More information : SP 737 582. Trial excavation in 1973 revealed part of a bath suite with tile pilae and plastered walls. The walls, seldom above
one course high, and floors were badly damaged by ploughing. Surface
finds were Roman pottery, tegulae, tesserae and building stone. (1)
Roman Villa, Kiln Material, Iron Age Pottery, Worked Flints (centred on SP 7357 5811). Further work was undertaken in 1979 after the remains of a bath suite were discovered during the construction of the Hunsbury spine road and two short seasons of excavation were held in 1980 and 1981. A total of 98 worked flints including a leaf-shaped arrowhead and scrapers and two sherds Iron Age pottery suggests a perhistoric presence in the area. Boundary ditches and a pit, partially overlaid by the villa levels, are dated to the 1st century AD and timber slots and post-holes were seen during the road construction. Finds from these levels included fragments of kiln bars. The stone villa seems to have originated, probably in 2nd century AD, as a rectangular block of rooms 13 m. by 7.5 m. which was later extended to 17 m. by 8 m. The villa was later further extended, perhaps in the 3rd or 4th century, to cover an area of 26 m. by 17.5 m. with the original block forming the E.range. A corridor ran along the S. side to a bath suite, measuring 14 m. by 6 m. which comprised the W. range. The bath suite (Plate 3) consisted of three rooms, two of them heated by a hypocaust system constructed with tile `pilae', and the third including a cold plunge bath which was filled with a large amount of painted wall plaster. (2)
(SP 736582). The excavation at Wootton Hill Farm continued following the salvage excavation of 1979. The stone villa seems to originate as a simple block building. Later the axis changed around 90 degrees and the plan was of a more substantial structure with a corridor along the frontage and included a bath suite. A Roman bronze coin of Vespian was found near the Roman villa and is now held by the Northampton Musem. (3)
In 1981 the lower stone of a rotary quern was found near the excavated Roman site. (4)
A preliminary analysis of the villa suggests it was occupied from the 2nd to the 4th century. Boundary ditches and a pit partially overlaid by the villa was dated to the 1st century which seem to be roughly contemporary with a timber structure seen immediately to the north in 1979. There was evidence for pre-villa occupation in the form of a number of worked flints recovered. (5)
Listed in gazetteer of Roman villas. (6) |