deep Room’ at Lullingstone: Meates et al.
1952, no. 38; not necessarily a ‘first century survival’ as Meates has
postulated) and ‘Patch Grove’ ware (e.g. Meates et al. 1952, no.
66; Johnston 1972, no. 1). The possibility that the latter continued to be
produced in storage jar forms into the third century should not be
overlooked.
BB1, probably from Dorset, was imported from the end of the
second or the early third century into west Kent, but occurs with an
irregularity suggestive of a sporadic rather than continuous trade. It is
present in contexts probably of the late second to mid-third century at
Springhead and Cobham Park but absent from the Maidstone Mount rubbish
deposit and the lowest layer in the Chalk ‘cellar’ (Johnston 1972, layer
8). One rim possibly in Dorset BB1 from the latter site (layer 7) suggests
that this trade was operating in the late third century also, but it is
conceivable that it ceased entirely in the middle years of the century (see
also the following section).
There is no certain evidence for Alice Holt grey wares reaching
Kent before the fourth century, although undiagnostic sherds may be
represented in the Chalk ‘cellar’ groups of the late third. Lyne and
Jefferies (1979, 56) have observed a marked increase in this ware in London
from around A.D. 290, subsequent to the revitalisation of the industry
around A.D. 270 that involved a much enlarged scale of production and the
introduction of a thick slip firing to white, grey or black, which is the
single most characteristic feature of late Alice Holt ware. As in the late
first century, the capture of the London market did not signal a massive
influx of pottery into Kent, but the ware is frequently encountered in mixed
later third- to fourth-century assemblages, so that a late third-century
trade in west Kent cannot be ruled out. There seems little likelihood that
any such commercial activity overlapped with the importation of ‘Surrey-Sussex’
white sandy ware mortaria, as these are conventionally dated to c. A.D.
150—250
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(Hartley 1973a; q. v. 4.III.2), although it is possible that they
continued to be imported to Kent up to the end of their production.
The trade in mortaria may have slackened in the first half of
the third century. Thick-hook-flange and ‘hammer-head’ white ware
vessels may have been procured from Colchester, where they were produced as
late as the middle of the century (Hull 1963, Forms 498—9), but the two
vessels from Darenth (Philp 1973, nos. 345 and 353) may be Antonine-Severan
in date. Two ‘hammer-head’ flange vessels from Snodland may represent
importation of ‘east Kent’ oxidised ware in the mid- to late third
century (Cook 1928, no. 5; Ocock and Syddell 1967, no. 21), and
others of this type occur on third-fourth century sites at Otford (the ‘Progress’
site), Maidstone Mount, and Springhead, in both sandy and untempered wares
(4.IV.3). The expansion of the Oxfordshire potteries in the mid-third
century (Young 1977a, 237—9) led to a much wider circulation of white ware
mortaria than this source had achieved in the second and early third
centuries (ibid., 61—8), bringing Kent into its marketing sphere
for the first time. The tall bead-wide-flanged form M17 (ibid., 72—4),
dated c. A.D. 24.0—300, is found on a number of sites in
Kent, including the Otford ‘Progress’ and Charne sites, Maidstone Mount,
Dartford, Chalk and Lullingstone in the west. It is possible that this
circulation was achieved during the third quarter of the century, prior to
the marketing of colour-coated wares on a significant scale (see above).
Other third-century Oxfordshire mortaria also occur in west Kent, adding
Joyden’s Wood and Springhead to the list of recipients in this century
(Appendix 3); Nene Valley buff ware reeded-flange mortaria occur only at
Lullingstone in west Kent (Meates 1953, no. 146; Pollard 1987, Fabric
42) but in unstratified deposits. In east Kent they occur in deposits of
later third- to mid fourth-century date (see below).
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