Roman Pottery Kiln and Workshops at Vindolanda

I'm really excited about this new collaboration with Vindolanda Roman Fort near to Hadrians Wall, the first stage has been to create a reconstruction of a Roman pottery kiln as a permanent feature of the site. Built with the help of a very enthusiastic team of Vindolanda volunteers, the kiln is sited in the valley, beside the burn, near to the museum and visitor centre, so look out for it next time you're there.

This fully functional replica of a Roman up-draft pottery kiln, is based on information gained from the excavation of such kilns at archaeological sites across the North of England. The body of the kiln itself (1) is constructed entirely from a mixture of materials found on site, Clay, Earth and plant matter such as straw. The internal floor and central support, (2) also known as Kiln Furniture are made from specially selected clay which will survive repeated exposure to high temperatures.

While the kiln is cold, dry, raw pots are packed into the Ware Chamber (3) the top of the kiln is closed off with a temporary dome of clay and straw (4), leaving small holes as exit flues. A small fire is then lit in the Fire Box (5) allowing hot gasses and flames to pass through into the combustion chamber (6) then up through the ware chamber. Starting slowly and steadily building up the fire the the pots are brought up to a temperature of between 8000 and 10000 Centigrade.

The first firing took many hours of constant stoking as we not only needed to fire the pots, but to dry out the structure of the kiln itself. Nevertheless we achieved a temperature of between 700 & 800 degrees Centigrade, hot enough to fire the kiln load which included two amphorae.

This type of kiln would have been used by potters working in this region, to manufacture coarse wares such as Black Burnished Ware and Gray Ware cooking pots, indented bakers, plates, bowls, flagons and the like. While fine wares such as Samian Ware, Terra Sigillata and the Aphorae that carried produce around the empire would have been imported from production sites in Gaul and elsewhere in the Roman World.

The latest firing of this kiln is recorded here Firing the Vindolanda Kiln

From now on I will be running regular Roman pottery workshops at Vindolanda where you will be able to learn the techniques and skills that went into making the ceramics of the Roman Empire. Workshops and courses will include: Kiln Building & Firing; Samian Ware; Barbotine Ware; Black Burnished Ware; Lamps & Goddesses; The Potters' Wheel, Roman Head Pots. For more information on these workshops, follow me on Twitter @PottedHistory, visit the Vindolanda website or email me info@pottedhistory.co.uk.

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Neolithic, Bronze-Age & Roman Pottery Making Classes/Workshops 2017

You may have seen me, in Further Tales from Northumberland on ITV, teaching Robson Green to make a Roman pot. You could do far better, (sorry Robson) if you join me on one of my one day pottery workshops coming up soon, email or phone to book:

Roman Barbotine Pottery Sunday  26th March 2017: Learn about this roman slip trailing technique and make your own Roman Hunt cup, or celebrate the Roman Circus by making Chariot Racing & Gladiator Cups. One day workshop £65

Roman Samian Ware - Saturday & Sunday  8the & 9th April 2017: Learn about the pottery that conquered the ancient world, by making your Roman pottery tools then creating a replica Samian Ware Bowl. Two day workshop £98

Prehistoric Pottery - Saturday  22nd April 2017
Learn the basics of Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery, making your own Prehistoric pottery tool kit then creating and decorating replica Beakers and Bowls. One day workshop £65

These workshops are designed for adults. No previous experience is necessary, but if you have made pots before or have an interest in archaeology, they will add to your skills and knowledge of the subject. They combine basic pottery making techniques and history, but most of all they are fun.

Contact me for further information:
Email; info@pottedhistory.co.uk
Phone; 01669 621238
Mobile; 07989871504
Twitter; @pottedhistory

Potted History
Gregory Court
Rothbury
Northumberland
NE65 7PJ

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Childlike Exuberance

One of the best things about running historical pottery workshops in schools, is seeing the uninhibited exuberance of the children's work. Unlike many adults, they are not afraid to express themselves in paint or clay and as a result the pots and sculptures they produce have a vitality, often lacking in the more carefully considered work of their seniors. When I return the fired pots to the schools, the children are amazed and delighted to see how the fire has changed and preserved their artwork. 

For more information about my pottery workshops for schools and museums see my earlier post HERE.

Egyptian Canopic Jars by Blackhill School Children

Egyptian Canopic Jars by Blackhill School Children 

Egyptian Shabti Figures by Blyth School Children

Roman Head Pots by Keilder School Children

Mediaeval Green Men by Bedlington School Children

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Replica Egyptian Canopic Jars

A set of canopic jars with their storage chest made recently for Maidstone Museum's educational handling collection.

