300 Notes on the Discover)/ of Romano- British Kilns and Pottery 



It may be interesting to state here that the Broomsgrove kilns 

 are situated at about a mile and three-quarters due south of the 

 nearest point of Wansdyke, and about seven and a half miles east 

 of Brown's Barn and the entrenchment there. 



Continuing the description of the pottery sent, Gen. Pitt- Rivers 

 says : — " Most of the pottery seems to be Romano-British, and one 

 fragment of a flat convex bottomed saucer is Roman, but I have 

 found nothing at Rushmore exactly like it." 



Gen. Pitt-Rivers further adds, that, in connection with possible 

 future excavations, " It would be interesting if in working out these 

 kilns you can by any possibility identify the pottery with coins of 

 any kind found in the kilns. It would afford a date for this pottery 

 and for that found in Wansdyke. The peculiarity of the pottery is 

 the black grains in it, apparently of cinder, which peculiarity I have 

 not found in any of the qualities of pottery found about Rushmore.'" 



In his preface to Excavations in Bokerleij awl Wansdyke, vol. III., 

 Gen. Pitt-Rivers says : — 



" The grains of stone, quartz, sand, flint, shell, and other substances, mixed 

 up in considerable quantities in pottery [of a commoner kind to prevent its cracking 

 in the fire may be traced to their original beds, and will probably afford, when 

 properly studied, a clue to the district in which the vessels were fabricated, and 

 when the kilns are discovered the distribution of their products will be the means 

 of tracing the trade rout-es that were frequented at the time. 



" A good knowledge of local kilns will, therefore, add greatly to our knowledge 

 of earthworks, but investigations into the sites of aucient potteries can hardly ■ 

 be said as yet to have become so serious a study as the subject demands. . . . 

 No more useful study could be uudertaken by anyone anxious to contribute to 

 the groundwork upon which the investigation of British camps and earthworks 

 will have to be based." 



The large urn first discovered, the other illustrated with it, and 

 portions of two other urns, as well as specimens of the burnt clay 

 lining of the kilns, and of the clay found with the vessels and ap- 

 parently used in their manufacture, have been placed in the Society's 

 Museum. 



The quern stone, the small red vase, and the urn found in March, 

 1894, remain in the bands of Mr. Kingston. 



