4 THE WEDGWOODS. 



'the Mediaeval periods. To each of these periods a separate 

 volume, to do the subject even a shadow of justice, ought to 

 be devoted. My present purpose, however, is only, as I have 

 stated, to glance at their principal characteristics, and to 

 illustrate them, as far as may be, by Staffordshire examples. 

 In the CELTIC, or ancient British, period, the pottery 

 consists mainly of cinerary or sepulchral urns, drinking- 

 cups, food-vessels, and incense-cups. These were un- 

 doubtedly made on the spot, or near the spot, where found. 

 They were, no doubt, the handiwork of the females of the 

 tribe, and occasionally exhibit no little elegance of form and 

 no small degree of ornamentation. They are formed of the 

 coarse common clay of the place where made, occasionally 

 mixed with small pebbles and gravel. They are entirely 

 wrought by hand, without the assistance of the wheel, and 

 are, the larger vessels especially, extremely thick. From 

 their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually 

 called " sun-baked/ 7 or " sun-dried." This, however, is a 

 grave error, as any one who will take the trouble to examine 

 an example will easily perceive. If the vessels were " sun- 

 baked" only, their burial in the earth in the barrows 

 wherein they were deposited, and where they have remained 

 for a couple of thousands of years would soon soften them, 

 and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old con- 

 sistency. As it is, they bear evidence of the action of fire, 

 and are indeed sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to 

 have attained a red colour. They are mostly of an earthy- 

 brown colour outside, and almost black in fracture; and 

 many of the cinerary urns bear internal evidence of having 

 been filled by the burnt bones and ashes of the deceased, 

 while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. 



The Cinerary Urns i.e. such urns as have contained, 

 either inverted or otherwise, the burnt bones and ashes of 

 the deceased of Staffordshire, like those of Derbyshire, 

 vary considerably in form from those of many other districts. 

 Their principal characteristic is a broad or deep overlapping 

 border or rim. They vary in size from nine or ten up to 



