John Cotter
Canterbury's Archaeology 1993-1994, Canterbury Archaeological Trust
The proposed location of a new student accommodation block on land east of Rutherford College, together with a new car park and vehicular access was the subject of an evaluation during August 1993 funded by the University of Kent.
This part of the university campus is known to lie in an area of high archaeological potential. Much of the campus lies within the south-west extension of the medieval and post-medieval Tyler Hill tile and pottery industry which flourished between c. 1150-1525 with brick and roof tile production continuing as late as the 19th century. Evidence of this industry is particularly concentrated in the eastern half of the campus towards Hackington Road (Canterbury Hill and St Stephen's Hill).
The area proposed for development lies on the southern slope of St Stephen's Hill sloping south-east of Rutherford College with Darwin College to the north at the top of the hill. It is an area of London clay overlain by head brick-earth and patches of river gravels. Prior to the establishment of the university, much of the present-day campus formed part of Brotherhood Farm. The eastern areas around Rutherford and Darwin were mostly given over to sheep grazing and had not been ploughed within living memory.
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The area around Tyler Hill, Blean and Hackington has received considerable though sporadic attention from archaeologists and archaeological groups at least since the 1930s, though much of the information gathered still remains unpublished.
Between 1968 and 1971 the University of Kent Archaeological Society monitored all new developments on the campus and carried out a number of small but significant excavations. The most significant discoveries were the bases of two medieval tile kilns under what is now the lawn east of Darwin College.
The Darwin College kilns have been dated to c. 1300. At both kilns substantial portions of wall and arch structure survived revealing an unusual bottle-shaped plan. Like other kilns at Tyler Hill they were made of roofing tiles bonded with clay. Another unusual feature of the kilns was that they were served by drains made of arch-shaped ridge-tiles and damaged chimney pots. It is likely that roofing (peg) tiles were the main product of these kilns, though some decorated floor tiles and domestic pottery was also recovered. Apart from summaries, these kilns have yet to be adequately studied and published.
Two further excavations by the University of Kent Archaeological Society in 1968 took place in what is now the car park south of Darwin College and in the woods east of Rutherford College. At the first location medieval pottery was found; the second site provided a spread of medieval tile 'covering an area of several hundred square feet'. The latter included kiln debris and evidence of burning and it was concluded that the tiles represented debris which had probably fallen downhill from a kiln located further to the north-west. One worn sherd of Roman pottery was also recovered.
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Eight trenches were excavated during the present evaluation. Only three trenches (5,7 & 8) yielded archaeological features and finds of any significance. These were all located in the north-east corner of the site under the proposed new car park.
The principal archaeological features revealed consisted of extensive areas of burnt roof tiles set in fire-reddened clay. These were frequently defined (sometimes overlain) by linear features with a north-east to south-west orientation. There were also a few large pits or ditches. The tiled areas were burnt and reddened by intense protracted heat which strongly suggested industrial activity at this site. Given their location and composition (clay-bonded roof tiles), it would seem that the tiled areas represented sites of tile kilns. However, the composition of these features (unlike the Darwin College tile kilns) was not of orderly courses of whole-clay-bonded peg tiles but was best described as tile 'rubble' set in clay. The observed depth of at least one of the tiled areas was only around 30cm. In all probability, the tiled areas represented the severely truncated bases of tile kilns which had been demolished in antiquity.
The linear features were more difficult to interpret. Some were clay-filled and cut the tiled areas, others appeared to be construction trenches for the 'kiln' foundations perhaps bounded or revetted by beams or boards. Though sometimes clay-filled, it is unlikely that these features represented drainage gullies as they followed the contours of the hill (north-east to south-west) rather than the more logical north-west to south-east gradient. It is suggested therefore that some of the clay-filled linear features were clay settling tanks associated with tile making. Those 'settling tanks' cutting the tiled areas may have been sited over redundant and demolished kilns, suggesting that former kiln bases were re-used as working areas associated with clay working and tile-making. Other linear features could have been construction trenches, as has been suggested above. The beam slots may have defined the edges of clay tanks, fenced off with wooden hurdles or planks. Alternatively they may have formed part of the former kiln structure, possibly a board foundation for the stacking of turves encasing the kiln.
The most reliable dating evidence recovered during the evaluation was several fragments of medieval pottery. These, not surprisingly, were of sandy Tyler Hill ware and represent plain and glazed cooking pots with features suggesting a date somewhere between c 1250 and 1350. The peg tiles were all of medieval type. The sum of evidence provided by the evaluation suggests the presence of a localised multi-period tile and pottery manufacturing area whose date range is likely to be similar to the Darwin College kilns (c 1275-1325).
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