Nene Valley Colour Coated Ware (or Castor 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 the lower

Nene Valley Nene may refer to: People * Nene (name), list of people with this name * Nene (aristocrat) (1546–1624), principal samurai wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi * Nené (footballer, 1942-2016), nickname of Brazilian footballer Claudio Olinto de Carvalho ...

centred on

Durobrivae (Water Newton) Durobrivae was a Roman fortified garrison town located at Water Newton in the English county of Cambridgeshire, where Ermine Street crossed the River Nene. More generally, it was in the territory of the Corieltauvi in a region of villas and comm ...

from the mid-2nd to 4th centuries AD. These places are closest to the main town of

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

which vies with

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

and London museums as main repositories and exhibition locations of finds; arguably the most impressive of which are at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The longer name is often abbreviated to NVCC. Decorated Nene Valley Roman Pottery, Wisbech Museum

Industry

Pottery manufacture locally started in the mid first century AD, with workshops associated with the Roman fort at Longthorpe, PeterboroughSwan, V. G. 1978. ''Roman Pottery in Britain'' (Shire Archaeology). Aylesbury: Shire Publications. pp20–21 with an expansion for several miles along the Nene valley between Wansford and

in the second century. The production centre was at the Roman town at

although the NVCC products are associated with a number of kilns found throughout the area at

Stibbington Stibbington is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, located approximately west of Peterborough city centre in the civil parish of Sibson-cum-Stibbington. It is situated in the far north-west corner of Huntingdonshire, which is a non-metropol ...

Sibson-cum-Stibbington Sibson-cum-Stibbington is a civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Sibson and Stibbington, together with Wansford railway station and that part of Wansford village south of ...

, Chesterton, Yaxley, and

Stanground Stanground is a residential area in the city of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For electoral purposes it comprises Stanground South and Fletton & Stanground wards in North West C ...

Fabric

Sherd of Nene Valley colour coated ware YORYM 1971 321 290

The NVCC ceramic is a hard, smooth-textured fabric with finely irregular fracture. It is usually coloured white to off-white. The slip has a variable colour, dark brown to black, mottled lighter orange or orange-brown where thinner. The temper includes an abundant amount of very fine quartz sand and occasional larger quartz grains, red or orange and black flecks and occasional pale clay pellets.

Decoration

The decoration of NVCC vessels is quite distinctive. The most common forms are beakers; both cornice-rimmed and bag-beakers.Monaghan, G. 1997.''Roman Pottery from York'' (Archaeology of York Series 16/8). York: York Archaeological Trust. pp893-896 Where decoration occurs it includes

barbotine Barbotine is the French for ceramic slip, or a mixture of clay and water used for moulding or decorating pottery. In English the term is used for three different techniques of decorating pottery, though in all cases mainly for historical works. ...

(both under and over the slip), rouletting and grooving. Hunt scenes in

decoration are well known from the earlier part of the industry, with the use of whorls instead of these beginning in the 3rd century AD.

Institutions

The following institutions are listed as having considerable collections of NVCC Ware collections: *

* Peterborough Museum

References

External links