File:Strainer (illustration by Nick Griffiths) (FindID 890951).jpg

English: A hoard of Roman copper-alloy vessels consisting of a symmetrical flanged bowl strainer, a Bassin Uni, a carinated basin with a foot ring and an Irchester bowl. The vessels were part of a structured Roman deposit with each vessel nestled within another and all contained within the Irchester bowl. The vessels are fragmentary and fragile, the carinated basin and Irchester bowl are in multiple pieces and the bases of the Irchester bowl, cauldron and the Bassin Uni have become detached.

The symmetrical flanged bowl strainer:

The strainer is circular (260mm in diameter) with a flat out turned and expanded rim (45.55mm in width and 0.4mm thick at the end). The exterior margin of the flange is upturned. The interior band is raised with convex curving form rolling downwards into the body, which then widens outwards to undercut the internal rim top. The strainer has been repaired, originally it would have been made from a single piece of copper alloy. Due to damage, it is made from two pieces of copper-alloy, it is hemispherical and 100mm in width at the rim before expanding to 150mm just below the original break. The original basin of the strainer was decorated with two rows of circumferential perforations (28.8mm below the rim), below this is evidence of further perforations but due to the original break this decoration is indiscernible. At this point a piece of curved copper-alloy sheet has been riveted to the main body of the strainer. the sheet has been perforated with a circumferential band of circular perforations (95mm wide), within which the perforations form four scrolls (85mm wide) surrounding a circular band of perforations (40mm wide) and a central pellet. The perforations on the repair are begin 41.9mm below the rim. The perforations on the original vessel are circular and 1.7mm in diameter and regular in spacing, whereas the perforation on the repair are irregularly spaced, not all circular and range from 1.7mm to 2.65mm.

The strainer is 61mm in height.

The strainer was deposited within the Bassin Uni and was deposited with the rim facing the ground surface. A broadly similar form of wine strainer was recorded in the Langdale hoard (NMGW-9C0216). The wine strainer may be identified as one of a small group of strainers with broad flanges and no handles including examples from the Coygan Caves and Helmsdale (Tomalin 1989; Spearman and Wilthew 1990).

Bassin Uni:

The incomplete basin has a crimped rim and a slight omphalos base, it bears similarities to two Bassin Uni vessels from the Wotton hoard. The vessel is 250mm in diameter and has a rim 10mm wide, the out turned rim is decorated with a crimped edge which has been achieved by hammering only the upper surface. The hammer marks are c. 5mm wide and c.5mm apart. The vessel tapers from the rim to the break (105mm wide). The vessel is decorated with repousse decoration in bands along the sides of the vessel. A Bassin Uni from the Wotton hoard (Kennett 1964, 130 no. 9) has internal decoration consisting of herring bone and square stamps.

The Bassin Uni was deposited within the Irchester bowl, the base survives in a fragmentary form and has become detached from the remainder of the vessel.

The carinated basin:

The carinated basin is c.270mm in diameter at the out turned rim (7mm wide) and is carinated, it narrows to 260mm in diameter before expanding to 270mm before tapering towards the base. The basin then narrows towards the base which is probably an omphalos base is convex on the outside and is domed upwards in the centre (110mm in diameter). The basin is made from two pieces and has been lathe turned. At the base is a foot ring and a raised centre, there is a circular perforation in the centre of the omphalos base.

The basin bears similarities to the a carinated bowl from the Drapers Garden Hoard (Gerrard 2009, 172 no. 14) and two carinated basins from the Helmsdale hoard (Spearman and Wilthew 1990, 69-71). The parallels from the Drapers Garden Hoard and Helmsdale have all been repaired. There appear to be no repairs in the surviving fragments of the basin.

The carinated basin was deposited within the Irchester bowl and is 110mm in height.

The Irchester bowl:

The Irchester bowl is 99mm in height, the base is convex and from the base the body expands to its maximum width just below the rim (286mm) before tapering inwards slightly to the rim (284mm) which has a bevelled edge (3mm thick). The omphalos base is convex on the outside and is domed upwards in the centre (150mm in diameter), internally the centre of the raised boss to the rim is 93mm.

The Irchester type bowl has incurving sides, an omphalos base and an in-turned rim. Irchester bowls are generally accepted to have been hanging basins manufactured in the 4th or 5th centuries in Britain although still circulating in the early Anglo-Saxon period. The uniformity of the design suggests that the vessel was a product of one or more centralised or associated workshops, and that they were used as part of a dinner service or perhaps for hand washing. Examples from elsewhere in the south of Britain include Amersham, Buckinghamshire; Drapers Garden, London; Wotton, Surrey; Pewsey; Wiltshire, Lacock; Wiltshire, and, Bishops Canning, Wiltshire.