Potteries at Ashley Rails and Black Heath. 



embankments which mark the Sloden potteries. One is particu- 

 larly noticeable, measuring twenty-two feet in width, and run- 

 ning in the shape of the letter Z. In the central portion I cut 

 two trenches, but could discover nothing but a circle of charcoal, 

 looking as if it was the remains of a workman's fire, placed on 

 the level of the natural soil. Another trench I opened at the 

 extreme end, as also various pits near the embankment, but 

 failed to find anything further. 



At Ashley Rails, also, close by, stand two more mounds, 

 which cover the remains of more ware. These I only very par- 

 tially opened, for the black mould was very shallow, and the 

 specimens the same which I had found in Pitt's Wood. 



Besides these, there are, as mentioned in the last chapter, 

 extensive works at Black Heath Meadow at the west-end of Lin- 

 wood, but they are entirely, like those in Sloden, Oakley, and 

 Anderwood, confined to the manufacture of coarse Rornano- 

 British pottery. This last ware seems to differ very little in 

 character or form. The same shapes of jars (copied from the 

 Roman lagcnae) were found by Mr. Kell near Barnes Chine in 

 the Isle of Wight,* though at Black Heath, as in the other 

 places in the Forest, handles, through which cords were probably 

 intended to pass, with flat dishes, and saucer-like vessels (shaped 

 similar to patera), all, however, in fragments, occurred.f 



* See Journal of the Archaeological Association, vol. xii. pp. 141-145, 

 where some figures of the jars are given. 



f In Eye worth Wood I have found pieces of Roman wine and oil flasks, 

 but they were left here by the former inhabitants, and not made on the 

 spot. The place known as Church Green is evidently the site of a habita- 

 tion. In the autumn of 1862 I made several excavations; but there was 

 some difficulty attending the work, as the ground had been previously 

 explored by the late Mr. Lewis, the author of the Historical Inquiries on 

 the State of the New Forest. The evidence, however, of the Roman pottery 



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