NHER 61931 (Monument record) - Remains of post-medieval brick kiln and multi-period finds

June 2015. Excavation.
Excavation prior to the construction of several new residential dwellings. Several building footprints were stripped and an exploratory trench was also opened at the northern edge of the site.
The exploratory trench revealed a concentration of burnt clay that was subsequently found to be associated with the remains of a clamp kiln. This structure had been significantly truncated with only the very base of part of the kiln surviving. It had been built from brick waster fragments and large flints set within a highly oxidised clay. The kiln appeared to have occupied a very shallow depression in the natural clay, which had been baked a deep red colour.
The bricks recovered at the site lack frogs and are consistent with a 16th- to 18th-century date. Those within the structure were similar to those found elsewhere on the site, none of which showed any sign of use, suggesting that most, if not all, had been made at the site.
The only other feature identified was a substantial hollow interpreted as an infilled pond, the upper fills of which produced a mix of post-medieval and modern finds.
The finds recovered during this work included a prehistoric worked flint flake, medieval and post-medieval/modern pottery sherds, post-medieval tiles, an undated lava quern fragment and a small assemblage of late medieval to modern metal objects.
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 November 2016.