More information : (Area centred TG 205246)
Air photographs revealed the site of Roman buildings, possibly a
Villa, in a field called Brampton piece on Bolwick Hall Farm,
Marsham. A large rectangular area some 200ft square with a small
building 30ft square at its centre was attached on the south to a
long apseended structure, possibly part of the baths. Trial
excavations to the south of the buildings revealed remains of wattle
and daub walls laid on flint foundations with traces of coloured
wall plaster and a hypocaust. The pottery is mostly local ware of
the C2nd and C3rd. Excavated by Mr W Buxton and Mrs Wathen in 1938.
Finds and APs in Norwich Museum. (1,2)
TG 20402466. The site of a building shows up clearly as a cropmark. (3)
(TG 20712455) "T Wake excavated the small area in the SE corner of
the field. He regarded the buildings he excavated as a villa, though
the double square enclosure he noted on his sketch plan suggested the
possibility of a Romano-Celtic temple. Personally I doubt this". (4)
Wake's sketch is confirmed by the air photos. A square enclosure and
central building with apsidal building to the south show up well.
The building site described by authy 3. is not apparent (b).
From the evidence above and from the distinct and widely spaced
nucleations it would appear that this is a Roman site of some
consequence. Until excavation has been undertaken it would be unwise
to form a definite conclusion, though the most likely solution is
that it is an important villa with outbuildings. A further inspection
of RAF AP 106G/UK/1428 No 3250 reveals many suspicious cropmarks,
particularly a linear one leading westward from the site. (5)
In 1950 further excavations by G Larwood revealed an IA site north
of the villa, two Ro drainage ditches and four post holes. Pottery
found indicates maximum activity in C3rd and C4th. (6)
The southern drainage ditch was covered by a ? barn represented by
the four massive stone-packed postholes (1).
Excavations Sept-Oct 1951 under G.W.T Barnett concentrated on SE
corner of "Brampton Piece," where Wake had suggested that the main
villa lay. "The work of 1951 disproved this by the complete excavation there of a small building 24' x 10', a cottage of two
rooms of which that at the S end was a living room while the other
may well have been a cow stall. The footings were of flint masonry
and the living room had plastered walls and a glazed window, while
the floor was paved with tiles. Finds of pottery etc were sparse and
this building, possibly the residence of one of the farm servants,
cannot at present be closely dated".
Excavation in Aug 1952 under G.P Larwood. "An area W of the small
Ro building cleared in 1951 was examined and revealed traces of the
former presence of a substantial building with flint walls 3' thick,
demolished in the late C4th. Areas in "Lime Kiln Piece' were also trenched and revealed a spread of Ro building rubble filling irregularly cut runnels in the boulder clay." Finds in Norwich Museum. Excavation to continue in 1953 (8). (7-9)
Norwich Museum maintain a file for this site. Plans and excavation
reports as in authy 8 are included together with the following
anonymous summary "....the small building (as in authy 8) was part of
a Roman Kiln used for lime buring - the first of the type recognised
in Norfolk. The excavations have caused a revision of the views
based on AP interpretation. These had suggested the presence of a Ro
farmstead, but otherwise trenching showed no indications of
buildings at this point. The occupation of the site was shown to
have started in the Iron Age and continued in the Roman period from
the C2nd onwards - it seems to have consisted of farm buildings which were pulled down for their materials in the C4th; the farm may have been connected with the more extensive settlement to the south-east (TG 22 SW 3). No excavation has taken place since 1956....".
All the indicated fields are now under crop; the farmer states that
"heavy scatters" of Roman sherds have been found over many years. (10)
Evidence of an iron smelting furnace is indicated by tap slag of the
Roman period found here, now in Norwich Castle Museum. (Siting
confirmed by A Gregory at Norwich Museum 16-MAY-1978). (11)
EH Reconnaissance photographs taken on 13th August 2009 show cropmarks of features described the by the previous authorities as a possible Roman Villa. A single-ditched rectangular enclosure roughly 30m long with a possible east-facing entrance is contained within a larger rectangular enclosure that extends some 90m across into the eastern-adjacent field. (12) |