Crambeck Ware is a type of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

ceramic produced in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

primarily in the 4th Century AD.Monaghan, G. 1997.''Roman Pottery from York'' (Archaeology of York Series 16/8). York: York Archaeological Trust. pp903-906 Crambeck Ware Beaker YORYM H182

Site

The Crambeck Ware industry takes its name from the nearby village of

Crambeck Crambeck near Crambe and Malton in Yorkshire is near the River Derwent. History Roman Crambeck is famous in antiquity as having been the Roman ceramic kiln site that lends its name to the locally produced Crambeck Ware pottery. Excavations i ...

(located 8 km from Malton and 24 km from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

). The Roman kilns on this site are now a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Early investigations

Pottery associated with six kilns was discovered in the mid 19th century during the construction of Crambeck School. An article in the ''Malton Messenger'' of 13 February 1858 identified chance discoveries of Roman pottery on this site.Corder, P. 1928. ''The Roman Pottery at Crambeck, Castle Howard'' (Roman Malton and District Report no.1). York: William Sessions

Corder's excavations

Initial excavation was undertaken by

Philip Corder Philip Corder (–29 May 1961) was a British archaeologist and curator, and president (1954-1957) of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Biography Corder was Master of Bootham School, where he taught English, before becoming the curator of V ...

and students of

Bootham School Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19, and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The schoo ...

on 2 October 1926, with additional excavations in summer and autumn of 1927. Four kilns were identified between 1926-1927. Subsequent investigations have revealed a complex pattern of small enclosures within which the remains of kilns survive. As well as the kilns and waste dumps the complex also included clay dumps, fuel stores, drying areas, stores, workshops and possibly accommodation for the workforce.

Industry

The Crambeck Ware industry is one of two major pottery industries located in the Yorkshire region during the Roman periodOttaway, P. 2013. ''Roman Yorkshire: People, Culture and Landscape''. Pickering: Blackthorn Press. pp311-313 (the other being Huntcliff ware). Very little Crambeck Ware is found south of the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

, though it does advance North to the frontier. The kilns excavated in the 1928 and 1936 investigations were all circular with a limestone built flue.

Crambeck fabrics

There are three main fabrics associated with the Crambeck Ware industry: Grey Ware, Red Ware and 'Parchment' Ware. Of these, the principal fabric is the Grey Ware and this was in production by AD280. All the Crambeck fabrics are united by a fine clay matrix with sparse silver mica containing varying quantities of quartz and iron-rich inclusions, while the ''

mortaria A mortarium (pl. "mortaria") was one of a class of Ancient Roman pottery kitchen vessels. They are "hemispherical or conical bowls, commonly with heavy flanges", and with coarse sand or grit embedded into the internal surface. They were used for p ...

'' have slag trituration grits.

Grey Ware

A hard fine-textured fabric; very pale grey core (sometimes almost white) with medium grey surfaces; abundant inclusions of fine quartz sand. Frequent smooth wheel-burnishing on surfaces. Wheel-thrown. Crambeck Ware cremation jar YORYM H72

Parchment Ware

'Parchment' ware: a variable group of hard, brittle, white, buff (through to yellow or orange) fabrics with a laminar fracture; abundant fine sand tempering. Frequent orange or brown painted decoration. Iron slag grits on the ''

''. Crambeck Parchment Ware is frequently over-painted with red designs, often in circumferential bands but also used in geometric patterns, dots, diagonals, and also to depict human features on stylised face pots.

Red Ware

Red ware: soft fabric with orange core and burnished orange-red surfaces; variable quantities of sand and soft red-brown inclusions.

Institutions

The following institutions are listed as having Crambeck Ware collections: * Corbridge Roman Site Museum * Malton Museum *

Scunthorpe Museum North Lincolnshire Museum (formerly known as Scunthorpe Museum) is a local museum in the town of Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire, England. Overview The museum is on Oswald Road, near the Scunthorpe railway station. It is run by North Linco ...

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crambeck Ware Romano-British pottery