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When the heat is on |
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Renowned kiln-building specialist, Beryl Hines (right), talks about the processes involved with this year's reconstruction cameo.
Building a tile kiln for this year's Time Team Live has been a fascinating experience. Archaeologists have lots of evidence for how the bottom half of tile kilns were made, mainly because that part of the structure often survives in the ground. One of the mysteries is what the top of the kiln was like. 'Experimental archaeologists have tried various designs when building these things, with closed tops, bottle neck flues and even different construction materials. I wanted to do an open topped kiln just to see what it was like,' says Beryl.
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| 'The whole experience is so interesting,' she continues. 'We started the kiln and took it up to about 150 degrees. We kept it at that temperature for about 12 hours. This helps us to really dry the tiles out and get the kiln fully warmed through. After that we built the temperature up to about 1,100 degrees.'
Right: constructing the kiln on Friday using brick
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| All Saturday night the kiln blasted away and on Sunday morning we were able to get a fantastic photograph of the tiles inside the red-hot kiln.
Right: the tiles inside the kiln
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'We used oak for fuel on this kiln,' says Beryl. 'It was very successful. I would say that we probably used about two thirds less fuel compared to a similar firing using pine. It also had a very clean and constant burn with very little waste. It's certainly a very efficient fuel.' After nearly 24 hours the kiln was shut down and sealed to prevent it cooling too quickly. It was at this stage that we again could get a picture of the tiles in the main kiln chamber as the temperature lowered.
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At about 1.30pm the kiln was finally opened. Some of the tiles had stuck together in a big lump, but all of the ones stacked at the top of the kiln were successful.
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The finished tiles are fantastic and look just like the medieval examples from Canterbury. 'This has been great fun and I've really enjoyed it' says Beryl.
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