ROMAN INDUSTRY

The Roman occupation of Britain for nearly four hundred years brought about a great leap in the advancement of technological, industrial and craft skills. The Romans were masters of most branches of craft and technology. Consequently, the native population was quick to acquire and copy new skills transforming daily life.
The Romans introduced new methods of civil engineering, house-building, metal working and pottery manufacture. Other Roman crafts and industries included carpentry, stonemasonry, bone working, spinning and weaving, tile making and quarrying and mining. Because the Dartford area was principally the focus for an agricultural-based economy, industrial activity was not well represented in and around the Darent Valley.
The Romans used leather for all sorts of purposes including the manufacture of clothes, shoes, and horse harness.
The presence of pottery in the tannage pit helped to date it to the last decade of the second century or the very early third century A.D. It would seem that the villa at Lullingstone became temporarily abandoned c. A.D. 200, so the short-lived tanning industry may have existed after the resident family had moved out of the villa.
In general, Roman pottery kilns were little more than ovens, usually partly below ground-level and depending on the type of pottery required, had different types of flues and supports for the pottery undergoing firing.