Roman occupation area, Little Thurrock-Palmer's 6th Form College (EHER 1711)

Area of Roman occupation containing a 1st century cremation burials found during building of school baths, a Roman kiln and ditch system.

Salvage excavation, 1930 1st century cremation burials were found in 1930 during the building of school baths. Pottery from the site is kept at the school. <1> <2> <3> Roman British pottery, 1st century <4> <5> Observation, 1970 In January 1970, a sewer trench was cut through the playing field at the school, re-routed in connection with road works. Observation of contractor's trenches in located features, including two cremation burials (no grave goods), a Romano British pottery kiln (later excavated, see below). Finds in Thurrock Museum. <6> <7> Features observed included several field boundary ditches and a ditch with a profile like roman military earthworks. <8> Excavation, 1970 The kiln was excavated in summer, 1970. It was of the common, "updraught" type with a tripartite arrangement of a circular firing chamber, flue and stoke pit. The sewer trench had cut through the middle of the kiln chamber, destroying about a third of it. The rest was reasonably intact and undisturbed. Three distinct phases were recognised. The kiln had been cut into and cut by Roman field boundary ditches. The 1st phase of boundary ditches (presumably they had banks too) indicates (with the evidence of parch marks and Drury's observations) that the area had been laid out as rectangular fields. One of the ditches passed obliquely through the excavated area. Another, small ditch was probably contemporary, the junction had been destroyed by the sewer trench. A third ditch was on a different alignment and may be earlier. The 1st ditch contained mid-late 2nd century pottery, by the late 2nd century it was almost filled with silt. The pottery in this ditch was scarce but important, with fragments of flagons and mortaria, most were clearly wasters from a kiln. Fragments of kiln structure were found, implying the presence of a kiln nearby, earlier than the excavated one. This earlier kiln is noteworthy for a rural kiln, in that it produced specialised pottery types- flagons and mortaria. The mortaria rims had herringbone stamps. Normally such stamped mortaria were made at specialised pottery centres. There is slight evidence that a stamp used here was made from another potter's die. The products comprised at least 11 vessels in two fabrics. Information from NRHE Pottery from the kiln and stokepit was of three distinct types: common cooking pots and jars of grey or brown course texture; tall pear-shaped jars; and tall ovoid flagons of a fine red fabric, dipped in a smooth cream 'slip'. Pottery from the ditch in which the kiln was constructed consisted of fragments of cream-coloured flagons and mortaria. Fragments of kiln structure were also found, implying another kiln in the vicinity, earlier than that being excavated. Pottery from the later ditch indicated that yet another kiln must have existed nearby; this appears to have fired common grey cooking pots and shallow bowls. <2> <12> The three archaeological phases and all the finds almost certainly date within AD 150 to 250. <12> <13> Three pottery kilns are listed at this location. <13> Site Assessment = Accession numbers?