ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE fined to this locality. Pottery which is practically identical with it occurs freely on many Romano-British sites, especially in central and eastern England, and is said to be abundant across the sea in Holland and Belgium.' Some of this pottery must have been made at Castor and exported thence. Some perhaps was made elsewhere ; thus Mr. Arthur Evans has noted unfinished specimens of Castor ware in a Roman kiln near Oxford.* In particular the abundance of this ware found in the Low Countries has suggested to several writers that it may have been manufactured there as well as in Britain. We seem even to possess an indication that it was occasionally exported thence to Britain. The well known Colchester vase might well be of foreign fabric. In addition to its hunting scene and bear fight and gladiators' combat, it bears an inscription which mentions the Thirtieth Legion, and appears to imply that the games depicted on its circumference refer to games celebrated in the canton- ments of that legion. That legion was posted on the lower Rhine, and the Colchester vase may have been made in Belgium.^ Such a vase is however an exception. In general our knowledge of many details is still far too slight to justify even a guess how extensively and on how many sites Castor ware was produced. We must be content with saying that it was well known both in Britain and in northern Gaul, and that Castor was beyond question a most important centre of its manufacture.* The Castor ware does not stand alone. In various points it ap- proaches closely to other wares of western Europe. In Britain the dark- coloured ' thumb vases ' made in the New Forest resemble very nearly the ' thumb vases ' of Castor. The New Forest products are harder in texture, more purple or maroon in external colouring and more frequently ornamented with leaf patterns, but they have been neither infrequently nor inexcusably confused with Castor products." On the continent we find a parallel in a group of vases which is indeed not seldom represented in our own island. These vases are small, black-coloured, round-bellied little jars or cups, ornamented in white with foliate patterns and often with Roman inscriptions connected with drinking — misce (mix the bowl), reple (fill up), vitam tibi (your good health). These are sometimes styled Castor ware.' But it does not appear that they have been found in or near the kilns at Castor, and artistically they differ widely from the true Castor ware.^ Indeed it is perhaps by a comparison with this black inscribed ware that we may best learn the nature of our Castor products. The black ware is not only Roman in its inscriptions. Its ornamentation ' For instance, in the Isle of Walcheren, and at Clemskerke and Breedene near Ostende : see de But's Recutil iTantiquiUs romaines tnuvies dam la Flandre (Gand. 1 808), pi. x. xi. ^ Jrchttokgical Journal, xliv. 349. •* C. Roach Smith, Collect. Antique, iv. pi. ixi. ; Corpus Inscript. Latinarum, vii. 1,335.
- The same problem arises concerning the ' Upchurch ware.' That was certainly made in Kent
and occurs on the opposite continent. It is not clear whether we should suppose export from Britain only or two places of manu&cture.
- yictoria County Hist, of Hampshire, i. 326-8.
- As in Archttohpa, Ivii. 103-5.
' The vessels decorated with white paint, described above (p. 2o8), come nearest them. But these, though made at Castor, do not appear to be true Castor ware, and even they arc less conventionally classical than the black inscribed ware. 211
