Beachcombing St. Mawes

On our recent walking trip to Cornwall there was less "leisure" time than you might expect.  But one morning in St. Mawes I did have a few minutes to spare before catching a ferry boat over to the Roseland Penninsula.  You may recall from my "Tin and Tintagel" post that post Roman pottery can be found in Cornwall, reflecting its continued contact with the old core of the Empire even after the Roman implosion of the early 5th Century.  This post Roman pottery was partly amphorae, but also what is called "African Red Slip Ware".  Here are a few specimens from the British Museum:

OK stuff, but clearly a later and lesser imitation of proper Samian ware.

The greatest concentration of post Roman pottery in fact comes from Tintagel, but scattered finds are known from up and down the coasts.  So my eye was caught by this nifty shard that I saw at low tide in St. Mawes:

I dunno.....maybe?  Then I turned it over.

Not only is it too thick, but I'm pretty sure that African Red Slip ware does not have a different color glaze on the inside. It is more likely something from the local garden shoppe.  So back on the beach it went.