Dig Diary Week 28 (3 - 7 Mar 2008)

The main bank of kilns has nearly been fully excavated. There a several phases of construction related to the flues. It appears that Murray and Co. probably experimented with several designs before they came up with their final design. The flue system was further adapted after the Hartley’s takeover.

System of flues

The sub terrain area of the northern yards was machine excavated this week. This has revealed a series of floor surfaces which may have been an area for possible slip preparation.  Also within this area there are several tanks, the majority appears to hold slip, and the remaining tanks may have held water. These tanks may have been contemporary with the large agitator tanks and the arched clay tanks.

At work in the northern yards

The second area of the dumps have been completely drawn and recorded. This week we concentrated on sampling the entire dump. This involves taking a sample from each of the dumping episodes. The samples are then processed by the finds manager and the information is used to inform us about the overall pottery processes and the type of products produced.

Taking samples from the dumps