Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A small feature, which has been interpreted as a possible corn drying kiln of an unusual shape, was identified in an area just to the south of the modern line of the A2 and approximately 100m to the east of the temple complex along Watling Street. The structure was divided into three narrow corridors with walls constructed on a chalk platform. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CORN DRYING KILN? (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• PLATFORM (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• BURIAL (Roman - 100 AD? to 150 AD?)
• FLOOR (Roman - 225 AD? to 350 AD?)

Associated Finds

• BLADE (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• BRACELET (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• COIN (Roman - 43 AD? to 350 AD?)
• COSMETIC SET (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• COUNTER (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• NAIL (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• NEEDLE (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• PIN (Roman - 43 AD? to 100 AD?)
• BEAKER (Roman - 150 AD? to 250 AD?)

Full description

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A small feature, which has been interpreted as a possible corn drying kiln of an unusual shape, though this interpretation is not secure. It was uncovered in an area just to the south of the modern line of the A2 and approximately 100m to the east of the temple complex along Watling Street. The structure measured c. 4.2m by 2.4m and was divided into three narrow corridors. The walls were made from chalk that had been constructed on a chalk raft/platform. They survived to a height of only c. 15cm and this was probably their original height as there was a flint surround all the way round up to the level of the walls. The size of the structure and its insubstantial nature seems to suggest that it cannot have been a building, the corridors being so small that they are useless for any functional purposes. It may be added that the feature was quite isolated and was not, therefore, part of another structure. The best possible suggestion, therefore, is that the walls were part of a corn-drying kiln of unusual shape. The procedure would have been to cover the walls with poles, on top of which would have been laid straw, on top of which would have been laid the corn for drying. Hot gases from a stoke-hole would have been passed underneath. There are however no signs of burning and no sign of a stoke-hole which was essential. The nearest to the latter was an oven which was separated from the kiln by a distance of c. 3.6m and the entrance to which pointed away from the kiln. The chalk platform over which the structure was built was very large and almost certainly extended up to the Roman Watling Street north of it. Such a substantial platform might mean the transportation of raw materials (e.g. corn) to the feature from the main road. There was an intrusive cremation burial with an iron instrument and a large round stone in the south-west end of the south corridor. The burial pot was a poppy-head beaker of late first- or early second-century date, which means that the building must have been built before that and was out of use by then. It may also imply that this part of the settlement was not in use at the time and the structure may originally have belonged to the 'military ditch' phase as the structure is quite near to the corner of the ditch. There seems to have been a second phase to the building. A flint floor surround was built later, since it seals a samian spread (latest date of the samian was first quarter third century) from a destroyed Building located less than 10m to the south east. It may well be that the structure had another use during the second phase, although interpretation of this is difficult. The end of the long 'corridor' gives the impression that it was subsequently sealed and it may have been here that there was a stokehole and the long 'corridor' may have been the central flue. (1-2)

<1> WS Penn, 1965, Archaeologia Cantiana, Springhead - map of Discoveries (Article in serial). SKE12613.

<2> W. S. Penn, 1968, Archaeologia Cantiana - The Romano British Settlement at Springhead, Miscellaneous Excavations (Article in serial). SKE53588.

Sources and further reading

Related records