Abstract
A ROMANO-BRITISH pottery kiln removed intact to the Science Museum, South Kensington, from its original site in Berkshire was exhibited to the public for the first time on December 1. The kiln, now shown with a reproduction of its original surroundings painted by Mr. E. M. Dinkel as a background, is one of two discovered through the introduction of the tractor-drawn plough in the cultivation of a field ‘overlooking the dried-up bed of the River Pang on Woodrows Farm, Compton, near Aldworth, Berks. The deeper ploughing in soil only a few inches deep on chalk turned up a darker earth mixed with potsherds, which on investigation by General W. K. Hardy proved to be due to the presence of two pottery kilns. Of these, one was found to be intact, while the other had been broken up by the ancient potter. The kilns had been constructed by digging an oval hole in the chalk about four feet deep. One half of this was taken up by a rough oven of clay with a front wall of clay and stones, in which was a stoke-hole. A floor of clay, supported by a wall from centre to back, an inch or two below the level of the chalk, served as the stand on which were placed the ‘green’ pots for firing, heat from the fire passing through holes in the floor. Over the pots had been a dome-shaped cover of clay, which had to be broken at each firing, but of which fragments were found nearby. Pots reconstructed from the numerous sherds collected, as well as coins associated with the find, give a date not later than the beginning of the fourth century A.D. The removal intact of the undamaged kiln entailed, not a little skill and ingenuity, as with reinforcement it weighed nearly five tons. Recent archaeological discovery, notably in Yorkshire, at Colchester and most recently at Lincoln, have made familiar the kiln and mode of firing employed by the Romano-British potter; but as a rule the conditions of discovery have precluded preservation for general inspection. The kiln now on view at the Science Museum is the only example of the period exhibited in Great Britain.
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Romano-British Pottery Kiln from Berkshire. Nature 138, 962–963 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138962c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138962c0