Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/124

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74
RECENT ROMAN DISCOVERIES:

lines. The variety of rims in shape and form is endless. Besides, we have many urns, jars, and pans. They are all of a coarse make, and for common use in the kitchen and table, the blackware has no ornamentation. Another kind of blackware has a yellow inside and outside slip. Blackware exists in enormous quantities.

We have another kind, very soft, with a black or grey slip, the paste red or brown, and a fragment of a diagonally-lined ware, hard-burnt, of which the diagonals are produced by friction; the inner coating consists of a metallic slip of the colour of blacklead.

Grey-ware.—Its texture is homogenous, light grey, soft-burnt; its thickness varies from ⅛ inch to 316 inch. A Catinus from the inside of the Castrum has the potter's name, the only instance of such an occurrence at our station. The greyware has a variety of ornamental markings, and is often turned inside.

Blue-ware has a grey slip, the paste blueish-grey and burnt like stoneware with a little sand in it, its thickness ⅛, 316, and ¼ inch. It is decorated with polished lines.

Brown-ware, covered with a brown or grey slip, and a red or red-brown or ashy-red paste. It is brittle and coarse; we find little of this ware.

Red-ware.—A great variety, paste red, without slip. Another variety has a red slip on the inner and outer side, the paste grey, or a grey or black slip outside only, and the paste red. One large fragment, which is unique, has a rudimentary ornament or scrollwork, hand-made, of crude execution. Another class has an outer thick, pale yellow slip. Many bottoms and rims, they are not so