The ceramic art of Great Britain from pre-historic times down to the present day, Volume 1 (of 2)

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt

CHAPTER I.

Practice of the Art in England—The Celtic Period—Classes of Vessels—Cinerary Urns—Food Vessels, Drinking Cups, &c.—Modes of Ornamentation—Food Vessels—Immolation Urns or Incense Cups—Handled Cups.

The history of the ceramic art in our own country is one of intense interest and of paramount importance. I open my present work, which I intend to devote to its consideration, with this assertion, and before it is done I hope I shall have proved its truth.

It is a subject which may be treated in more ways than one. It may be considered technically, i.e. with regard to manipulation, to the mixing of bodies and glazes, and the practical parts of the potter’s art; or historically, so as to treat of the introduction and progress of the art in this country, its gradual extension and improvement, the chief seats of its operations, and the characteristics of the productions of each age and place. To neither of these do I purpose confining myself; but to the latter I shall, here and there, mix up just sufficient of the former to render it more intelligible and useful. The main ingredients of the “body”—to use a potter’s term—of my work will be history, description, and biography, with just sufficient technicology to temper it and give it its proper tenacity and consistency. For the facts relating to the earliest examples of that art, from which I shall deduce my narrative, I rely upon actual researches into grave-mounds and otherwise, undertaken by myself or by others; and for the rest—those relating to the art in mediæval and later times—upon constant inquirings and searchings and readings carried on, with this special end in view, during the course of many years.

It is impossible to show when the potter’s art was first invented or when it was first brought into use in this island; but that it was practised here in the very earliest days of its being inhabited by its savage population can be abundantly proved. To this pre-historic period, then, I shall first direct attention; and then endeavour to trace the history of the art down from the Celtic to the Romano-British period; from the time of the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons and Normans; and so gradually come downwards through mediæval to modern times, giving, under each separate seat of the more modern manufacture, historical notices of the works and their founders, and descriptive particulars of the more characteristic of their productions.

Fig. 1.—Celtic Pottery in the Norwich Museum.

The practice of the fictile art in England dates back, as I have already said, to a very remote period—that of its Celtic or ancient British population, by whom there is abundant evidence it was much esteemed. It is pleasant to know, and to be able indisputably to prove, that from those early days down to the present time the art has, through a long succession of ages, continued with more or less skill, to be observed among us, and that thus in pottery, as in nothing else, an unbroken chain, connecting us in our present high state of civilisation with our remote barbarian forefathers of the stone age, exists. The weapons and other implements of imperishable stone and flint have, long ages ago, died out, and any possible connection between them and the weapons or tools of our own day has died with them; but the vessels of simple clay have an abiding-place with us which has lasted without a break until now, and will yet last for ever. Hitherto the course of the potter’s art has been one of constant and gradual improvement; but its capabilities for further development are almost unbounded, and another generation will witness advances of which we can now but dimly dream.

Among the ancient Britons, vessels of clay were formed for sepulchral and other uses, and it is entirely to their grave-mounds that we are indebted for the examples which have survived to our time. It is in the course of examination of these mounds that these fictile remains have been brought to light; and it is by a careful examination of these alone, and by constant comparison of the “finds” of one locality with the discoveries of another, that a proper estimate of their character has been, or can be, drawn.

Fig. 2.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 3.—Cleatham.

The pottery of this period may be safely arranged in four classes[1], viz.—1. Sepulchral or Cinerary Urns, which have been made for and have contained, or been inverted over, calcined human bones; 2. Drinking Cups, which, in a similar manner, are supposed to have contained some liquid to be placed with the dead body; 3. Food Vessels (so called), which are supposed to have contained an offering of food, and which are more usually found with unburnt bodies than along with interments by cremation; 4. Immolation Urns, (erroneously called Incense Cups by Sir R. Colt Hoare for want of more knowledge of their use), which are very small vessels, found only with burnt bones (and usually also containing them), placed in the mouths of, or close by, the larger cinerary urns. These latter I believe to have been simply small urns intended to receive the ashes of the infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother, so as to admit of being placed within the larger urn containing the ashes of the parent: I venture, therefore, to name them “Immolation Urns.”

No notice of the pottery of this period is to be found in ancient writers, if we except the allusion of Strabo,[2] who says that one of the commodities with which the Phœnicians traded to the Cassiterides was earthenware. But in connection with this it is necessary to state that no example of pottery which can possibly be traced to Phœnician origin has as yet been found in any of the hundreds of barrows which have been opened.

