| Summary : The buried remains of an extensive Romano-British pottery manufacturing site, a contemporary and later Romano-British settlement. The centre of pottery manufacture originated near the summit of Brockley Hill and developed along both sides of Watling Street. Numerous small-scale excavations since 1937 have revealed well-preserved remains of kilns and workshops, clay extraction pits, puddling holes, wells, preparation floors and large accumulations of kiln waste. Fourteen kilns have been discovered to date, demonstrating a variety of forms and a sequence of activity which began around AD 60 and reached a peak of production towards the end of the first century. The site has been identified as a principal production centre for mortaria during the first century - a product which, prior to the early excavations at Brockley Hill, was thought to have been exclusively manufactured on the continent. Pottery production declined from AD 120 and finally ceased around AD 160. The area continued to be settled however, and there is evidence in the form of coins and pottery (not manufactured on the site) to suggest that occupation of a more domestic nature continued until the fourth century. Excavation in the area around Brockley Hill House have uncovered the remains of several buildings accompanied, in one instance, by a tiled surface and fragments of rotary querns. It has been suggested that this settlement was synonymous with 'Sulloniacis', the estate of the family of Sulonios, which was noted in the third century Antonine Itinerary as lying 12 miles from London. If this were so, then in order to merit inclusion in the Itinerary the settlement is likely to have possessed still more substantial buildings, perhaps including a posting station or mansio. |
More information : [Area centred TQ 1750 9400] Roman Settlement (Sulloniacae) on Brockley Hill. Mentioned in the Antonine Iter. II between London and Verulanium, 12 mls. from the former and 9 mls. from the latter. Though the exact size and configuration of the settlement is quite uncertain, it seems clear, from the accounts of earlier writers and the general incidence of finds made, that the centre of occupation was on and around the top of Brockley Hill, just where the Watling Street's course turns northerly to NNW. The remarks of early antiquaries suggest that the remains were concentrated on the E. side of the road. Though numerous finds are mentioned from 1598 onwards they are ill-recorded and give little or no clue to their date.
The site was excavated in 1937, 1947, 1950 and 1953/54. [see separate cards for details,] and after the 1953/54 excavations the following conclusions were reached. "It may now be said without hestitation that the settlement of Sulloniacae shows no signs of conscious planning. Certainly is did not possess a street plan of formal type. Buildings must obviously have existed in connection with the kilns, but one may doubt whether any private dwellings of consequence stood in this area. The nearness of the kilns to the road and the flimsy nature of the huts found in 1950 behind them suggest rather a picture of industrial squalor. It may perhaps be that important buildings await discovery elsewhere, for example on the south side of the hill where excavations for a sewer in April, 1955, in a field to the north of Green Lane brought to light cremation burials and signs of occupation." [A full report of the excavations has not yet been published - Feb.1960.] An inventory of the material has been drawn up and may be consulted at the Central Library, Hendon, where the finds are deposited.
"The potteries at Sulloniacae appear to have been established a little before 80 AD and to have supplied the market of Roman London for about 100 years. In the later 2nd century their output declined and by about AD 200 the kilns had ceased work and the industry moved elsewhere. We do not yet know the reason for this, but it may have been due to the exhaustion of fuel supplies nearby."
Rescue excavation has taken place on those areas of the site threatened, since 1968. Further evidence of pottery manufacture has been discovered in the form of much pottery waste and stamped amphorae. Two cremation burials were uncovered in 1954 but no real evidence of a cemetery has come to light.
"To judge from the excavations so far conducted, Brockley Hill is clearly not the site of a city, or of a town, more probably it consisted of a posting station, a few roadside shops and a village whose community was dependent on the production of pottery. Since no structure (posting station) has been located it is clear that further excavation is necessary. Furthermore, no evidence has been found to confirm that Brockley Hill is the site of Sulloniacae. Indeed, Elstree is also a good candidate".
Further "trial' excavations in 1973 have uncovered three more kilns and much pottery when a trench was dug at TQ 174 940.
Name 'SVLLONIACIS' accepted for 4th. edition R.B.Map.
In November 1975 a trench for an electricity cable was cut across the lawn to the south east of the main entrance of Royal National Orthaopaedic Hospital. At a point 10 feet east of the gate lodge (TQ 174939) considerable quantities of Roman potsherds and tile fragments were revealed. Further examination showed that the trench had been cut through part of a dump of amphorae, native and Samian ware and tile-fragments. The amphorae are of late 1st-early 2nd century date.
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