Tile Fragment
Title
Tile Fragment
Description
A fragment of Roman tile or brick, roughly diamond shaped, with a sticker on one face, identifying it as "Roman Tile from City of Verulam" in black ink, and "100 AD" in blue biro. The sticker appears to be the selvedge of a sheet of stamps, possibly from a sheet of British King George V stamps, which feature the red 'neatline' in the selvedge, as seen here. The fragment is a deep orange in colour, with small brown inclusions throughout.
This type of tile or brick is consistent with Roman construction methods in Britain which called for the use of horizontal "leveling courses" of bricks between large courses of stone or rubble set in concrete, or various kinds of hollow tiles for use in hypocaust systems. These bricks and tiles come in many different shapes and sizes, however, the present example is quite thin, suggesting this may be a tile rather than a brick. At Verulamium, brick and tile construction mostly dates to the second century AD, after the destruction of the city by the Iceni in AD 60/61. Occupation of the site continued until the 5th Century AD.
Samuel Emmett collected three pieces of Roman building material, including this piece of tile or brick, when he visted the site of Verulamium in 1918 or 1919. The site of Verulamium was not formally excavated until the 1930s and until the late 1920s was on private land owned by the Earl of Verulam. The site became a scheduled ancient monument in 1923. Several antiquarians and amateur archaeologists had conducted excavations at the site in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to investigate the area's significant remains including the theatre, city walls and other standing remains. It is likely that Emmett collected his fragments from these architectural elements that were readily accessible in the landscape. In a letter to the Queensland Museum in the early 1970s, Emmett relates that as a Civil Engineer he was drawn to these pieces as evidence of ancient Roman engineering.
This type of tile or brick is consistent with Roman construction methods in Britain which called for the use of horizontal "leveling courses" of bricks between large courses of stone or rubble set in concrete, or various kinds of hollow tiles for use in hypocaust systems. These bricks and tiles come in many different shapes and sizes, however, the present example is quite thin, suggesting this may be a tile rather than a brick. At Verulamium, brick and tile construction mostly dates to the second century AD, after the destruction of the city by the Iceni in AD 60/61. Occupation of the site continued until the 5th Century AD.
Samuel Emmett collected three pieces of Roman building material, including this piece of tile or brick, when he visted the site of Verulamium in 1918 or 1919. The site of Verulamium was not formally excavated until the 1930s and until the late 1920s was on private land owned by the Earl of Verulam. The site became a scheduled ancient monument in 1923. Several antiquarians and amateur archaeologists had conducted excavations at the site in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to investigate the area's significant remains including the theatre, city walls and other standing remains. It is likely that Emmett collected his fragments from these architectural elements that were readily accessible in the landscape. In a letter to the Queensland Museum in the early 1970s, Emmett relates that as a Civil Engineer he was drawn to these pieces as evidence of ancient Roman engineering.
Creator
Date
AD 60 - AD 400
Format
Height: 15 mm
Width: 47 mm
Depth: 37 mm
Type
Identifier
C.010.002
QM H9731.2
License
© Queensland Museum, Peter Waddington.
Medium
Accrual Method
Provenance
Collected by Spr. S Emmett, St Albans, United Kingdom, c. 1919.
Donated by Spr. S Emmett, Sandgate, Australia, to the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1972.
Donated by Spr. S Emmett, Sandgate, Australia, to the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1972.
Rights Holder
Queensland Museum, Brisbane
Bibliographic Citation
Ashdown, C. H., & Kitton, F. G. (1893). St. Albans: historical & picturesque: with an account of the Roman city of Verulamium. E. Stock.
Frere, S. (1972). Verulamium excavations. London: Society of Antiquaries of London.
Wacher, J. (1995). The towns of Roman Britain (2nd rev. ed.). B. T. Batsford.
Page, William. (1902). The Victoria history of the count of Hertford. A Constable & Company: Westminster. 129-138.
(n.d). Sheets & Perforations. GB Stamp Booklets. Retrieved: https://www.gbstampbooklets.com/sheets-perforations/
Queensland Museum Inwards Correspondence #2155(1972)
Wheeler, R. E. M. (1932). Notes on Building-Construction in Roman Britain. The Journal of Roman Studies, 22, 117–134. https://doi.org/10.2307/297094|Frere, S. (1972). Verulamium excavations. London: Society of Antiquaries of London.
Evans, J. (1892). XIII.—An Archaeological Survey of Hertfordshire. Archaeologia, 53(1), 245-262. doi:10.1017/S0261340900011322
Relation
P.010
Contributor
Mr James Donaldson
Files
Collection
Citation
Imperial (Roman), “Tile Fragment,” First World War Antiquities, accessed January 18, 2026, https://ww1antiquities.omeka.net/items/show/100.
Comments