TILE

An incomplete Roman ceramic Lowther's Group 1 and Betts Die 3, relief-patterned flue-tile dating from AD 150-200. A similar tile is illustrated in Betts et al (1997:53 Fig.27a). The front is decorated with relief-patterned rolled design in the "W. Chevron" group style. Betts writes "Keyed with wooden rollers applied when the clay was still damp, before they were put into the kiln to fire. This was added so the tiles could be more firmly mortared into place." The fabric is fully oxidised and red throughout. The interior side is blackened probably due to its proximity to a heat or fire. Betts et al (1997:66) write "At Calverts Buildings, Southwark the earliest specimen was found associated with the robbing of a building constructed in 150-200 and demolished by the late 3 or 4 cent."

McComish (2015:12) writes "Box flues (tubuli) are hollow rectangular or square cross-sectioned tiles, with sanded interior surfaces, and they have vents in two opposing sides, while the other two sides are usually keyed. The keying can be incised, finger drawn, combed, or relief-patterned. There is no standard size for box flue tiles nationally (ibid., 74). Box flues were made by wrapping a slab of clay around a sanded former then joining the edges of the clay together with a single seam, and the vents were cut out after the tile was removed from the former (Rudling et al. 1986, 204)."

Dimensions: length: 73.39mm; width: 64mm; thickness: 18.32mm; weight: 103.28g.

Betts et al (1997:52) write "London still has the biggest concentration of individual examples and different die patterns, and it is the tile kilns located near London, such as Ashtead, Surry, Brockley Hill, Middlesex and Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, which probably formed the chief production centres for the manufacture of relief-patterned tile in south-east England."

Other box flue-tiles on the database are LON-6D895E, PUBLIC-29D515 and LON-1582B3.

Reference: Betts I., Black E. W.A and Gower J. 1997. Journal of Roman Pottery Studies Vol. 7. Corpus of Relief-Patterned Tiles in Roman Britain. Oxbow books, Oxford

McComish J.M., 2015. A Guide to Ceramic Building Materials. Report Number 2015/36, York Archaeological Trust.