The Production and Distribution of Tiles in Roman Britain with Particular Reference to the Cirencester Region

Abstract

account of the excavations at Holt (Grimes, 1930), in which he includes a general survey of tile-production and a list of tile and pottery kilns, no detailed research on the tile industry has been carried out in Britain apart from work on patterned flue-tiles (e.g. Lowther, I948). In Italy much more has been learnt about the organisation of the tile and brick industry from an examination of the many stamps from Rome, Ostia and elsewhere (Bloch, 1967; Helen, 1975; and various volumes of CIL) and further research is being undertaken by Dr Steinby of the Finnish Institute in Rome. In this country, however, no overall survey of the production and distribution of tiles has been undertaken and one is not aware that such research is currently in progress. For this reason it has been necessary to examine the evidence from the whole of Britain when trying to understand problems concerned with the tile industry in the Cirencester region. The excavation in insula XII of Corinium be-