Field Drainage Tiles and Pipes

An enquirer sent me this link, which is about Field Drains. It's from The Museum of Rural Life, but also includes a scanned in document from the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, now Defra. This MAFF document includes drawings of their collection of field drains, complete with measurements. The pdf as a whole serves as an excellent introduction to the wonderful world of field drains :)

Caerleon 2011 - hypocaust revealed

Think they're bessalis size. Yay!

Binchester/Vinovia

With a site boasting the best Roman baths remains in the country (probably), Binchester is a must for the tile fan. In this case, a tile fan without her camera (the pic above is from Stanford Univ's website), but I shall return to the site in one guise or another and will take my best camera with me.

Meanwhile, a bit of information about the site:

This is the Durham County Council website, with visiting details:

http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=6646


There's an excavation taking place there until 2014, and here's the associated blog, which details the finds, both artefact and site specific:

http://binchester.blogspot.com/

A couple of recent publications are now in discerning bookshops:

Vinovia by Iain Ferris

and

The Beautiful Rooms are Empty: Excavations at Binchester Roman Fort, 1976-1981 and 1986-1991 by Iain Ferris

Frankly, I don't think the beautiful rooms are empty, because they are full of tile! btw, some of the tile from the site can be seen in Bowes Museum, and I have some photos of those somewhere ...