The re-excavation of a 17th-century stoneware kiln in Woolwich Specialist reports, Oxford Archaeology

In 1974 a stoneware pottery kiln was excavated at Woolwich Ferry Approach in south-east London. It was dated to c. 1660 and is believed to be the earliest evidence for stoneware production in England. The kiln is notable for its range of brown salt-glazed stoneware ‘bellarmine’ jugs. The original excavation took place in the autumn of 1974, and post-excavation work three years later. A report on the kiln and the 60,000-plus sherds of pottery recovered from it and a later earthenware kiln that was also found was published in 1978.
As excavations came to an end, there was discussion about relocating the kiln, which was hoped would lead to the kiln’s fuller investigation, preservation and eventual display. The funding for the preservation and display of the kiln remains never materialized, and so the landowners, Berkeley Homes Ltd, put forward funding to complete the excavation, recording and reporting of the kiln. The re-excavation was carried out over a week in March 2017 by a team from Oxford Archaeology, 43 years after the original excavation. By the end of the week, the kiln had been excavated, recorded, sampled, and surveyed using photogrammetric techniques.
A report on the re-excavation will be published in the London Archaeologist magazine. The specialist reports on the ceramic material (pottery, clay pipes, kiln furniture and bricks), stone, and animal bone recovered from the re-excavation are available to download here.