More information : (SJ 72183371) Roman Building (R) (Site of) (NAT) (1)
The Roman Villa site at Hales SJ 722337.
The building on site 'A' (see plan) is that uncovered by Pape in 1928 (3) and is evidently part of a corridor villa possibly dating from the late 1st century. A short excavation was made by Simms in 1939 (4) confined to the north end of the corridor villa but a full report has not been published. In 1967 the Keele and Newcastle Arch Soc excavated site 'B', a building which was at one stage of its history a bath-house. The original structure, probably dating from the 2nd century, appears to have embodied all the features shown on the plan, but at a date as yet unknown the use of the building appears to have changed and alterations to the superstructure must have been made. The only datable and securely stratified finds were a fibula brooch (pre-Flavian) and the rim of black-burnished ware from Room III (125-140 AD). The brooch, however, may have been a survival and the original construction of the bath-house building should be dated provisionally to the first half of the 2nd century. (2-4)
Since publication of the Interim Report, work has been concentrated on the second well of the bath-house and that part of the villa previously partly excavated by Pape in 1928. Very little new information came to light but slight evidence existed for an earlier stone building and considerable evidence for three round wattle and daub huts, but the most interesting discovery was that of a much earlier, though undatable, burial chamber at a depth of 4ft-6ft beneath the villa. Two periods of use can be distinguished and the corbelled chamber had been destroyed in antiquity, though several stones of the 'passage' remained in situ. The second well yielded a considerable amount of potery datable to mid-14th century associated with a coin of Constans (337-350). (5)
The OS siting is marked by an area of disturbed ground resulting from filled-in excavations, now again under permanent pasture. (6)
ROMAN VILLA (R) (Site of) (NAT) (7)
Excavation was completed in 1972 of the bath house, part of the villa originally dug in 1928 was re-excavated and adjoining areas were investigated. Work was completed on the lower layers of the floors of the caldarium, its annexe, and the tepidarium. The first phase of the baths, dated to the earlier 2nd century, is now thought to have a small caldarium and furnace within part of the later Room I. The baths were extended to the east in the 3rd century. Possibly in the earlier 4th century the bath ceased to be used, a new furnace was inserted in Room II and the building was apparently reroofed and used as domestic accommodation.
The corridor building which was re-excavated is thought to date from the later 1st century. There was slight evidence for rectangular timber structures pre-dating the house, but aligned with it. Traces of four round huts of unknown date were found in the same area. The layout of the stone building was substantially as described by Pape (3). On the west side the wall was built over a filled-in well, and pottery recovered from it suggested that it was filled-in between the last quarter of the first century and the mid 2nd century. A second well, see plan (8), was partly excavated but abandoned for reasons of safety at a depth of 7.32m below the Roman surface. This well appears to have been abandoned in the 4th century due to a fault in the stone lining.
Post holes in the well area suggest a wooden building pre-dating the bath house. To the south of the well were found two cists which presumably had held cremations, one containing the fragmented remains of a red coarse-ware jar with charcoal, but no trace of bone.
The excavations show that the site was occupied more or less constantly from at least a Late Bronze Age date until the middle of the 4th century. (8-9)
SJ 723337. Tyrley. Hales' Roman Villa is scheduled no. 164 and listed under Roman Remains. (10)
ST 7 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (11)
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