#FindsFriday – Roman kiln

Happy #FindsFriday everyone!! You may have recently seen one of our recent kiln finds on the news , so we thought we’d talk a bit about what a Roman kiln is, and what what it would’ve been used for!

The purpose of a kiln was to fire pottery , in order to create vessels for variety of uses such as storage and decoration, and bricks/tiles for building, which were both incredibly important during life in Roman Britain. Roman kilns could be built in a circular, oval or rectangular shape and were situated slightly submerged into the soil as the ground gave a level of insulation which was beneficial for the operation of a kiln. Usually they were either made with unfired clay blocks or brick/tile.

The Romans mostly built “updraft” kilns which worked by adding fuel into the front of the kiln via a pit or stoking area, which then resulted in hot gases accumulating in the furnace chamber. The vessels/building materials were fired in the oven area which was located above the furnace chamber. This worked as hot air was trapped here before it escaped through a flue (a duct for smoke to leave out of in the roof, like a chimney!). Roman kilns were often only built with a single flue, but some types of Roman and medieval kilns had two or more flues!

Kilns were extremely important to the daily lives of Romans and Britons, which is evident by the influx of kilns being built in Britain (especially around Roman forts) shortly after the invasion by the Emperor Claudius in 43AD, though kilns did exist prior to the Roman arrival, just in lesser numbers.

When digging, kilns can be found in quite good condition as the tile and brick used to build them was strong, allowing it to stand the test of time. Their shape is also quite unique allowing them to be quickly identified, especially in tandem with evidence of burning. Occasionally we even find pots or tiles inside or around kilns!

Written by Work Experience Student Felix

Photograph of kiln excavated by Colchester Archaeological Group (CAG) in 1969 close to the Cymbeline Meadow kiln site. This gives us an idea of what the Cymbeline Meadow kiln may have looked like.

Photo credits: Colchester Archaeological Group