Video transcript
June the 6th 2005 saw the excavation of a large oven at Catcote. This was situated in
the north-west corner of trench M. It appeared as a ring of stones sitting on two banks of
yellow clay, which in turn sat on natural pink clay and ran east-west.
At the west end there was an area of flat stones, which when removed, a stone lined
recess was revealed containing yellow sand perhaps to retain the heat. There was a lot
of ash at both ends of the oven with a large pit on the south side full of ash.
Built into the north-east end was part of a millstone, while on the south-east end was
buried an Iron Age pot, which is now in the museum. The find of the pot was the
highlight of the area and was excavated complete with soil and later rebuilt back at
headquarters.
On the south-west corner was a large post-pad while on the north-west corner was a
pile of burnt clay, which when removed a horseshoe kiln was exposed. This had a vent
on the north side, in the bottom were stakeholes with traces of withies.
Every night we had to cover the area with plastic sheeting and soil only to find that
vandals had removed it altogether with the site pegs. Help was provided by TAS
members and students. Enormous pieces of pot, Roman tiles, nails, bones and coins
were found. The area took three seasons to excavate and record.
