Derby Racecourse Kiln Excavations 1972–3

Abstract

SummaryThe examination of the Romano-British kilns situated on the Derby Racecourse Playing Fields (SK36133755) was continued during 1972/3 and a total of six kilns, in two groups, was excavated. The first group comprised two kilns of likely early second-century date which shared a common stokehole; this stokehole and one of the kilns had been greatly disturbed by unauthorised digging. The remaining kiln was found to have been constructed partly over a filled-in well which yielded pottery pre-dating the kiln. The second group consisted of four kilns situated close to a Roman road. Two kilns were of Antonine date and shared a common stokehole; adjacent to this stokehole and partly cut by it lay a small kiln, the oven of which was only 0·46 m. in diameter. A fourth kiln, the furnace of which alone survived, was of a first-century type; what remained had also been partly destroyed when one of the Antonine kilns was constructed. The principal products of the kilns consisted of bowls, jars and dishes; oxidized BBI sherds were found in the furnace chamber of the first-century kiln.