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Big dig’s kiln could be as old as first century AD
August 5th, 2004

History was made yesterday when an ancient tile kiln discovered in Reigate was lifted out to be preserved.
After months of speculation and indecision, part of the Roman British tile factory, discovered in Reigate in April, was taken to Baregreen, Dorking.
A development company made the find while digging to build the foundations of a block of flats in Rose Hill, Doods Way.

The structure of the kiln, which archaeologists believe is likely to date back to the first or second century, was found largely intact with the stoke hole, firing passage and a part of the network of flues, together with a drain made of square section clay flue tiles.
The delicate operation to lift the kiln was managed by John Price, and his team had to cut the kiln in half in order to lift it out.
John said: "It went very smoothly. We had a very large crane which was on the road outside, it arrived mid-morning and things got started at 12.30pm.
"The crane lifted the box and we stabilised the kiln pretty fast, considering it weighed between nine and 11 tonnes."
County Councillor Daniel Kee campaigned to have the kiln lifted out and preserved shortly after it was discovered, even offering to temporarily store it on his own land.
Coun Kee said: "It's a hugely historic find and I wanted it preserved for the county so the public could see the first carved factory ever found.

"I wanted it to be seen by many generations and wouldn't have minded putting it in my garden!"
Surrey County Council and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council financed the big dig' each committing 9,000 euros to the preservation project, which included preparing the kiln on site, lifting it and transferring it to a safe storage site.


The tile factory found is being
lifted in segments for further investigation

Surrey Archeological Society is hoping to shortly issue a date when the kiln will be made available for public display.

By Stuart Pink - thisislocallondon.co.uk

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