Ipswich UAD child record record IPS 1189 - Oven/Kiln 0021/0024

Kiln/Ovens; component 0012
These features were revealed in three sections of a footings trench near the south-east corner of the site (see figure 2). A complex structural sequence was revealed in the south facing section (see figure 3). One or more kiln or oven-type structures were constructed within pit 0012, a cut with near vertical upper edges, concave lower edges and a flat or slightly undulating base. The pit was cut through a layer of mottled mid to pale grey sandy clay, 0027.
The description below is based on the south-facing section of the kilns (see figure 3 and front cover). It was in this section that the floor and partial walls of the structure could be most clearly seen. Other related deposits could be seen in the east- and north-facing sides of the footings trench. In particular kiln 0021was very similar in structure in both the north- and south-facing sections (c.800mm apart) suggesting an elongated or tunnel-like form for this structure.
Kiln 0021
The structure most clearly seen in section was that within cut 0021. Lying over the kiln and up to 500mm thick was a deposit of mixed orange sand clay with frequent tile fragments, 0014, probably representing collapse and backfilling of the feature. Under this, a black charcoal and soot deposit, 0015, lay over the oven floor, 0018, which consisted of tightly clay-packed tiles, arranged on their edges, over which was a horizontal mortar surface.
A stacked pile of horizontal tiles either side of the floor, 0016 and 0017, probably represent the base of the walls of the structure. A fringe of purple sandy clay, 0020, went under the floor and behind tile-stack 0016 but stopped under stack 0017, perhaps indicating a rebuild of this side of the oven. In situ burning of the oven lining probably formed this purple deposit, and was the primary fill of cut 0021.
To the west of the section, deposit 0019, consisting of mixed clay, might represent backfill of the earlier oven 0024. This fill was piled over the burnt purple clay oven lining, 0020. The clay packing, 0026, behind the eastern tile-stack, 0017, would have been a comparable deposit on the other side of the structure. This fill showed signs of localised heating / reddening where it was adjacent to the purple lining 0020.
Tile recovered from 0014, 0016 and 0017, and given the collective finds number 0013, indicates a probable post-medieval date for this feature. Oven 0024

The sequence of deposits partly revealed to the west of oven 0021 could be interpreted as a separate oven-type structure. All that remains of the fill of this feature are two brown silty clay deposits, 0022 and 0023. These fills are within the slightly dished, concave cut 0024. Heat from both this oven and from 0021 gave rise to a fringe of localised reddening of the surrounding natural clay, 0025, up to 100mm thick in places.(S1).