EXPLORATION OF SOME " RED-HILLS IN ESSEX. 



17^ 



and distinct from each other ; one of two modern specimens from 

 Doul ton's factory, kindly presented by Mr. F. W. Reader, is 

 figured (Fig. 21). I then looked upon the Romano-British 

 pottery, of which the fragments might be " wasters," as the 

 objective of the works, and Mr. I. Chalkley Gould alluded to this 

 opinion in his chapter on the Red-hills in the Victoria History. 



If this hypothesis were the true one, we ought to find remains 

 of kilns near the Red-hills. Mr. Reader hints " these would 

 probably be seen as circular depressions, being shallow pits with 



FIG 5.— SUGGESTION AS TO THE USE OF THE " T-PI'ECES.' 



a neck or opening for the furnace." I am not aware that 

 anything of the kind has yet been noticed. 



But although no one who has worked at them can reasonably 

 doubt that the Red-hills indicate pottery-making, later thought 

 over the problem has suggested a further supposition, which 

 appears to be well worthy of consideration, inasmuch as it 

 accounts fairly well for all the known facts. 



The paucity of the remains of the harder pottery hardly 

 seems to accord with the quantity of " wasters " which we 

 should expect to find in such extensive manufactories. Is it 

 possible that these are simply portions of broken domestic 

 utensils used by the workers, and that the targe, coarse vessels were 

 really the object of the pottery-making ? Such rough pots or pans 



