BC 95 - BURYTHORPE CHURCH, NORTH YORKSHIRE

Ceramic Building Materials

S Garside-Neville

Roman Material

All the Ceramic Building Materials (CBM) viewed was Roman in date.   The forms present consist of box flue, brick, tegula, a possible tessera, and a possible imbrex.  The box flue fragments do not indicate any complete measurements (except for thickness) or the keying type of the product, which may have given a clue to the date.  The tegula (roof tile) have flanges which are a typical size, and one has an example of an upper cutaway to facilitate fitting into the next tile on the roof.  The brick is very fragmentary, and could be small fragments of roofing tile.


Three fragments (from 107, 111 and 140)  have mortar along broken edges which may indicate re-use.  There are two, possibly three, fabrics which may signify several different kiln sources for the origin of the CBM. 

Taken as a group, the material seems to indicate that there is

a Roman building with a hypocaust in the area.

There are three examples of stone.  One is a limestone block, from 3.   There is a stone block from 107 which is burnt.  The last, Small Find /43\ from 188, may be worked, or could be a natural formation. It appears to have an oolitic limestone band. These three samples would benefit from examination by a geologist.


Context           Form                                Date

3                 Limestone block                     ?


102               ?Daub, Box flue, Brick              Roman

103               ?Tessera, Tegula, Brick             Roman

106               Tegula, Brick, ?Box flue            Roman

107               Stone block, Brick                  Roman

111               Tegula, Brick                       Roman

127               Box flue, ?Imbrex                   Roman

128               Brick                               Roman

129               Box flue, Brick, Pottery            Roman

140               Brick                               Roman

151               Pottery                             Roman

154               Brick                               Roman

188               /43\ ?Worked stone                  ?Roman