The Sagunto Oven

[Xabia Jim]

As promised I've finally gone back to the castle to take measurements and pictures...more impressive.

The oven enclosure is about 7 meters wide by 6 meters deep. Note the main stone arch in the picture at the front of the oven and also found through to the back at the structure! This may have been put on after the hearth and dome...talk about thermal mass! On the side shot, you can see the masonry break in the middle of the structure, to the right it's all oven.

The hearth is about 4.5 meters wide inside and the measurement of hearth bricks for the hearth can be found on the outside at 4.9 meters. See the front of the oven and note the thin line of clay bricks that I think formed the hearth before the dome was made. It's about 5 meters from the back of the hearth to the front of the entry stone. Basically round but huge!

It's about 3 meters from the hearth to the top of the arch outside. Inside the dome is about 75 cm high.

[Xabia Jim]

The bricks were clay bricks 30X15X3 cm. The matrix was a clay or mud. (tasted a little gritty so it's more sitly than clayey! learned that in geology)

The bricks were laid on end.

Note that the first bricks near the hearth were actually laid on an angle to the hearth.

Neat!

Had a picnic nearby to celebrate....wood roasted chicken and wheat bread....

[Xabia Jim]

In english then,

it's about 14.5 feet wide with a dome height of 30 inches.

It's a big one, particularly from the outside profile....here's the perspective.

And BTW....not 200 years old...date on wall was 1813!

[CanuckJim]

XJ,

And, wow, what an impressive oven. Looks like it might have supplied an entire army barracks or small town. I would have expected it to be older, but it just shows you how long this kind of design continued. Thanks for sharing these, though I'm even more envious than before.

CJ