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MONUMENT NO. 245271

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Roman villa complex at Mile End first identified from aerial photographs in 1921. The villa comprises a winged building with a central porch. The rear of a building has a subdivided corridor. Field walking has located finds including roof tile and pottery. The villa, a number of ditched boundaries, which are probably the remains of enclosures, and a fragment of road are visible as cropmarks and have been mapped from aerial photographs. The boundaries form an incomplete enclosure with the elements which are 45m long. The road is defined by parallel side ditches, which measure 50m, with traces of a metalled surface between. This villa may be a southerly extension of the Roman settlement at Hambledon (SU 78 NE 5).

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Site of Roman villa (at SU 78658487 plotted from site
plan) the outline at which was shown clearly on the surface in
a very dry summer. (1)

A considerable number of fragments of roofing tiles etc found
on this undisturbed site by D G Nicholls. Much uneveness of the
ground was apparent. (2)

Mill End - Turf markings and APs show a large villa site here. (3)

Faintly visible on air photographs. (4)

Amorphous platforming centred at SU 7865 8487 in a field of
permanent pasture is indicative of a buried structure. The
farmer here, Mr Bowen, and local informants confirm that parch
marks of 'rooms' (viz Brighten's plan) were visible in dry
conditions although none has shown in recent years. Until
recent years the field was occasionally ploughed, and amounts
of large flint nodules, tile and pottery were brought to the
surface, (b). On field investigation no certain Roman material
was found in the vicinity although 3 possible Roman sherds
were found in the bank of the Thames at SU 7862 8476.

The plan of this building (1) may have association with the
excavated villa complex c 600.0m to the N (see SU 78 NE 5).
Published survey (25") correct. (5)

Plan of parch marks in the summer of 1975 made by ME Farley,
County Archaeologist. (6)

See Archives Folder P/F 38, number 2279.

7884 SU 78 SE Area centred SU 786848 HAMBLEDEN
E-shaped Roman villa (approx. 35m x 20m) opening to SW and
overlooking the Thames. Parallel linear features to E.

NMR 70 SU 7884/8/84

Fragments of Roman pottery and tile have been recovered from
the surface of the field which is now under pasture. (7)

SU 787849: Roman Villa at Mill End, scheduled. (See
Illustration Card). (8)

SU 78658487: Roman Villa, Hambledon. (listed) (9)

The Villa at Mill End, Hambledon was first recorded by Mr. E.
Paynton in July 1921, (c) when it was visible as a parch mark
in grass. The site was first photographed from the air as a
cropmark in July 1969 and June 1970 by the NMR (see Authority
(7) and again in 1975, by M E Farley who also plotted the parch
- marks on the ground (see Authority 6 and Illustration Cards
1,4).

The single building which it was possible to plot is unlikely
to have stood alone and there were indistinct traces of other
structures. The plan shows a winged building with a central porch.
At the 'rear' lay a corridor subdivided into rooms, and there is
a hint of a corridor or portica at the 'front'.

Although we know nothing certainly of the dating of Mill End,
the Hambledon Villa site (SU 78 NE 5) was in occupation from
the 1st - 4th centuries, and the two were almost certainly in
existance concurrently. (10)

(SU 78658487) ROMAN VILLA (R) (site of) (NAT). (11)

The villa site lies in a pasture field the NW end of which
drops abruptly 0.7m along the hedgeline of the adjacent field,
and the area is barely 3m above the level of the Thames.

The position of the villa is indicated by a faint rise in
ground approx. 25m wide and about 50m long, aligned NW to SE.
It is centred at SU 78658485, which point corresponds with the
centre of the villa as depicted on the plans by Brighton and
Farley. (12)

The villa, a number of ditched boundaries, which are probably the
remains of enclosures, and a fragment of road are visible as
cropmarks and have been mapped from aerial photographs. The
boundaries form an incomplete enclosure with elements which are 45m
long. They are centred at SU 7863 8493. The road is defined by
parallel side ditches, which measure 50m, with traces of a metalled
surface between. It is centred at SU 7888 8491.
(Morph No.s TG.306.10.1-5)

This villa may be a southerly extension of the Roman settlement at
Hambledon (SU 78 NE 5).

This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 2) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 3a) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 3) General reference

Roman villas in Britain pre-1948. App 6 Bu 9 J Liversidge

( 4) Aerial photograph

(106G/UK/1396 3270-1 10-APR-46)

( 5b) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JRL 29-JUL-1974

( 6) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 7) by Timothy Gates 1975 The Middle Thames Valley : an archaeological survey of the river gravels

Berkshire Archaeological Committee Publication no.1 Page(s)42

( 8) Scheduled Monument Notification

DOE (IAM) Ancient Monuments Record Form & plan 19/06/1978

( 9) edited by David Miles 1982 The Romano-British countryside : studies in rural settlement and economy

BAR British series1 (1974) - 103(i-ii), 1982 Page(s)71

(10c) Externally held archive reference

Plan in Buckinghamshire County Museum ref CAS 0788

(10) Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Britannia : a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

14, 1983 Page(s)256-9

(11) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1962

(12) Field Investigators Comments

F2 NVQ 19-NOV-1986

(13) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage Schedule Entry 25/07/1996

(14) by Eleanor Scott 1993 A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain

Leicester archaeology monographsNo.1 (1993) - BU 36 no.1 Page(s)28

(15) RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment

Moraig Brown/21-JAN-1993/RCHME: Thames Valley NMP

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