January 2007

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IS UNEARTHED AT QUARRY

A rare archaeological find has been unearthed at Bardon Aggregates’ Danbury Quarry near Chelmsford, in the form of a Romano-British pottery kiln, nearly 2,000 years old.

Archaeologists from Phoenix Consulting Archaeology made the discovery during a soils strip of a part of the sand and gravel quarry where Bardon Aggregates will extract sand for local building and construction projects.

Commenting on the find, Andy Richmond, Phoenix’s director, says, “The feature excavated is well preserved and quite a rare find for this part of Essex. It is a clay-lined kiln with an intact fire pit and stoke-hole which would have been used for the manufacture of Roman pottery vessels. During the excavations numerous part-vessels and pot fragments were also recovered, together with a quantity of Roman Tegula tile.”

Andy Hales, quarry manager for Danbury Quarry, adds, “We were surprised and delighted to learn we had uncovered an artefact of such significant historical importance at our quarry. We look forward with interest to hearing the results of the further investigations into the history of kiln and artefacts found.

“The Minerals Planning Authority and Essex County Council were kept fully informed of these proceedings. After an inspection the area was passed back to us for the soil bunding to progress. We will continue to work with Phoenix in case we discover further finds of this nature.”

 

Back to News menu