Fig. 4.—Ballidon Moor.

Fig. 5.—Tresvenneck.

The pottery exhibits considerable difference, both in clay, in size, and in ornamentation. Those presumed to be the oldest are of coarse clay mixed with small pebbles and sand; the later ones of a somewhat less clumsy form, and perhaps a finer mixture of clays. They are entirely wrought by hand without the assistance of the wheel, and are mostly very thick and clumsy. They are very imperfectly fired, having probably been baked on the funeral pyre.

In the examination of barrows of this period it not unfrequently happens that the spot where the funeral pyre has been lit can very clearly be perceived. In these instances the ground beneath is generally found to be burned to some considerable depth; sometimes, indeed, it is burned to a fine red colour, and approaches in texture somewhat to that of brick. Where it was intended that the remains should be placed in an urn for interment, it appears, from careful examinations which have been made, that the urn being formed of clay—most probably, judging from the delicacy of touch, and from the impress of fingers which occasionally remains, by the females of the tribe—and ornamented according to the taste of the manipulator, was placed in the funeral fire and there baked, while the body of the deceased was being consumed. The remains of the calcined bones, the flints, &c., were then gathered up together, and placed in the urn; over which the mound was next raised.

Fig. 6.—Trentham.

From their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually called “sun-baked” or “sun-dried;” but this is a grave error, as any one conversant with examples cannot fail, on careful examination, to see. If the vessels were “sun-baked” only, their burial in the earth—in the tumuli wherein, some two thousand years ago, they were deposited, and where they have all that time remained—would soon soften them, and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old clayey consistency. As it is, the urns have remained of their original form, and although, from imperfect baking, they are sometimes found partially softened, they still retain their form, and soon regain their original hardness. They bear abundant evidence of the action of fire, and are, indeed, sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to have attained a red colour—a result which no “sunbaking” could produce. They are mostly of an earthy brown colour outside, and almost black in fracture, and many of the cinerary urns bear internal and unmistakable evidence of having been filled with the burnt bones and ashes of the deceased, while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. They were, most probably, fashioned by the females of the tribe, on the death of their relative, from the clay to be found nearest to the spot, and baked on or by the funeral pyre. The glowing ashes and bones were then, as I have already stated, collected together, and placed in the urn, and the flint implements, and occasionally other relics belonging to the deceased, deposited along with them. In some instances, however, it is probable that even the cinerary urns were burned in a separate fire, as were the “drinking cups,” which are usually fired to a much harder degree than they are. No kiln, or anything approaching to one, however, could of course have been used.

Fig. 7.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 8.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 9.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 10.—Darley Dale.

The Cinerary or Sepulchral Urns vary very considerably in size, in form, in ornamentation, and in material—the latter, naturally, depending on the locality where the urns were made; and, as a general rule, they differ also in the different tribes. Those which are supposed to be the most ancient, from the fact of their frequently containing flint instruments along with the calcined bones, are of large size, ranging from nine or ten, to sixteen or eighteen inches in height. Those which are considered to belong to a somewhat later period, when cremation had again become general, are of a smaller size, and of a somewhat finer texture. With them objects of flint are rarely found, but articles of bronze are occasionally discovered. Sometimes they are wide at the mouth, without any overlapping rim; at others they are characterised by a deeply overlapping lip or rim; others are more of “flower-pot” form, with encircling raised bands, while others again are contracted inwardly at the mouth by curved rims. Some also have loops at the sides. The ornamentation is produced chiefly by incised lines, or punctures, or by lines, &c., produced by indenting into the soft clay a twisted thong (Fig. [37]). Encircling and zig-zag lines of various forms, reticulated and lozenge-formed patterns, and rows of indentations, are the usual decorations; but occasionally, as at West Kennet and Launceston Heath, clearly defined patterns are produced by the finger or thumb nail.

Fig. 11.—Launceston Heath.

Fig. 12.—Cleatham.

Fig. 13.—Launceston Heath.

Fig. 14.—Stone.

Fig. 15.—Cleatham.

The more usual of the forms will be best understood by the engraved examples, selected from the proceeds of many barrow openings in different parts of the kingdom.

Fig. 16.—Broad Down.

Fig. 17.—Tredenny.

