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Severn Valley Wares: A Reassessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Jane Timby
Affiliation:
I, The Grove, Dyehouse, Woodchester, Stroud, Glos.

Extract

Severn Valley Ware has long been recognized as one of the most widespread and enduring classes of Roman coarse pottery found on sites in the west of England. It is usually represented in a distinctive orange, or less commonly, light grey-coloured fabric in a characteristic range of forms including jars, tankards and bowls. A detailed distribution of these wares on a national scale has never been compiled, although it is known that Severn Valley Wares have been found in greater or lesser quantities from Somerset in the south up to the Antonine Wall in the north. It is generally believed that the centre of the Severn Valley Ware industry was, as the name suggests, in the lower Severn Valley, particularly the area around Gloucester. This is supported by the high proportion of Severn Valley Wares in all contexts of Roman date at sites in central Gloucestershire and by petrological analysis of Severn Valley Wares which suggests that clays matching those used for making the pottery were available in the area. The actual production sites are less well documented with only two identified kilns known from the area; at Alkington and Malvern (see FIG. I).

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 21 , November 1990 , pp. 243 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Jane Timby 1990. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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