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MONUMENT NO. 366748

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Excavations uncovered the site of a Roman villa; it consisted of late 2nd century AD timber building which was replaced by a 3rd-4th century AD corridor villa. This was succeeded by an Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery and probable church. The assumed remains of the siege castle of 1174 were also uncovered and the remains of a medieval church/chapel which incoporated fragments of the Anglo-Saxon structure.

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(TL 23667138) Huntingdon Siege Castle. Emergency excavations by MPBW in 1967 and 1968 revealed the following sequence of occupation:-
1. Ditches and pits showing 1stc occupation.
2. Remains of a 3rd-4thc corridor type villa, successive hearths and thick deposits of ash and rubbish indicate industrial use, although an adjoining room had a mosaic floor.
3. An early religious building, probably Saxon, to which the cemetery containing over 400 burials with associated late Saxon pottery seems to have belonged.
4. Scraping and traces of the Siege Castle of 1174. A number of scattered skeletons of soldiers associated with this siege were found.
5. Ruined walls of what may have been a church or chapel including one re-used stone with Saxon interlacing carving, which was a 13thc arch-moulding cut on the other side. All probably a rebuilding of 3 above. (1-2)

The site is now occupied by a large house and the scraping of the siege castle has been incorporated and modified as garden landscaping. (3)

Further excavations on the Roman villa revealed a probably late 2nd century timber building, which was replaced by a larger corridor structure. Other 2nd century buildings were incoporated into one long range. A series of early medieval quarry pits containing tiles and 14th century sherds were also found in what had been thought to be the large ditch of the siege castle. (4)

Classified as a corridor type villa - see plan. (5)

CA 101 Listed as the probable site of a Roman corridor villa. (6)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Council for British Archaeology Group 7: Bulletin of archaeological discoveries

(P Dickinson) 14, 1967 Page(s)3

( 2) Council for British Archaeology Group 7: Bulletin of archaeological discoveries

(G Rudd) 15, 1968 Page(s)2-3

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 BHS 26-FEB-70

( 4) Council for British Archaeology Group 7: Bulletin of archaeological discoveries

(G Rudd) 16, 1969 Page(s)3

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

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

Leicester archaeology monographsNo.1 (1993) - no.1 Page(s)39

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