The four urns (Fig. [2], [3], [4], and [6]) are characteristic examples of the variety with the broad or deep overlapping border or rim. The first of these has the pattern incised in the soft clay, that on the rim being in diagonal lines, and the central portion reticulated. The second has the herring-bone or chevron ornament around its rim, and the third example is ornamented with horizontal and vertical lines alternately on its rim, and zig-zagged, filled in with horizontal and crossed, lines on the central part. The lines in this are all produced by indenting a twisted thong into the clay while in a soft state. Fig. [16] has its ornamentation indented with twisted thongs in “herring-bone” pattern both on the outside and inside the rim and around the central part. Fig. [8] has a central band as well as overhanging lip. Figs. [11] and [13], from Dorsetshire barrows,[3] are of different form, the ornamentation consisting of incised lines and impressed thumbmarks, &c. The remaining engravings also give excellent examples of other forms and varieties of these sepulchral vessels. Figs. [9] and [10] have the upper part curved, and almost approaching to cup shape, and Fig. [7] has raised bands; in Fig. [14] the upper parts are hollowed out; and in Fig. [15] the upper part is marked with lozenges. Figs. [19] and [23] are ornamented with indented dots produced by pressing the end of a stick or other substance into the soft clay. Fig. [23] has these dots in zig-zag lines.

Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21.

Cinerary and Immolation Urns from Darwen.

Fig. 22.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 23.—Calais Wold.

Fig. 24.—Glen-Dorgal.

Fig. 25.—Clahar Garden, Mullion.

Figs. 26, 27, 28.—Clahar Garden, Mullion.

Fig. 29.—Denzell.

Fig. 30.—Gerrans.

Fig. 31.—Place, near Fowey.

Fig. 32.—Lanlawren.

Figs. 33 and 34.—Bosporthennis.

Fig. 35.—Trevello.

Fig. 36.—Boscawen-Un.

Fig. 37.—Darwen.

Fig. 38.—Morvah Hill.

Fig. 39.—Fimber.

Fig. 40.—Roundway Hill.

Fig. 41.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 42.—Green Low.

Fig. 43.—Broad Down.

Fig. 44.—Gospel Hillock.

Fig. [21] has the reticulated lines produced by indentations from twisted thongs. Fig. [22] is a remarkably fine example. Around its upper portion are encircling lines, between which is the usual zig-zag ornament. Around the central band, too, are encircling lines, between which are a series of vertical zig-zag lines. The whole of the ornamentation has been produced by twisted thongs; some, however, being of tighter twist than others. Inside, the rim is ornamented by encircling and diagonal lines. It has on its central band four projecting handles or loops, which are pierced. Nine other looped examples, from Cornwall, are shown on Figs. [5], [17], [24], [25], [26], [27], [29], [30], and [35];[4] along with other examples from the same county. Figs. [18] and [20] are two “Immolation Urns,” found along with, or in, Figs. [19] and [21]. Fig. [38] shows a kind of ear or handle on the side of another vessel.

Fig. 45.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 46.—Grindlow.

Fig. 47.—Elk Low.

The Drinking Cups are usually of tall form, globular in the lower half, contracted in the middle, and expanding at the mouth. In ornamentation they are more elaborate than the cinerary urns, many of them, in fact, being covered over their entire surface with impressed or incised patterns, frequently of considerable delicacy in manipulation, and always of a finer and higher quality than those of the other descriptions of pottery. Figs. [39 to 48] will show some of the varieties both of form and style of decoration. Instances have been known in which a kind of incrustation has been very perceptible on the inner surface, thus showing that their use as vessels for holding liquor is certain; the incrustation being produced by the gradual drying up of the liquid with which they had been filled when placed with the dead body.

Fig. 48.—Elk Low.

Fig. 49.—Hitter Hill.

Fig. 50.—Hitter Hill.

Fig. 51.—Trentham.

Fig. [47], which, however, may perhaps be a food vessel, has the unusual feature of being ornamented on the bottom quite as elaborately as around its sides. The bottom is shown on Fig. [48]. The whole of the ornamentation has been produced by the indentation of twisted thongs into the pliant clay.