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Hebridean Bronze Age Replicas

Just finishing work on a replica Cordoned Urn and Food Vessel for a client.

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Roman Antefixa for Grosvenor Museum

I've been making lots of replicas for museums and individuals in the past few weeks.  Today I sent out three Replica Roman Antifixa (Antefixes) which will become part of the new display at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.  An antefix is a decorative terminal which finishes off the lower edge of a tiled roof, in this case a Roman roof covered with Tegula and Imbrex tiles.  From left to right they bear the following relief images:
The Boar emblem of the 20th (XX) Legion, the lion and Jupiter Ammun.  The making of these involved first calculating the shrinkage of the clay through each stage of the manufacturing process so that I could make punches, to make the moulds, to make the antefixa. Given the high quality moulding on the faces and the rather rustic approach to the rest of the decoration, I suspect that the faces may have been 'sampled' from something like a legionary standard.

Here you can see a set of Antefixa in place on a miniature Roman roof that I also made for the Grosvenor.

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Potted History Public Events 2012

It's been a hectic summer and I've been all over the country demonstrating ancient pottery techniques, here are some of the main events I attended.

I had a great weekend at  the Bedford, River Festival on 21^st and 22nd July making replicas of ancient Greek Rhytons, Amphorae and Epinetrons. On Friday 3^rd August  I was on the Solway, at Senhouse Roman Fort, Maryport, Cumbria.  Demonstrating Roman pottery making with both the Potter’s Wheel and moulds, including the Senhouse Samian bowl. quite a few children had a go at making their own Samian Ware bowl.

On a very rainy Sunday 5^th August I was at Paxton House, celebrating Paxton "Before the House" with some Prehistoric, Neolithic and Bronze-Age pottery demonstrations.  I showed how the beakers discovered last year at Fishwick had been created, from the making of stone, bone and antler tools through processing the clay to decorating pots. I was joined by Kristian Pedersen the archaeologist leading the excavation, who demonstrated the ancient craft of flintknapping.

From Saturday 11^th to  Monday 19^th August, I worked my way along the middle section of Hadrian's Wall in the guise of Bellicus the itinerant Roman Potter demonstrating how the Romans made many different types of pottery and answering questions on how they used these pots.

Saturday 25^th to Monday 27^th August I was atop the dizzy heights of Dover Castle demonstrating Roman pottery making and giving children the chance to make a Roman Gladiator votive plaque.

Kirknewton Festival, in Northumberland on Saturday 1^st and Sunday 2^nd of September was an absolute joy and here you'd have found me  making and firing Prehistoric Bronze-Age pottery, While Paula Constantine demonstrated ancient spinning, dying and weaving.

On the 22nd & 23rd September I had my first opportunity to work at Beamish Open Air Museum.  In the wonderful surroundings of the Home Farm I made country slipware jugs, bowls and platters in the style of !8th and 19th Century potters.

And continuing the theme of Victorian Pottery on Sunday 30^th of September I’ll be at Preston Hall for their Parkmade Event, where I’ll be demonstrating the skills of a Victorian country slipware potter and even offering you the opportunity to have a go and possibly purchase some of my wares.

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Kiln Floor in Production

You might be forgiven for thinking that it's National Boring Photograph Day but this pic does illustrate the fact that, while we are in the grips of winter here in Rothbury, work on the Roman kilns is going ahead.  These clay bars will form the floor of the firing chamber and will be laid, radiating out from a central support like the spokes of a wheel, allowing the flames to pass up from the firebox and combustion chamber, see Roman Sunken Kiln Under Construction below.

Kiln bars drying in the workshop

  I haven't been back to the Westhills kiln since my last blog on the subject and my work on the York kiln got rained off after three days.  In this time I did however get the sunken part of the kiln dug out and most of the raised chamber wall built and clay lined.  It's actually mixing the clay and soil that takes the time, if I was working on an actual Roman Pottery production site with a high clay content in the soil I would simply add water.  As it is the soil on site is mostly sand and builders rubble so needs careful sorting and clay adding to it.

