Baking the bread

Medieval bread ovens were beehive ovens made of stone and clay, with the name derived from its domed shape, which resembles that of an old-fashioned beehive. From the 16th century up until the end of the 19th century, Devon was well known for its gravel-tempered clay beehive or stone ovens, which were made to be enclosed in raised brickwork or set into fireplaces, leaving the mouth open to the front. They have been found in Wales and Cornwall and there is evidence some were even exported by new settlers to America. Coal-fired cast-iron kitchen ranges built into the open hearth and including an oven came into use by the end of the 18th century, but even in the 19th century contemporary cookery writers expressed their preference for a brick oven for baking.