Severn Valley Ware jug with pinched rim
Excavation site – Birch Abbey, Alcester

Kilns have been found at Alkington,Gloucestershire, Ledbury, Wroxeter, Bromsford, Worcester and Malvern.

A range of orange or red–brown course and fine wares were produced including carinated bowls, jugs, beakers, tankards and a range of conventional storage jars and pots.

It was thought that production was started in the first century by immigrant potters making wares for the army moving on in the second century to a civilian market. It is now thought that the industry was a development of native pre-Roman pottery in the area. The products were mainly wheel-thrown and saturated the local market during the second and third century.

Both the jug shown above and the narrow-necked jar with the ‘TTpon’ graffiti are examples of fine Severn Valley Ware.

Malvernian Course Ware

Mostly hand thrown cooking pots in course grey or black ware produced around the Malvern Hills. Distributed in western Britain from the second to the fourth century.

Pictures from Warwickshire Museum Catalogue.Information sources: http://www.potsherd.net/atlas/Ware/SVW
‘Pottery in Roman Britain’ by Guy de la Bedoyere

TjW6.8.06