Monument record 0686900000 - Rose Cottage, Elm Road,Tylers Green

A desk-based assessment and evaluation were undertaken in advance of the site being re-developed with two new houses. A test pit and single trial trench were excavated. The test pit revealed a disused gas pipe, but no archaeological remains. The natural strata was noted as lying 0.5m below ground level. The trial trench uncovered a post-medievel kiln and a building constructed of tile-built walls. The whole length of the kiln was exposed (7.35m) with more structures (a seond firing chamber) anticipated to the south. Two seperate flues were identified fed from a single stoke hole on the west side. A single firing chamber was identified fed from the northernmost flue. The stoke hole was situated in the west side of the kiln and was 2.3m long. The southern part of the stoke hole had been truncated by a later red brick wall. The west and north retaining walls were constructed of mortared flint and brick fragments and survived to a height of 0.9m. The floor comprised of rammed clay and a layer of dark ash and charcoal. Fuel from the last firing of the kiln was situated on the surface of the stoke hole. The stoke hole was seperated from the firing chamber by a north south cross wall (1.1m wide x 1.12m high) constructed of stretcher bond red bricks (each 220mm x 50mm x 50mm). Two vaulted flues had been set into the wall (each 0.6m tall x 0.58m wide) seperated by a brick revetment 0.6m wide. The firing chamber on the west side formed a rectangular chamber 2.6m long constructed of red bricks, bonded with brown mortar and the east side of the chamber fomed by the cross wall over the flues. The faces were heavily vitrified and blueish grey in colour. The hardened clay floor survived in good condition. Part of the central support for the kiln (vitrified brick) was exposed. A number of tile wasters were found in the backfill of rubble, plus a fragment of a 17th century wine glass. Debris from the collapsed firing chamber spread to the east of the kiln. When the kiln went out of use a 19th century brick-built drain had been built above it. The building comprised of two walls orientated N-S (0.75m wide) constructed of courses of plain floor tiles. Each tile was bonded with cream coloured sandy mortar and the west face finished to a high standard. Both floor and roof tiles (with peg holes) were used in the construction. The floor of the bulding as made up of brown silt clay with charcoal flecks with a secod layer of paler brown chalky mortar overlain by a yellowish brown sandy clay containing tile fragments. The tiles used to construct the building were post-medieval in date (17th-18th century). Eleven examples of medieval Penn type floor tiles were found in the backfill, along with a small assemblage of pottery and roof tile wasters. The evaluation report contains colour images of each of the floor tiles (B1).