Roman BritainRoman kilns
Roman Production Site · Industrial

Roman kilns

Roman Britain
Pleiades ID: nhle-5348
Site type
Production Site
Category
Industrial
Latitude
54.3756
Longitude
-3.3390
Overview

History & context

This site comprises Roman kilns located on the Cumbrian coast near Ravenglass (Glannoventa), likely associated with the supply needs of the auxiliary fort and its vicus. Such kilns in the region typically operated from the late 1st through 3rd centuries AD, producing coarse wares and possibly tile on a modest scale for local military and civilian consumption.

Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →

Significance

Historical significance

Kilns in this coastal sector played an important role in supplying the western terminus of the Hadrianic frontier system, where Ravenglass served as a key port and garrison point. Local production reduced reliance on long-distance imports of bulky ceramics for the fort, bath-house, and associated settlement.

Archaeology

Archaeological record

Limited published excavation exists for kilns in this immediate vicinity, though Ravenglass-area fieldwork has identified ceramic production debris, wasters, and fired clay structures consistent with small updraught kilns. Most evidence remains derived from surface finds and rescue observations rather than systematic excavation, leaving the precise dating and output poorly characterised.

About this site

Questions & answers

What is Roman kilns?

This site comprises Roman kilns located on the Cumbrian coast near Ravenglass (Glannoventa), likely associated with the supply needs of the auxiliary fort and its vicus. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a production site site from the Roman period in Britain.

What type of Roman site is Roman kilns?

Roman kilns is classified as a Roman production site — a industrial site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.

What other Roman sites are near Roman kilns?

Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Prehistoric cairnfield, field system, two funerary cairns, a Romano-British farmstead, field system and a post-medieval haematite mine at Brantrake Moss (2 km), Barnscar prehistoric cairnfield, two hut circle settlements, field systems, funerary cairns, and a Romano-British farmstead, trackway and field system (2.7 km), Prehistoric stone circle, trackway, cairnfields, funerary cairns, hut circles, Romano-British farmstead and a medieval field system, 1.1km SE of Stainton (4.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.

How can I research the history of the area around Roman kilns?

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