More information : Hamilton. 647076
The well-known "Town of Hamilton" lies in a shallow valley, through which flows the Hamilton Brook. The road from Scraptoft to Barkby Thorpe passes through the medieval village and crosses the brook at Hamilton Ford, and here on the E. side of the road is a field of some 20 acres, with a very prominent ridge and furrow field system, which has not been ploughed in living memory. About ten years ago a mechanical trench was dug diagonally across this field from N.W. to S.E., for a pipe-line. Dr. W. G. Hoskins noted in the upcast pieces of brick and white tesserae - material which suggested the presence of a Roman building. (Information from Dr. Hoskins.) In 1955, Mr. P.A. Rahtz was excavating the earthwork at Humberstone, close to Hamilton, and, hearing of these discoveries, walked over the field. In the area where the material had been noted, the ridges were higher than their neighbours by 1-2ft. Lifting a turf and topsoil at intervals of 25 ft. showed a layer of small rubble and fragmentary brick extending over an area about 100 ft. square: this was clearly the ploughed debris of a Roman "villa", a typical "robbers' spoil" layer. A short E-W trench was dug to ascertain floor-level and relationship to the ridge and furrow system. The robbers' spoil covered a floor of cement with a layer of clay on its surface; this is presumably of post-Roman date, since it lies directly on the floor-bedding where the floor itself is destroyed. The floor lay on a bedding of orange gravel and clay, and under this was a dark charcoal-flecked soil, merging into the natural subsoil; this is presumably the old pre-villa soil. The floor survived only on the ridge, the furrow having destroyed it and its bedding to a variable degree. In the debris was brick, including a thick building - or pila-brick, and fragments of tegula and imbrices. The stone fragments were mainly Lias limestone, with a little ironstone and gravel. No other finds were made. The villa is on a S. - facing slope about 300 ft. from the brook, and is doubtless slightly terraced and orientated at right-angles to the slope. Mr. Pick, the owner of Hamilton Grounds Farm, the tenant of the land, says that many years ago he filled in a hollow in this field with a cartload of soil; and further, that in the S.W. corner of the adjacent field on the E. side he dug a trench from E. to W. about 10 yds. from the brook. This revealed debris "like a tile-yard" - thick ash, burnt soil, and pieces of brick "decorated with a pattern", together with some fragments of grey pottery. The brick sounds like flue-tile, and it seems likely that this material was derived from a hypocaust, possibly connected with a bath-house nearer to the brook than the villa itself. A slight terrace, whose contours are somewhat obscured by the ridge and furrow, can be seen between the road and the site of the villa. This is now used by farm vehicles, and may well be the site of the Roman access road. A detailed section of this work with samples, has been deposited in Leicester Museum. (1)
The indicated site is still under rig and furrow - mutilated in places- and the precise site of the building cannot be surface identified; no surface finds were made. Similarly the indicated site of the suggested bath house is under pasture but has been greatly disturbed by beast perambulation; again no surface finds were made. Two visits were made to Hamilton Grounds farm but it has been impossible to contact either the owners or tenants. (2)
SK 646 075. Roman villa N of Hamilton Grounds Farm. Scheduled. (3)
LE 4 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (4) |