Fig. [39], from Fimber, is richly and elaborately ornamented over its entire surface with the most delicate indentations, and is (with Fig. [42]) one of the best and most perfect of known examples. When found it stood close to the shoulders of the skeleton of a strong-boned, middle-aged, man, which lay on the right side. Fig. [42] is equally as elaborate in ornamentation, and as good in form. Like the former, it is ornamented by thong indentations. Fig. [41] is of the same general shape, but not so elaborate in design; the greater portion of the ornamentation consisting of reticulated and lozenge patterns. Fig. [45] is also a remarkably good example, and is about equal in point of ornament with Fig. [46]. Fig. [40] is of very different form, as are also Figs. [43] and [44]. The ornamentation on the first of these is produced in the usual way, and on the second, by simple indentations. Other forms of drinking cups are met with, but these are the most usual.

Fig. 52.—Penquite.

Fig. 53.—Fimber.

Fig. 54.—Hay Top, Monsal Dale.

Fig. 55.—Fimber.

Fig. 56.—Trentham.

Fig. 57.—Monsal Dale.

The Food Vessels—small urns, so called because they were probably intended to contain an offering of food—are of various forms and sizes, and are, in point of decoration, more or less elaborate. They are usually small at the bottom, and gradually swell out until they become, frequently, wider at the mouth than they are in height. They are formed of clay of much the same kind as the other vessels, and are fired to about the same degree of hardness. Figs. [49 to 57] will show their general form and style of decoration. Figs. [49] and [50] were found in the same barrow, and yet, as will be seen, exhibit very different styles of ornamentation. The first of these is four and three quarter inches in height, and five and a half inches in diameter at the top. It is richly ornamented with the usual diagonal and herring-bone lines, formed by twisted thongs impressed into the soft clay, in its upper part. Around the body of the urn itself, however, is a pattern of lozenge form, very unusual on vessels of this period. The second is five and a quarter inches in height, and six and a quarter inches in diameter at the top. It is very richly ornamented.

Fig. 58.

Fig. 59.

Fig. 60.

Fig. 61.

Fig. 62.

Fig. 63.

Fig. 64.

Fig. 65.

Fig. 66.

Fig. 67.

Fig. 68.

Fig. 69.

Fig. 70.

Fig. 71.

Fig. 72.—Broad Down.

Fig. [53] has the pattern rudely indented over its whole surface. Fig. [51] is coarse and rude, and the pattern very simple. Figs. [54], [55], and [57] are of different character, and have a kind of handle or projecting stud on four sides. They are among the most elaborate, in point of ornamentation, of any of these interesting vessels, of which other forms besides those engraved have occasionally been found. On Wykeham Moor, in Yorkshire the Rev. Canon Greenwell has brought to light some urns of a different character, and of greater width at the mouth.

Fig. 73.—Broad Down.

The diminutive vessels, usually called (though, as I have said, erroneously) “Incense Cups,” but which I propose to call “Immolation Urns,” are ornamented in the same manner as the other pottery. The form, as will be seen from Figs. [58 to 75], varies much, from a plain salt-cellar like cup to the more elaborately rimmed vase. Three examples (Figs. [68], [70], and [75]) have the very unusual appendage of a handle at one side; others have holes in their sides, as if for suspension, and I suspect this has been the case in the urn containing the ashes of the mother. Fig. [67] has four handles.

Holes for, as supposed, suspension, are shown in Figs. [58], [72], and [74]; these have each two of these small perforations in the side. Others, as in Figs. [64] and [67], have perforated loops at their sides. Fig. [65] is of unusual form, having a broad rim round its mouth; it is elaborately ornamented. Figs. [5], [18] and [20] are shown with the urns with which they were found.

Fig. 74.—Broad Down.

Other forms of these interesting little vessels, which generally range from an inch and a half to three inches in height, occur. They will be best understood from the engravings. One of these (Fig. [72]), for the purpose of showing its pattern more carefully, is engraved of its FULL SIZE. It is a remarkable example, and has its bottom ornamented as well as its sides and rim, which are shown on Figs. [73] and [74]. When found it was filled with burnt bones, probably of an infant. On one side were two perforations.

Fig. 75.—Denzell.

Among the unusual forms of Celtic pottery may be named the curious examples (Figs. [76] and [77]) one of which is a kind of drinking mug with a handle, and the other is supported on feet. Fig. [76], and another of somewhat similar kind in the Ely Museum, are the only two known examples of this form of vessel, and they will be seen to be very richly ornamented. Fig. [76] is in the Bateman collection, as is also Fig. [77]. It is one of the class of vessels hitherto called incense cups, and is, I believe, unique—no other example on feet having come under my notice.

Fig. 76.—Pickering.

Fig. 77.—Pickering.