Another class of subjects of extreme interest, as coming from a Romano-British pottery, are mythological subjects, which appear to have been rather a favourite ornament of the Durobrivian pottery. Fragments of several vessels, with the figures of the seven gods and goddesses, have been met with. Another characteristic of the Durobrivian ware, consists of indentations made in the side of the vessel, while still soft, but after it had left the lathe, and continued with regularity round it. Sometimes, where little ornament was employed on the rest of the vase, these indentations were left quite plain; sometimes an ornament was introduced in the centre; and not unfrequently the indentation was formed into a niche for the reception of a figure. For indented vases see figs. 226, 228, and 229. The _Upchurch ware_, so called because made on the tract of land now known as the Upchurch Marshes, on the river Medway below Chatham, is next in importance, as far as extent of works go, to the Castor ware. The district where these pot-works are proved to have existed extends to a distance of five or six miles in length, and from one to two miles in breadth, and throughout this tract a bed of refuse pottery exists. This is seen to the best advantage about Otterham Creek, not far from Upchurch church, and from its being first noticed here the name of Upchurch ware has arisen. “The Roman ware made in the Upchurch potteries presents distinctive peculiarities which cannot be mistaken, and it must have been in great repute, certainly the next after the foreign Samian and the native Durobrivian wares, in this province of the empire. Like the Durobrivian, too, it has been found on Roman sites in France and Germany, so that it was probably exported. As Battely has described it, the greater proportion of this ware is of a ‘blackish colour,’ or rather of a bluish or greyish black, which was produced, no doubt, by the process of the smother-kiln, already described in connection with the Durobrivian pottery. Some of the Upchurch pottery presents a colour approaching to dark drab. Examples of both are given. The forms, as well as the sizes, vary greatly, but they all present those delicate forms of the curve which we recognise at once as coming from the hands of the Roman artist. The texture of the pottery itself is fine, and it is very thin. The ornamentation also is varied, but not very elaborate or very refined. One of the patterns consists of a band of half-circles, made with compasses, from each of which a band of parallel lines descends vertically. Examples of various kinds of ornament are given in the accompanying woodcut (fig. 230). The little vessel in the front of the cut has had two handles, but one is lost; it is supposed to be an incense pot. [Illustration: Fig. 230.]