Monument record 5156/1/1 - Probable C1st Pottery Kiln, Cherry Orchard School

In April 1953, during the filling in of a disused quarry sherds of Roman pottery were identified in the quarry face. On excavation a small pottery kiln was identified.

{1} Features identified in 1953. A Romano-British kiln. A Circular furnace c.1m in diameter. Clay-lined and reinforced with flat stones and re-used fire bars. A flue 0.3m wide led off from the furnace. The furnace also contained a central column 0.35m high capped by a circular clay plate. Fire bars were found with their inner edge resting on the plate and outer edges stuck into the clay lining. Pottery associated with the kiln was dated to C1st AD. Found at SP78506238.

{3} A Romano-British pottery kiln was found whilst filling in a disused quarry, prior to building work at Cherry Orchard School in April 1953. It was first seen as a disturbed patch in the quarry face, and excavation revealed a kiln of the normal updraught type, consisting of a barrel-shaped hole dug in the sandy subsoil plastered inside with clay; in places reinforced with stones and firebars placed on end. The raised oven floor consisted of a central column of three flat stones covered with clay, having pottery firebars radiating like the spokes of a wheel. The upper portions of the kiln wall had collapsed upon the remains of the oven floor.
Very few pottery fragments were found in the kiln which was filled with black silty clay and pieces of charcoal. Pottery found consisted of hard coarse ware, varying in colour from dull brick-red, through muddy brown to various shades of grey; all dated as 1st C AD
A bronze brooch of the La Tene type III, but doubtless of early Roman date, 1st C AD., was found lying among the lumps of fallen kiln wall.

{4} Evidence from the pottery kiln led the autors to surmise that it had been fired only once, and even then to fire-harden the clay-liing. It appears that no pottery had ever been fired with the kiln. Therefore, the significant quantity of kiln bars found in the ditch fills probably derived from another kiln in the vicinty. The kiln dated from around the middle of the 1st century and while pottery from the ditches appears to suggest thay they were open by this date, they appear to have been in use until at least the mid-2nd century.
Significant quantities of charred grain and the bottom stone from a rotary quern from the ditches indicate that cereal processing was also being undertaken close by, possibly using the same kilns. While kilns were often placed at the edge of settlements, crop processing evidence and finds from the wider area suggests that there was settlement close by.
This excavation has provided evidence that more than one kiln was present close by, which has probably been lost to previous quarrying. The kilns probably still only represent part of a small-scale local pottery industry.

{5} A representative collection of material from this site is held by Northampton Museum.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.415/Site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.415/Site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<2> 1954, The Journal of Roman Studies, p.95 (checked) (Journal). SNN27024.

<3> Bunch B.; Corder P., 1954, A Romano-British Pottery Kiln at Weston Favell Near Northampton, p.218-25 (unchecked) (Report). SNN59644.

<3> Bunch B.; Corder P., 1954, A Romano-British Pottery Kiln at Weston Favell Near Northampton, p.218-25 (unchecked) (Report). SNN59644.

<4> Upson-Smith, T. & Walker, C., 2013, An Archaeological Excavation at the Former Cherry Orchard School, Northampton February 2012, p.27 (checked) (Report). SNN108546.

<5> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F1 JB 26-FEB-1969 (Note). SNN111452.

<6> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey: Portfolios, ORD01/01 (Archive). SNN113224.

<7> Historic England, Undated, Roman pottery kiln, Cherry Orchard School (Archive). SNN115669.

Record last edited

Nov 27 2023 11:54AM