Ancient Roman kiln — one of the ‘best-preserved' in UK — unearthed. Take a look inside

Miami Herald

05-02-2025

Three years ago, archaeologists were called to a 24-acre plot of land in central England.
They were there on behalf of Bloor Homes, a housing development company, to search the land and make sure there wasn't anything in need of preservation.
Then they made exciting discoveries.
'The large-scale nature of this excavation offered a rare opportunity to look into not only (an) Iron Age settlement and land-use of the site but the entire past landscape, from the early prehistoric to the medieval period,' according to a Feb. 3 news release from Cotswold Archaeology.
There were only a few artifacts from the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic periods, including flint pieces and flakes leftover from toolmaking, archaeologists said.
They did, however, find a leaf-shaped flint arrowhead, a curved oblique flint arrowhead and a Bronze Age copper alloy barbed and tanged arrowhead, a rare discovery.
'While a very rare artifact to find, it tells us little of the pre-Iron Age activity within our area of focus,' archaeologists said.
Pits dating from the Iron Age, between 700 and 400 B.C., were mostly devoid of artifacts, suggesting that they were used more as boundaries than as storage or waste management, according to the release. The boundaries they provided may have been symbolic because they separated a nearby river from the settlement, providing a barrier between a representation of the divine — water — from people and animals.
A cremation cemetery with at least 11 human burials was also found and dated to the Middle Bronze Age, archaeologists said. These graves were on the south side of the brook that divides the site, and on the north side archaeologists found three more sets of remains that had been dispersed, begging the question of why there would be two different kinds of burials from the same time periods in different areas of the site.
Archaeologists said as time went on a larger settlement was built, including the construction of a roundhouse and multiple enclosures, according to the release. The areas had large pieces of Middle and Late Iron Age pottery, as well as other cooking vessels and a spindle whorl.
'The people who lived here were most likely farmers keeping sheep and cattle, with the small enclosures probably used for crops,' archaeologists said. 'The livestock enclosures were created gradually, maintained, and shaped to suit the function.'
Parts of the site were repurposed as time went on and new groups moved onto the land, archaeologists said.
For example, an enclosure from the Iron Age was later used by the Romans to build a large lime kiln, according to the release. It was built strategically on the western slope of a hill to catch westerly winds.
'The characteristics conform well with a type of kiln known as a 'flare kiln,'' archaeologists said. 'It did not contain any artefacts but radiocarbon dating has produced a mid to late Roman date (circa 230-360 A.D.) for the kiln, making it one of the best preserved examples in the country.'
Flare kilns were shaped like the top and neck of a bottle and used to burn chalk and limestone into quicklime, which would then be used for construction.
'Since completing the fieldwork in 2023, we have been working on a programme of post-excavation assessment and analysis, where our specialists have been teasing out further insights into the settlement, landscape character and people who lived there in the past,' archaeologists said.
The site is located in Harpole, a village outside Northampton and a 70-mile drive northwest from London.