SNN107494 - The Delapre Roman Kiln Field, Northampton

A series of eight Roman pottery kilns, dated to the late 1st and early 2nd-centuries, were found unexpectedly during the formation of a defensive bank on the western side of Delapré Park, Northampton near the entrance from the London Road. The material recovered suggests that their production followed that of the Hardingstone kilns, the potters moving closer to a suggested road, a Roman period predecessor of the Northampton to Towcester road. The products are remarkably standardised, but show a very high level of competence in their throwing and firing, and certain characteristics suggesting that pottery production may have been translocated here to facilitate distribution, perhaps to the civil or other official authorities.