Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

excavation as tree roots would soon destroy any archaeological evidence.
A trench was opened up, ultimately 1.20 x 1.90 m; some 10.- 20 cm
below the present surface a kiln was revealed and theinterior excavated
as fully as time and its proximity to the tree hole allowed.
The kiln, which had been fired, was cut into the gravelly subsoil
(inside diameter of oven chamber 1.40 m) and lined with clay some'10 cm
thick. This was baked red in colour with the inner 'rind' c. 3 cms, a
dark grey. The kiln was an up-draught type with a permanent vented floor
60 cm below the present ground surface (Figure 4a). It was without a
central support but had two pilasters projecting in from the wall (Figure
4b, P and P). Additional draught was provided by a small upward sloping
vent in the kiln wall above Vent 4 (Figure 4a, e).
The floor was of baked clay, 10 cm thick, which had originally been
supported on wooden poles 20 - 25 mm diameter and 7 - 8 cm apart, judging
by imprints remaining in the underside of the-oven floor.
Six large vents (Figure 4a, 1-6) were spaced systematically around
the circumference 6f the floor and 4 small vents were located in its
centre. It is presumed that others whiéh could not be reached would complete
a more regular pattern than that shown in Figure 4a, a, b, c and d.
The bowl-like furnace chamber below was approximately circular, average
diameter 70 cm, curving to a maximum depth of 63 ems, and the hot
gases entered from a large flue in the 'northwest side of the chamber
(Figure 4b). This arch, with curved roof and vertical sides, 45 cm wide
by 45 cm high, entered c. 10 cm above the bottom of the floor and vent
hole 1 opened into the top of this arch (Figure 4c). Vents 2, 3 and 6
had flues opening from the upper half 6f the chamber wall while 4 and 5
had deep sloping flues beside the pilasters running almost to the chamber
floor. There was not time to excavate the stoke hole flue, which was
filled with earth and reddish clay, or to locate the position of the stoke
hole.
There was very little ash in the furnace chamber, which was only
partly filled.with completely dry earth containing some sherds and pieces
of charcoal and was hollow above this.
Many pottery sherds(69'lbs)were recovered from the kiln with no unbroken
pots. Large pieces formed almost_a layer on the chamber floor
and wedged in the side vents, and smaller sherds occurred in the general
infill of the oyen chamber.
- Part of the curved dome of the roof survived around, the northeast
edge of the oven chamber, which appeared-to have slid down inside almost
to floor level above the layer of largè sherds, and more of it formed a
shattered layer across the whole centre. ' When part of this was removed,
a bar of baked clay, 30 cm long with rectangular section 5 by 8 cm, was
seen to be attached to the kiln wall. The rest of the oven chamber was
filled up with black clay loam which would appear to include the rake-out
from a kiln or kilns nearby. Fragments of baked-clay with grass and twig
impressions were,also found.
The pottery has only been briefly 'examined but the description given
by P. Corder (Records of Bucks 1943) of the pottery of the Hedgerley and
Fulmer kilns is equally accurrate for this. The Hedgerley and Fulmer
kilns are dated to the early 2nd Century though Hedgerleypottery has been
found at the Latimer Roman Villa in a late 2nd Century context.
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