Aspects of Kentish Local History

THE POTTERY AND OTHER FINDS.

   Part II of this paper (A.C., LIV (1941)) included an appendix by Mr. G. C. Dunning, F.S.A., on Polychrome Pottery from Stonar. This dealt with a series of sherds of jugs whose provenance is S. W. France. Till the many other types of pottery can be submitted to a detailed examination it is only necessary now to mention the main classes of wares that were in use on this maritime site in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
   As might be expected cooking pots of the stew-pan class with nearly flat bases up to 9 in. in internal dia., and, in the better potting, of thin body, form the majority of the sherds. With these are deep dishes. Rims are usually broad and flat, sides spread and bulge slightly; and there is an angle at junction of sides and base. The interior in many cases has a thin hard brownish glaze which may also spot the outside. These very fragile wares seem to have been the commonest productions of the potteries on the London Clay of the Forest of the Blean, whence they could have been transported down to and by the Stour to Stonar. Preliminary notes on a recent exposure of a kiln site in the above area, and a report by Mr. Dunning appear later in this volume.
   Handled jugs are many and various, and often full-bodied. They may be partly covered with a yellow, brown or olive green glaze, and they may also be glazed inside. The typical lips are thin with a pinched-out

spout and with a moulding of two members. In coarse pottery an example of the tubular spout has been found. The simplest handles are wide with plain thickened edges, but these show an endless variety in shape, massiveness, ornamentation and glaze. Stabbing of handles and rims to allow for the shrinking of the clay in firing is general. The better class of flagon, probably imported from the Continent, has a hard cream or bluish-white body, and has a light mottled green glaze. The slightly moulded base is flat and the spout, if parrot-beaked, is of the bridge type (cf. A.C., LIV, 57). This type of spout is also found in coarse heavy ware with greenish glaze. The common reddish or grey ware jug of the period has the foot pinched out into a number of supports which counteracted the sagging base (see Plate I ). A characteristic article is a small, tall narrow beaker splayed out towards the top and drawn in near the base.
   Decoration takes the form of belts made by engraved wooden wheels, by scale work, or by rosettes. These last are stamped on the clay which has been pushed up from the interior. The separately made rosette common on the Rye pottery is rare.
   Among the glazes is a thick dark green one which was used on a red body, and which flakes off much as does the tin glaze on Delf ware.
   Although fragmentary the most interesting object of this class