1972, layers 5 and 6), and comprise less than 2 per cent (vessel rim
equivalents) of the pottery from a large ‘flood silt’ deposit of the
middle years of that century at Canterbury (Pollard forthcoming, d; Appendix
5). Body sherds only are present in late fourth- and early
fifth-century deposits at Canterbury, in very small numbers, and the ware is
entirely absent from the recorded assemblages from the late fourth- to early
fifth-century destruction and post-destruction deposits at Lullingstone
(Pollard 1987), the early to mid fourth-century site at Bexley Maxim Road,
and the fourth-century pits at Richborough. It is probable that few vessels
were in use throughout Kent later than the early fourth century.
Oxfordshire red/brown colour-coated ware producers were the
main beneficiaries from the probable closure of the Upchurch potteries. The
quantities of this ware at Chalk and Canterbury more than trebled as
proportions of fine wares between the late third and the late fourth
centuries. Over 50 per cent of the fine wares from the third- to early
fifth-century ‘black earth’ deposit at Rochester (Flight and Harrison
1978) were of this ware, and the remainder included 39 per cent fine grey
wares, which on analogy should include a large residual element. The Wye pit
group, from the upper Great Stour in east Kent (Pollard forthcoming, a),
includes over 45 per cent Oxfordshire red/brown colour-coated ware. The fine
wares from the late destruction and post-destruction deposits at
Lullingstone are all in Oxfordshire wares, including a Parchment ware bowl
sherd. Sherd counts of late fourth-century and early fifth-century deposits
at Canterbury reveal this colour-coated ware to have been the second most
common ware after grog-tempered coarse ware, but the proportions by vessel
rim equivalents are depressed partially due to the small numbers of fine
ware rims recovered (Pollard forthcoming, d). In this late period,
Oxfordshire ware quantities also increased in relation to other wares at
Portchester (Fulford 1975b, 285—6) and possibly also in southern Essex
(Drury
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1977, 40), although the reverse may be true in East Sussex (Green 1977, 177—8).
The typological fossilisation of Oxfordshire wares that occurred after the
mid-fourth century (Young 1977a, 240) renders isolation of late vessels on
unstratified sites very difficult, but it is clear that the red/brown
colour-coated ware was ubiquitous in Kent in the fourth century as a whole
(Fig. 51).
The sandy white, red-painted Oxfordshire Parchment ware
(Young 1977a, 80—92) is a much rarer find than its colour-coated
counterpart (cf. Appendix 5), but is nevertheless widespread in Kent as
elsewhere within the Oxfordshire industry’s marketing area (Appendix 3).
The carinated, moulded rim bowl (Young 1977a, P24) is the most common form,
but other bowls and globular beakers also occur in Kent. There is no reason
to think that this ware did not continue to be exported to Kent throughout
the fourth century, although it is absent from late fourth- and early
fifth-century deposits at Canterbury. Oxfordshire white-slip wares (ibid.,
117—22) in Kent are predominantly in mortaria forms, which are widely
distributed. The carinated bowl form (ibid., Type WC3) has been
recorded at Richborough (ibid.) and possibly at Otford (the ‘Progress’
site, unpublished), but flagons and jars were apparently absent from Kent.
The Nene valley was the source of the second major group of
colour-coated wares marketed in Kent in the fourth century. Late fabrics of
this industry include a quite coarse-textured white ware, grey and orange
wares. Slips are thick, ranging from orange to black, and often exhibit a
lustrous sheen (Howe et al. 1980, 8—9). The main forms found in
Kent comprise tall-necked bead-rim bulbous beakers (cf. nos. 152—3 for
forms) including vessels with circular and/or narrow ‘slit’ vertical
folds (Howe et al. 1980, nos. 49—57; e.g. Ospringe: Whiting et
al. 1931, nos. 43, 214, and 216), incurved-rim dog-dishes and
angular-flanged bead-and-flange dishes
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