First-century pottery manufacture at Eccles, Kent
by Alec Detsicas
Roman Pottery Studies in Britain and Beyond.
BAR S30 Oxford, 19-36
INTRODUCTION
Pottery manufacture at Eccles, in the parish of Aylesford, Kent, was established
in 1971-73, and the present paper is offered as an interim statement in
anticipation of the definitive publication of the site. So far, it has been
possible to process and study only a small part of the enormous amount of
pottery involved, and a provisional series of forms of the various classes of
pottery produced at the site has been worked out, except in the case of bowls
and cooking-pots which await further work. No attempt is made here to quote
parallels, even in the case of well attested vessels, and the dating suggested
below relies exclusively on internal evidence.
THE SITE
The site (N.G.R. TQ 718605; O.S. 6-in. Sheet TQ 76 SW) lies on the 50-ft.
contour very close to the old channel of the Medway, to the south of its east
bank, in an area totally disturbed by large pits excavated for the disposal of
industrial waste; a small area of the original ground surface, forming a
plateau, had remained undistrubed in a small wood between these industrial pits
and part of it was mechanically removed in 1971. As a result, an exposed section
was observed to contain a thick band of pottery waste material deposited upon
the clay subsoil and following the dip slope towards the river bank; trenching
in late 1972 was followed, in 1973, by the complete stripping of the undisturbed
area. This was found to be spread with a layer, about 0.30 m in thickness, of
wasters, tiles and other material beneath a light covering of top soil.
No kiln was found, except for a medieval tilery constructed in the
middle of this waste material (Detsicas 1974a, 130-31), and it is
presumed that such a kiln must have been situated nearby further to the south.
In this respect, it is significant that a Romano-British tilery was excavated,
in 1966, about 214 m south-west of the present site, and it must, therefore, be
concluded that an industrial site, involving pottery and tile manufacture, was
located northwest of Bushey Wood and lost to the modern industrial excavations.
This manufacturing activity, begun about the middle of the first century A.D. on
the evidence of the kiln waste, must have continued until at least the fourth
century A.D., about which time the tilery ceased to function; it is, however,
impossible to say anything more definite about the organisation and extent of
this industrial site because of its modern destruction.