Figs. 89 to 93.—Upchurch Ware.
The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery appear to have been of a very rude description, and were, as it seems, chiefly mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and others with a transverse section cut into notches. The former were used in tracing the lines already described; the latter had the section formed into a square or rhomboid, the surface of which was cut into parallel lines crossing each other so as to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on the surface of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements. Sometimes these dots are arranged so as to form bands;[5] and in others simply “patch” ornaments. Other vessels were covered with reticulation, the lines being simply scratched into the surface of the clay; and others have bands of serrated lines.
The forms of some of the vessels from the Upchurch works will be seen on Fig. [78], and a series of other characteristic examples are given on Figs. [79 to 95].
Fig. 94.—Upchurch Ware.
One example (Fig. [80]) is ornamented with half-circles traced on the clay as with compasses, from which run downwards rows of incised lines. On Fig. [78] is an example of much the same character of ornamentation although different in form.
Figs. [81], [85], [86], 87, and [88] are of different form, and are ornamented with raised dots in bands and patches; while [83] and [84] are “engine turned.” They are of remarkably elegant form.
Fig. 95.—Upchurch Ware.
Figs. [91, 92, 93], and [95] are more bottle shaped—in fact, approaching somewhat to the form of the mediæval bellarmine. Many varieties of this general form have been found in the marshes and elsewhere. Fig. [89] is particularly simple and elegant in shape, as are also several shown in the groups on this and the preceding pages. Among these is an example of another variety of ornamentation common to the Upchurch ware. It is formed by diagonal intersecting lines, and in form is much the same as the ordinary kind of Roman cinerary urns. In the group, Fig. [94], are some examples of Upchurch and other wares.