York kiln - lining the chamber with clay

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Zeus figures now available

Working on ceramic figures of Zeus for Tyne & Wear Museums today

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Charlie Brooker, Museums, Pots and Boredom

Self styled Ranter Charlie Brooker, with whose words of wisdom, I have to confess, I usually concur, was heard on the Jeremy Vine show, on Friday 14th May 2010, saying:

“Say you find yourself staring at an old pot, your brain being an incredibly sophisticated computer immediately asses that it’s an old pot and that old pots are boring. It’s not going to dance, or sing heart breaking songs of yesteryear, it won’t even rock gently in the breeze, it’s just going to sit there being a pot. Probably a broken one at that, if it was on television they’d at least have the decency to back it with some upbeat techno while zooming in and out, and even then you’d immediately switch over. That said, because you’ve got the misfortune of actually being there in front of it, surrounded by other people, you have to stand and look at the poxy thing for a minimum of about thirty seconds before moving on to gawp at the next bit of old rubbish, otherwise everyone’s going to think you’re a philistine. Museums are full of secretly bored people pulling falsely contemplative faces; it’s a weird mass public mime. “

Needless to say I'm not in agreement on this one! Old pots do dance, with the remembered movements of the potter’s hands, the spin of the wheel, the kick of the foot, the flash of fire. They do sing songs of yesteryear; of the potters who made them, digging the clay from the earth, forming it with their hands, firing it incandescent yellow and red in kilns burning only wood. They sing of the rare commodities they carried, wine, olive oil, garum, honey, incense; of the exotic ancient lands where they originated and through which they travelled; of the sailors who navigated their fragile ships through raging seas to bring them to our shores. They tell the tales of the people who used them; of ancient ways of cooking, eating and drinking; of strange ritual, religious and magical practices. I’m really rather surprised to find that Mr Brooker doesn’t have the imagination to see that, or is it simply polemic?

I have always said that “ancient pots in museum cases sometimes appear quite boring, I know that they're not!” and I have always thought that it is my job to bring them to life. Never mind the “upbeat techno”, I offer the archaeological equivalent of live theatre. Once people see the dead potsherd reborn on the wheel, witness lump of clay spiralling up into a pot: Once they have held a replica of that pot in their hands: Once they have heard the story of its creation and use many thousands of years ago: Then their “boredom” turns to fascination. I have had groups that were simply passing through the museum stay and talk with me for over an hour.

Children are the harshest critics, capable of delivering killer blows far more cutting than anything Charlie Brooker can dish out.  I often work with groups of “disengaged youth” they usually don’t want to leave at the end of the session. With children I often use a few sherds of North African olive oil amphorae that I have. I get them to hold onto the dull boring bit of pot, I even tell them that that’s what it is, then I tell them the story: of the potter on the north coast of Africa, how he dug and prepared his clay, formed the pot on the wheel, fired it in his kiln; of the olive grower who bought the pot along with many thousands of others, how he picked and pressed the olives to extract the oil and then packed it into the pot sealing it with beeswax or pitch: of the merchant who bought the now full amphora and the altar he set up to ensure the safe completion of his trading venture to Britannia: of the dock workers and loaded and secured the very heavy pot in its place in the bottom of the hold ensuring that it couldn’t move and capsize the boat: of the sailors who sailed the ship through the busy shipping lanes and trade routes of the Mediterranean, out through the pillars of Hercules into the wild storm tossed Atlantic: of their fear of the open ocean and their offerings to the Gods of the deep to keep them safe on their Journey: Of the ship safely delivered to Arbeia at the mouth of the Tyne where the Amphora was transferred to a flat bottomed barge and carefully steered up river by the Praefectus numeri barcariorum Tigrisiensium, Arbeia "The Company of Bargemen from the Tigris at Arbeia" : of the merchant who received the consignment of olive oil and sold it from his taberna in the town of Coria (Corbridge): Of the citizens who burned the oil in their lamps, cooked their food with it, offered it to their household gods in the Lararium, mixed it with white lead and applied it as makeup, rubbed it on old battle wounds to heal them, massaged themselves with it in the bath house and when the amphora was finally empty of the rubbish dump where it was deposited in the field next to the town: of the children who broke it into small pieces while practicing with their slingshots and used the broken pieces while playing board games leaving only a few remaining sherds for me to pick up over 1600 years later.

And the response I usually get? ........................ Now can you tell me about this one. Maybe the children have a more active and accommodating imagination than Charlie Brooker. Or maybe it’s just that their “incredibly sophisticated computer” brains are in better working order.

POTS ARE NOT BORING and if you'd like me to prove that Charlie Brooker you can come on one of my workshops FREE OF CHARGE.



Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk