Post-Roman and Medieval Drying Kilns: Foundations of Archaeological Research

Drying kilns, corn-dryers and malting ovens are modest archaeological features, but they can reveal a great deal about food production, agriculture and technology in post-Roman and medieval Britain and Ireland. Robert Rickett’s foundational 1975 study assembled a wide-ranging gazetteer, proposed a typology and sought consistent terminology for structures that had previously received little synthetic treatment.

Published here with an introduction and notes by Mark McKerracher, Rickett’s study can now be read alongside the many kilns excavated since the 1970s. Its plans, classifications and evidence of fuel and construction offer a way to compare structures that may survive only as traces of heat, floors or flues. From those traces come larger questions about grain drying, malting and the work of rural communities.