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Hand specimen picture panel
Thin section picture panel
Appendix 1: Keywords and Definitions
Appendix 2: Physical Layout of Sherds Housed in the NRFRC
Rossington Bridge is one of a number of kiln sites forming a definable industry in south Yorkshire. It produced grey ware, BB1, mortaria and a number of finer wares. BB1 and Fine Reduced ware are included here; although the mortaria had a distribution outside the local area, it was not possible to obtain samples from these vessels.
Three samples
The fabric is grey to dark grey (5/0–3/0) with a dark grey to black surface. It is hard with a hackly fracture and rough feel. Lustrous burnishing appears in narrow horizontal facets. The fabric may be difficult to separate macroscopically from Dorset products but it tends, in Buckland’s (1980, 152) opinion, to be a little less black in the fresh break. Although the handmade vessel forms are generally similar to Dorset BB1, Williams (1977, 194) points out that the wider lattice pattern on the Gillam 133 cooking pot and thinner ‘scratch’ lattice on the bowls and dishes, particularly Gillam 316 and 318, distinguishes Rossington Bridge from Dorset.
Overall the inclusions are well sorted (0.3–0.5mm). Abundant quartz dominates and is sometimes the only visible inclusion, occasionally ranging to 1.2mm. All others are sparse, and include fine silver mica, matrix-coloured clay pellets (0.5–1.0mm) and black iron-rich grains. Williams (1977, 194) notes less sand temper in the Rossington Bridge products than the Dorset ones, and of course the characteristic shale inclusions present in Dorset BB1 are absent.
This is a well-sorted fabric (primarily 0.15–0.4mm) with a clean clay matrix comprising rare silt-sized quartz and muscovite mica. Abundant monocrystalline and polycrystalline quartz, common coarse flint-like inclusions and rare quartzite, opaques and feldspar may measure up to 0.7mm. Common fine-grained sandstone (sometimes felspathic or finer graded as siltstone) and clay pellets (0.5–1.0mm) are diagnostic. In thin section the fabric is readily distinguished from Dorset BB1 by the absence of shale and the presence of sandstone. Williams (1977, 178) included Rossington Bridge in his heavy mineral analysis of black-burnished wares, and the suite is therefore available for future comparison of additional Rossington Bridge samples.
South Yorkshire is the only major centre so far recognised outside south-west England which produced vessels classifiable as BB1. Most of the south Yorkshire BB1 known at present is associated with the Rossington Bridge kilns, though small quantities occur in some Cantley groups (Buckland 1980, 156–7).
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Buckland, P C, Magilton, J R, & Dolby, M J, 1980 The Roman pottery industry of south Yorkshire: a review, Britannia 11, 145–64
Farrar, R A H, 1973 The techniques and sources of Romano-British black-burnished ware, in Current research in Romano-British coarse pottery (ed A P Detsicas), CBA Res Rep 10, 67–103
Gillam, J P, 1970 Types of Roman coarse pottery vessels in northern Britain (3rd ed)
Gillam, J P, 1976 Coarse fumed ware in northern Britain and beyond, Glasgow Archaeol J 4, 57–80
Williams, D F, 1977 The Romano-British black-burnished industry: an essay on characterization by heavy mineral analysis, in Pottery and early commerce. Characterization and trade in Roman and later Ceramics (ed D P S Peacock), 163–220
See the related record on the Atlas of Roman Pottery on the Potsherd website
Plate 168: Fresh sherd break of ROS BB 1 (width of field 24 mm)
Plate 168.1: Photomicrograph of ROS BB 1 (XPL) (width of field 1.74 mm)
Two samples
The type is frequently known as ‘Parisian’ ware.
The fabric is usually pale grey (7/0) with a darker surface (4/0). It is hard with a smooth or concoidal fracture and a smooth feel. The outer surface is slipped and polished to a fine glossy finish. Buckland (1980, 156–7) notes the superficial similarity to so-called London ware and products of the West Stow kilns in Suffolk. Handled beakers, ‘poppy-head’ beakers, biconical vessels and handle-less flasks were produced, with the latter the most characteristic. Although, like Market Rasen, vessels are sometimes decorated with three cordons, single cordons above or below the decorated zone are more typical, as are long-filled sausage-shaped stamps. Stamps, as a general rule, are vertically arranged (Elsdon 1982, 19).
Our samples are characterised by common ill-sorted rounded grey pellets (0.5–2.5mm) set in a dense well-fired clay matrix. Other inclusions are sparse rounded and subrounded quartz (0.2–0.4mm) and fine silver mica.
In thin section this fabric has a clean clay matrix containing rare quartz inclusions <3.0mm. It is distinguished by common clay pellets measuring 0.5–1.0mm in size, sometimes nearly opaque, with smaller pellets and opaques rare. Like the Rossington Bridge BB1 fabric, rare muscovite mica can be seen in section.
This fabric was produced at Rossington Bridge, but it also occurs in small quantities in kilns at Cantley and Blaxton (Buckland 1980, 156–7), and the fabrics are indistinguishable from each other.
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Buckland, P C, Magilton, J R, & Dolby, M J, 1980 The Roman pottery industry of south Yorkshire: a review, Britannia 11, 145–64
Elsdon, S M, 1982 Parisian ware: a study of the stamped wares of the Roman period in Lincolnshire, Humberside and south Yorkshire, VORDA Res Ser 4
Rigby, V, & Stead, I, 1976b Parisian ware, in Excavations at Winterton Roman villa and other Roman sites in north Lincolnshire, 1958–1967 (I Stead), 181–9
Plate 169: Fresh sherd break of ROS FR (width of field 24 mm)
Plate 169.1: Photomicrograph of ROS FR (XPL) (width of field 1.74 mm)