Roman Britain in 1914 | Page 7

edible animals, cherry-stones, shells of snails, and Dee
mussels, potsherds, &c.--had a domestic look; mill-stones for grinding
corn, including one bearing what seems to be a centurial mark, and
fragments of buff imported amphorae were also found here. Between
this enclosure and the river were two small buildings close together (fig.
5, no. 2 and fig. 7). The easternmost of these seems to have been a
dwelling-house 92 feet long, with a corridor and two hypocausts; it
may have housed the officer in charge of the potteries. The western
building was a bath-house, with hot-rooms at the east end, and the
dressing-room, latrine, and cold-bath at the west end; one side of this
building was hewn into the solid rock to a height of 3 feet. Several
fibulae were found in the drains of the bath-house.
[Illustration: FIG. 6. BARRACKS (?), HOLT
(A. Rubbish pits; B. Latrines?; C. Water-pipe; D. Bronze Age burial)]
[Illustration: FIG. 7. DWELLING-HOUSE AND BATH-HOUSE,
HOLT]
The other structures (3, 4, 6, 7) served industrial purposes. No. 4 (fig. 5)
contained a hypocaust and was perhaps a workroom and drying shed.
At 6 were ill-built and ill-preserved rooms, containing puddled clay,
potsherds, &c., which declared them to be work-sheds of some sort.
Finally, at 3 and 5 we have the kilns. No. 3 was a kiln 17 feet square,
with a double flue, used (as its contents showed) for potting, and indeed
for fine potting. No. 5 (figs. 8, 9) was an elaborate 'plant' of eight kilns
in an enclosure of about 55 × 140 feet. Kilns A, B, F, H were used for
pottery, C, D, E for tiles, F for both large vessels and tiles; the circular
kiln G seems to be a later addition to the original plan. The kilns were
thus grouped together for economy in handling the raw and fired
material and in stacking the fuel, and also for economy of heat; the
three tile-kilns in the centre would be charged, fired, and drawn in turn,
and the heat from them would keep warm the smaller pottery-kilns
round them. The interiors of the kilns contained many broken and a few
perfect pots and tiles; round them lay an enormous mass of wood-ashes,
broken tiles and pots, 'wasters' and the like. The wood-ashes seem to be

mainly oak, which abounds in the neighbourhood of Holt. The kilns
themselves are exceptionally well-preserved. They must have been in
actual working order, when abandoned, and so they illustrate--perhaps
better than any kilns as yet uncovered and recorded in any Roman
province--the actual mechanism of a Roman tile- or pottery-kiln. The
construction of a kiln floor, which shall work effectively and accurately,
is less simple than it looks; the adjustment of the heat to the class of
wares to be fired, the distribution of the heat by proper flues and by
vent-holes of the right size, and other such details require knowledge
and care. The remains at Holt show these features admirably, and Mr.
Acton has been able to examine them with the aid of two of our best
experts on pottery-making, Mr. Wm. and Mr. Joseph Burton, of
Manchester.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. PLAN OF KILN-PLANT AT HOLT (SEE p. 34,
and FIG. 9)
(Except at kilns F, G, the letters on the plan are placed at the fire-holes.
In kilns A, B a small piece of the kiln floor (on which the vessels were
placed for baking) is shown diagrammatically, to illustrate the relation
between the hot-air holes in the floors and the passages in the
underlying heating-chambers)]
[Illustration: FIG. 9. RESTORATION OF THE HOLT KILN-PLANT,
SHOWING THE FLOORS ON WHICH THE TILES OR VESSELS
WERE PILED FOR BAKING (p. 18)
The letters ABCDE are placed at the mouths of the stoke-holes of the
respective kilns. Kilns ABDFH were used for pottery, CDE for tiles, F
for large vessels and for tiles; G seems an addition to the original plan.]
Smaller finds include two centurial stones (one found in 1914 is
described below, p. 34); a mill-stone with letters suggesting that it
belonged to a century of soldiers; several graffiti, mostly of a military
character, so far as one can decipher them (for one see my Report for
1913, p. 30); a profusion of stamped tiles of the Twentieth Legion,
mostly 'wasters'; some two dozen antefixes of the same legion; several
tile and pottery stamps; about 45 coins of various dates; much window

glass, and an immense quantity of potsherds of the most various kinds.
Among these latter were Samian pieces of the late first century (no '29',
but early '37' and '78' and a stamp of CRESTO) and of the second
century (including the German stamp IANVF), and imitation Samian
made on the spot. A quantity of lead and of iron perhaps worked into
nails, &c.,