XVI.—On some Roman Bronze Vessels discovered on the Castle Howard Estate, Yorkshire

Abstract

The five bronze vessels, now exhibited by the kind permission of Vice-Admiral The Honourable Edward Howard, were first recovered in June, 1856, from the spot where they had lain buried probably since the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. A party of drainers, digging immediately behind a farmhouse on Stittenham Hill, belonging to the Castle Howard estate in Yorkshire, came upon these vessels at about three feet below the surface, placed one within another, in a nest or group. The soil, I understand, is boggy, and the metal accordingly has preserved the smooth unpatinated face and brownish hue common with ancient bronzes found in wet localities. The form of all the vessels is the same, and approximates to that of a modern saucepan; but the bowl of each, instead of having vertical sides and a broad fiat bottom, is curved inwards as it descends, like a cup, and the base is ornamented externally with raised concentric rings. Each handle, which is shaped in simple but not ungraceful curves, has a hole for suspending the vessel from a hook or peg. Round the bowl of the largest vessel runs a narrow engraved border of peculiar pattern.