More information : (SK 70285379) Tesselated pavement, tiles and pottery found
AD 1095. (1)
(SK 7028 5378 - sited from plan) Two wings of a Roman villa,
probably of courtyard type, located during excavations by the
Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments in 1959. The east wing contained
a cold bath and had painted wall plaster. The south wing contained six rooms, four with mosaics, two with hypocausts. See plan. A Saxon urn, tentatively dated 500-525 AD, was found in soil above the pavement in room 3, and post-holes in the pavement may have been contemporary.
A Saxon Sceatta and Saxo-Norman pottery were also found and Christian
burials above the pavement were probably connected with the adjacent
church. (2)
Roman material is still found in the garden of Vicar's Court.
A representative collection of finds from the 1959 excavation is in
Castle Museum, Nottingham, but the Saxon urn has not been located.(3)
Anglo-Saxon urn from Southwell is in Newcastle Museum. (4-5)
Excavations for foundations of an extension at Southwell Grammar
School in 1971 in the area of the 1959 excavations, revealed a
large number of interments, showing that the churchyard extended
much further to the south. A bronze buckle possibly of Medieval date
was associated with one burial. No Roman buildings were located, but
seventy tessarae and painted wall plaster were found. The pottery
comprised 156 sherds of Roman coarse ware, including some Samian and
a rim-sherd of Saxo-Norman ware. (6)
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