Alice Holt Ceramics -Roman Pottery of England

The Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire in the south of England gives its name to coarse Roman period pottery produced at various sites in the area from the first to 4th Centuries AD.

Alice Holt (also called Farnham Grey ware) is fairly common at sites across Roman southern and southeastern England, Alice Holt Pottery is characterised as a course grey sandy clay which has a very rough look.

We commonly believe that Alice Holt Pottery had none of the finesse associated with Samian wares of the same period.

However it has been argued by Dr Richard Pollard that Alice Holt dishes may have been percieved as 'fine' wares to their roman owners. Our mistake is on concentrating on the material of construction rather than the finished effect.

CB 2003-2008

Further information:

CBA RESEARCH REPORT
No 30
THE ALICE HOLT/ FARNHAM ROMAN POTTERY INDUSTRY
M A B Lyne and R S Jefferies

The pottery kilns of Roman Britain
V. G. Swan
(HMSO, London, 1984, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Supplementary Series 5).