are exceptionally well-preserved. They
must have been in actual working order, when abandoned, and so they
illustrate--perhaps better than any kilns as yet uncovered and recorded
in any Roman province--the actual mechanism of a Roman tile- or
pottery-kiln. The construction of a kiln floor, which shall work
effectively and accurately, is less simple than it looks; the adjustment
of the heat to the class of wares to be fired, the distribution of the
heat by proper flues and by vent-holes of the right size, and other such
details require knowledge and care. The remains at Holt show these
features admirably, and Mr. Acton has been able to examine them with the
aid of two of our best experts on pottery-making, Mr. Wm. and Mr. Joseph
Burton, of Manchester.

[Illustration: FIG. 8. PLAN OF KILN-PLANT AT HOLT (SEE p. 34, and FIG. 9)

(Except at kilns F, G, the letters on the plan are placed at the
fire-holes. In kilns A, B a small piece of the kiln floor (on which the
vessels were placed for baking) is shown diagrammatically, to illustrate
the relation between the hot-air holes in the floors and the passages in
the underlying heating-chambers)]

[Illustration: FIG. 9. RESTORATION OF THE HOLT KILN-PLANT, SHOWING THE
FLOORS ON WHICH THE TILES OR VESSELS WERE PILED FOR BAKING (p. 18)

The letters ABCDE are placed at the mouths of the stoke-holes of the
respective kilns. Kilns ABDFH were used for pottery, CDE for tiles, F
for large vessels and for tiles; G seems an addition to the original
plan.]

Smaller finds include two centurial stones (one found in 1914 is
described below, p. 34); a mill-stone with letters suggesting that it
belonged to a century of soldiers; several _graffiti_, mostly of a
military character, so far as one can decipher them (for one see my
Report for 1913, p. 30); a profusion of stamped tiles of the Twentieth
Legion, mostly 'wasters'; some two dozen antefixes of the same legion;
several tile and pottery stamps; about 45 coins of various dates; much
window glass, and an immense quantity of potsherds of the most various
kinds. Among these latter were Samian pieces of the late first century
(no '29', but early '37' and '78' and a stamp of CRESTO) and of the
second century (including the German stamp IANVF), and imitation Samian
made on the spot. A quantity of lead and of iron perhaps worked into
nails, &c., at Holt, and a few crucibles for casting small bronze
objects, may also be mentioned.

The Twentieth