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Three kilns have been examined at Pipe Aston in recent years. The first of these, in the garden of Halfway House, had been truncated by cultivation so that no evidence survived of the structure above the muffle supports. These were formed with common red bricks standing as soldiers in a semi circle, each seperated from it's neighbour by another brick angled to direct the fire upwards and outwards to circulate around the muffle. The two kilns excavated at Roy's Orchard follow exactly the same method of construction. Both survive to a height of c.800mm, well above the height of the muffle supports. The internal fixtures and surfaces of Kiln 1 had been removed completely, probably prior to a planned refurbishment which never took place. Kiln 2 survived as it had been abandoned with parts of the muffle still attached to the tops of the supports, and much of the rest collapsed inside the kiln. All three kilns are of broadly similar date, each in use for part of the period 1690-1730. The outer parts are constructed from local stone bonded and rendered with red clay. The fire box floors and muffle supports are of common locally made brick. The muffles are made from non local pipe clay with pipe stem reinforcing in the lower stages. Although the fuel used in the kilns was predominently coal, it likely that wood was also used to encourage the fire at critical time during the cycle.
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