A 14th- to 17th-century lime kiln and tile kiln: Archaeological investigations on land to the east of Tilekiln Green, Great Hallingbury, Essex, CM22 7TH - November 2022-February 2023

Archaeological watching brief, evaluation (five trial-trenches) and excavation carried out as per the conditions of the project Brief and WSI. Archaeological evaluation and excavation were carried out on land east of Tilekiln Green, Great Hallingbury, Essex in advance of the construction of a residential development. Large quantities of broken tiles and medieval pottery sherds had previously been identified on the site, which was recorded on the Essex Historic Environment Record as the site of a former medieval/post-medieval tile kiln (EHER 4661). A five trench archaeological evaluation in November 2022 revealed the remains of a kiln in Trench 1, with ditches, pits and a possible backfilled pond in the rest of the trenches. Subsequent excavation in February 2023 revealed a lime kiln, a tile kiln and three additional structures or workshops. Both kilns and one workshop where built partially below ground, the others at ground level. The lime kiln consisted of a barrel-shaped combustion chamber with two opposing draw-holes. The draw-holes led into two ancillary chambers where the limeburners would have worked, one of which appears to have been a later addition. The combustion chamber was built of peg-tile. The retaining walls of the ancillary chambers were constructed out of courses of flint and peg-tile, with the internal walls of peg-tile alone. The firing chamber of the tile-kiln had two flues divided by a spine wall, which were connected to the stokepit by two arched stokeholes. The flues were spanned by at least seven tightly packed arched spandrels which would have carried the floor of the kiln. The sheer quantity of peg-tile wasters from the site reveals that peg-tiles were being manufactured in the kiln. The workshops included a tile-lined chamber at the back of the kiln, and two additional structures represented by beam slots, tiled surfaces, post-holes and hearths. One of these had been built over the backfilled tile-lined chamber. Finds analysis and radiocarbon dating would suggest a date range for the kilns from the 14th to the 17th century.