Everyday life in Pontes, Roman Staines – an Alice Holt food storage jar. ‘Alice Holt’ sounds like the Roman version of ‘Clarice Cliff’, but is actually a place, a wood near Farnham on the Hampshire/Surrey border. Roman potteries in the area produced enormous quantities of what is unkindly termed ‘grey coarse ware’. Alice Holt jars and dishes are found extensively in the South East of England, and by the 4th century it accounts for 70% of all the pottery found at Staines.
Our jar was reconstructed in the 1980s and the ‘new’ plaster parts crudely painted grey in an attempt to match the original. If we were doing this today the new parts would be left ‘virgin’ and clearly distinct from the original. Sitting on the back shelf of the ‘Roman shop’ in the museum, it gives a good impression of what would be sitting on shelves in most houses of the time. Reading museum have a rather beautiful complete version of this jar on display.
Our jar stands 196mm high, 151mm outer rim diameter, 118mm inner rim diameter, 127mm
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