6o SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF YORK AND DISTRICT 



stones and earlier building material, roughly coursed herring-bone 

 fashion, but without clay or mortar. The motive would appear to have 

 been to obtain a dry surface, which suggests that this was the threshing 

 floor. Two kilns, not for pottery, were found on other parts of the site, 

 and these may have been used for drying grain. 



The well of the settlement was cleared to its bottom, 44 ft. 6 in. from 

 the surface. With the exception of its top 8 ft., it was cut through 

 rock 6 ft. in diameter. From 13 ft. 6 in. to 20 ft. the filling consisted 

 of sticky black soil with little stone. This marked the final destruction 

 of the site. Below this the well was choked with stones and rubbish, 

 animal bones of horse, ox, sheep, pig, deer, dog, cat, mole, goose, fowl, frog, 

 and small birds and rodents, together with pottery of signal station types. 

 At the very bottom in the black silt were preserved part of an ash bucket, 

 and twigs of oak, alder, walnut, sweet chestnut, willow, sycamore, cherry, 

 elder and heather, half a walnut and several hazel nuts. With these 

 was a complete jar of Crambeck type, fragments of several others, and 

 a coin of Constantine I {c. a.d. 335-337) in mint condition. It is clear 

 that the well was either dug or last cleared out soon after a.d. 335, and 

 was in use, if only as a rubbish pit, until the close of the occupation, 

 c. A.D. 395 or later. 



The Crambeck Pottery.* 



In 1923 the chance discovery of Roman sherds at Jamie's Craggs, Cram- 

 beck, about five miles from Malton, by a yoiing geologist from Bootham 

 School, York, led to excavations in the adjoining field by a party from the 

 school under the present writer. In 1926-7 two pairs of pottery kilns, 

 two interments, and a very large quantity of sherds were discovered. The 

 earliest occupation of the site was represented by a coin of Nerva and a 

 little Samian ware of the first half of the second century. The kilns, 

 however, were much later and were working from the end of the third 

 century, their output increasing throughout the fourth up to the troubles 

 of A.D. 370. Pottery manufacture seems to have restarted here during 

 the last thirty years of the century. Since the completion of the excava- 

 tions Crambeck ware has been identified from many late sites in the 

 north. It was used in great quantities on Hadrian's Wall, and has been 

 found as far north as Trap rain. It must be concluded that the kilns 

 excavated represent only a part of a very extensive pottery manufacture. 



The kilns were stoked in pairs from a common stoke-hole, a roughly 

 circular pit dug below ground level. From this, stone-lined flue passages, 

 roofed with slabs, led into the furnaces. These were semi-permanent 

 structures consisting of circular or pear-shaped clay-lined pits, roofed 

 at ground level with flat unsupported clay platforms, pierced with 

 numerous small holes to allow the passage of hot gases to the pots stacked 

 above for firing. The ovens must have been temporary structures 

 rebuilt for each firing of the kiln, and their composition is conjectural. 

 They were probably of turf and branches, for the furnaces were not 

 provided with chimneys and all the gases must have passed through the 



* The Roman Pottery at Crambeck, Castle Howard. By Philip Corder, 1928. 

 (Yorks. Arch. Soc.) 



