East Rainton, Fieldside, mortar

Stone vessel presently being used as a bird bath. Brought here from a house in Northowran in Yorkshire. 11 inches in diameter, 7.5 inches high and the inside is hollowed out to a depth of 3 inches. There is tooling on the inside and incised decorative lines going around the outside. It might be a well-finished stylobate for carrying an upright post. The internal tooling is suggestive of a mortar. The incised lines could be the result of weathering of the stone bedding plates. The lower part of the object looks clean as if it was set into something. Retained by the owner.