Firing Pots

As she describes below Emma Przygrodzka, our Artist in Residence, conducted a pit firing at the end of the dig. The activity had the full clearance of the health and safety authorities and took place before the issue of the national alert. It was conducted by digging a pit into our large spoil heap, so there was no danger of setting fire to anything combustible.

On Monday, as the excavation was coming to an end and the site was being filled back in, I was lucky enough to hold a pit firing in the spoil heap, just as the diggers were arriving and before the trenches had been completely refilled.

I included a couple of experimental pieces made from wild clay dug from the bottom of the excavated medieval well. Sadly, they didn’t survive the firing, and the kiln gods (small animal and a human figure) also disappeared into the sides of the pit! Hopefully, they’ll turn up again during next year’s dig, not to be confused with medieval deities!

The firing lasted four hours and was fuelled with charcoal, manure and wood. A skull was included to help read the core temperature, before the whole pit was covered with dried-out turf and left for 24 hours.

A huge thank you to James Camplin and David Mudd for all their help, both with the digging and with gathering wood. It was intense work in the heat, but absolutely worth it!

Work from the firing will exhibited at the Cookham Parish Centre on 12th and 13th September.