The engraving here given shows a remarkably formed

vessel from Wetton, Staffordshire, which is peculiar by having looped ears at its sides.

The incense-cups of Staffordshire, like those of Derbyshire, vary in form and in style of decoration. They are very small

vessels, not more than from an

inch and a half to three inches in height. The ornaments are, as in the other remains of this period, incised or indented lines. Their usual forms are seen in the accom

panying engravings.

The first, a remarkably fine example, was found in a

barrow at Throwley, in Staffordshire, by Mr. Carrington, and is preserved in the Bateman Museum, at Lomberdale House. It is ornamented with incised lines, and is three inches and a half in diameter, and two inches and one eighth in height.

The second is from the barrow at Darley Dale, which has before been spoken of; the third is from a barrow on Baslow Moor; and the fourth from a similar tumulus on Stanton Moor.

VESSELS DISCOVERED IN DERBYSHIRE.-PAVEMENT TILES.
-MEDIEVAL POTTERY.

THE second great division into which the subject of the history of the early fictile productions of the pottery district is to be divided, is that of the ROMANO-BRITISH period-a period in which, although most of the finer vessels used in England were imported by that conquering people, a large variety of wares were made of native clays in different districts which they inhabited. In this period, although it is tolerably certain that wares of some kind or other were made in Staffordshire, there is no positive evidence of such being the case. I am not aware of any authenticated Roman kilns * having been discovered, though it is generally believed that some of the interesting remains exhumed many years ago at Fenton and other localities are to be ascribed to this period. Certain it is that kilns bearing the characteristics of Roman use are recorded as having been exhumed; and equally certain is it that vessels, and fragments of vessels, of undoubted Roman workmanship, have frequently been dug up in the neighbourhood. It must also be borne in mind that in the

• It is stated that a Roman kiln was found many years ago at Burslem, in which were remains of pottery, but as no authentic record of the discovery has, unfortunately, been preserved, too much reliance must not, perhaps, be placed upon the circumstance.

adjoining county of Salop a considerable pottery existed, and that the clays of Staffordshire must have been well known to the Romans. Chesterton, by Newcastle-under-Lyme, was a Roman station, and a Roman road traversed the district of the present potteries. On this line of road fragments of the different wares of that people have frequently been found; and, as I have just stated, there can be but little doubt that many of them were made on the spot. I am inclined to believe that at least some of the finer kind of red ware, commonly known as "English Samian," were made in Staffordshire. At all events, the clay would produce that ware, and many remains of it have from time to time been found in the district.

At Cauldon, at Wetton, and in many other parts of Staffordshire, Romano - British pottery has from time to time been found, some at least of which there is reason to believe was made in the district. The accompanying engraving shows an urn from the neighbourhood of Uttoxeter.

Some of the more usual forms of Romano-British pottery,

though not examples made or found in Staffordshire, are shown on the accompanying engravings, which may, perhaps,

be of assistance to the collector in appropriating the specimens in his possession.

The pottery of the ANGLO-SAXON period-the next great division of my subject-was undoubtedly, like that of the ancient Britons, made near the places where the remains

peculiar. Instead of being wide at the mouth, like the Celtic urns, they are contracted, and have a kind of neck instead of overhanging lip or rim. Their general form will be best understood by reference to the accompanying engraving of two urns from Kingston. The pottery of this period is usually of a dark-coloured clay, sometimes nearly black; at others dark brown, and occasionally of a slate or greenish tint. The vessels appear to be hand-made (i.e. without the use of the wheel), and are tolerably well baked.

The ornaments usually consist of encircling incised lines in bands or otherwise, and vertical or zig-zag lines, arranged in a variety of ways, and not unfrequently knobs or protuberances are to be seen around the urns. Sometimes also they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman egg-and-tongue ornament. The marked features of the pottery of this period is the frequency of small punctured ornaments introduced along with the lines and bands, with very good effect. These ornaments were evidently produced by the end of a stick cut and notched across in different directions, so as to produce crosses and other patterns. This novel and early mode of decorating pottery will be best understood by the accompanying engraving, in which I have endeavoured to show one of the notched stick

"punches," such as I have reason to believe were used for pressing into the pliant clay, and also one of the indented patterns so produced. In some districts the vessels are ornamented by small patterns painted on the surface in white; but those of the midland counties, so far as my knowledge goes, do not possess this peculiarity.

Among the Anglo-Saxons the bowls were principally of metal or wood (generally of ash), and the drinking-vessels of