More information : [SP 5889 6320] Roman Villa [G.S.] (Site of) (1) A villa site excavated 1823 and 1852. Main range of buildings running N. & S., with baths at S. end. Tesselated pavements, well preserved hypocausts, painted wall plaster, windowglass, Samian, Castor and other Pottery; coin of Constantine ("Ro. coins frequently found here") and many small finds. Well to S.W. [See Plan AO:60:329:5] Botfield's finds' are in the British Museum, the Northampton Museum and in private possession. (2-3) There are no visible remains of this building. The site now falls on a golf course. Northampton Museum hold a large representative collection of the excavated finds. (4) This building, 70ft wide and 145ft long, was considered by Haverfield to be part of a villa. As evidence he cites the character of the plan and the existence of unexcavated foundations branching off in a westerly direction. Finds, additional to those listed above, include two mosaics, one now in Northampton Museum, pewter and iron articles, including keys, glass vessels and fragments of local marble. Moore also lists roof tiles and pieces of coal. He concludes from the finds that the building was of a substantial nature. (5-6) Saxon burial (SP 58896320) found in one of the rooms of the Roman villa by Botfield in 1852. A skeleton, lying N-S with a small spearhead at its side, was discovered within one of the rooms of the bath block. The spearhead may be one of those illustrated by Edgar. (7)
Listed in gazetteer of Roman villas. (9) |