Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/128

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RECENT ROMAN DISCOVERIES:

colour, stoneware, 8 inches diameter; black colour, 6 inches diameter; red-ware, 6 inches diameter; all from Bridgewater Street; and another smaller one, 4¾ inches diameter, with a hole in the centre, yellow, made to fit in the vessel recovered from the Irwell, 9 feet in the gravel, in building the foundations for Orme & Son's Billiard Works. A stopper, 1⅛ inches diameter, ½ inch at the lower end, from Gaythorn.

Amphoræ.—We have a good many, found all over the area; one in fragments, almost complete, from the northern ditch. I possess the whole top and the apex of the bottom of one, handles and the annular tops are common. They are red, grey, or brown. An upper part of one was found in the botontinus at Trafford Street. I have also a stamped handle, and an other one with a graffiti . . . i v v (beginning incomplete).

Tubs or casks, resembling our modern washing tubs, of circular shape, the inside hooped and running in parallel rings. At Bridgewater Street large pieces of the bottom and top were obtained, 16 inches in diameter and probably 18 inches high. Another large jar of light yellow colour, also turned, but without rings, occurred at Trafford Street; it has still remnants of a blackish crust adhering to the inside. Chemical analysis, however, failed to discover whether it was formed by the lees of wine, vinegar, honey, or some other organic substance.

Ampullæ, two-handled, large, light yellow vessels, standing about 18 inches high, of stoneware, the large neck moulded separately and jointed with the body; the circular mouths 4, 5, and 6 inches in diameter. One I got almost complete and restored from the fragments.