[Illustration: Fig. 78.--Group of Upchurch Ware.] The ware made at Upchurch must have been in considerable repute, for it is found in Roman localities in most parts of the kingdom. On Roman sites in France and Germany and in Flanders, &c., wares of a precisely similar kind are found, and show that it is probable they were simultaneously made at different places. The prevailing colour of the ware is a bluish or greyish black, with a smooth and rather shining surface. A good deal, however, is of a dark drab colour. The black colour has been produced by the process of “firing” in “smother kilns”--a process well known to potters. The forms of the vessels, as well as the sizes, vary to a surprising extent, but they are all remarkable for the gracefulness and elegance of their outline, and, in many instances, for the simplicity and effective character of the patterns with which they are decorated. The decorations consist chiefly of circles or semi-circles; lines, vertical or otherwise; bands, and numbers of raised dots arranged in a variety of ways. The clay used is fine, and the vessels are light and thin, and remarkably well “potted.” [Illustration: Figs. 79 to 83.--Upchurch Ware.] [Illustration: Figs. 84 to 88.--Upchurch Ware.] [Illustration: Figs. 89 to 93.--Upchurch Ware.] The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery appear to have been of a very rude description, and were, as it seems, chiefly mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and others with a transverse section cut into notches. The former were used in tracing the lines already described; the latter had the section formed into a square or rhomboid, the surface of which was cut into parallel lines crossing each other so as to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on the surface of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements. Sometimes these dots are arranged so as to form bands;[5] and in others simply “patch” ornaments. Other vessels were covered with reticulation, the lines being simply scratched into the surface of the clay; and others have bands of serrated lines. The forms of some of the vessels from the Upchurch works will be seen on Fig. 78, and a series of other characteristic examples are given on Figs. 79 to 95. [Illustration: Fig. 94.--Upchurch Ware.] One example (Fig. 80) is ornamented with half-circles traced on the clay as with compasses, from which run downwards rows of incised lines. On Fig. 78 is an example of much the same character of ornamentation although different in form. Figs. 81, 85, 86, 87, and 88 are of different form, and are ornamented with raised dots in bands and patches; while 83 and 84 are “engine turned.” They are of remarkably elegant form. [Illustration: Fig. 95.--Upchurch Ware.]