| Summary : A Roman villa, probably occupied between the 2nd-4th centuries. It was discovered in 1966 and first excavated in 1969. Subsequent excavations have revealed that the villa had three ranges and had several phases through the third and fourth centuries. One building has been consolidated, the other is visible as an earthwork, though largely mishaped on the surface through backfill of the excavations. Scheduled.
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| More information : SE 6339 8422. Roman villa at Beadlam, discovered in 1966 and
excavated in 1969 by Stead who uncovered the north and west buildings
(plan 1). The north building, 32m long and 7.5m wide, was well
preserved, with a mosaic pavement covering a hypocaust in Room 2. A
trench in Room 8 was probably dug for the timber foundations of a
subsequent annexe (plan 2). The west building, 23.7m long and 7.5m
wide, was not so well preserved and it was suggested that the
northern part was used as a domestic area and the southern part as a
bath-house (plan 3). Finds include several small bronze implements, a
fragment of bone comb and 2nd-4th century coins. Now in guardianship
of the DOE. (1)
Further excavations by Stead in 1972 revealed the east wing as having
three periods of construction. The foundations for the walls of the
first were of cobbles, a method not seen in the other two wings, and
the plan was rectangular, 7.5m wide; one end and 18m of the side
walls were uncovered. This was replaced by a one-room building, 7.5m
wide and 11m long, with an apsidal end. The final construction was a
crude wall built on the rubble scattered when the earlier buildings
were destroyed. (2)
SE 634 842. Excavations by Pacitto in 1974 uncovered the dwelling
house of the villa. Hypocaust flues were found beneath the floors of
rooms at the west end. The house shows much improvisation and
(according to Pacitto) may have originally been a type of barn
dwelling later connected to a more sophisticated habitation. (3)
Work is progressing in consolidating the remains of the north
building (plan 2) for eventual opening to the public. The remainder
of the excavations have been backfilled and are no longer visible,
although it is intended to consolidate the entire remains over the
next few years. The north building measures 35.0m east to west by
7.6m with walls standing 0.9m high. It is mainly as shown in plan 2
but the mosaic has been removed for restoration and will be returned
in due course.
The complex is undoubtedly extensive and the D of E intend to
excavate and consolidate the entire site in stages. The only visible
remains at present are those of the north building.
Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)
The villa described by authorities 1-4 was seen as stonework on good
quality air photographs at the time the site was excavated, in the
1960s and 1970s. Virtually the whole of the north building was mapped, including internal partition walls, creating the room layout.
Centred at:-SE 6342 8412
(Morph Nos. HH.36.5.1 - 36.5.3)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (5)
NK 1 Roman villa. (6)
Beadlam villa (SE 634 841; south side of the A 170) occupies a flat terrace on the E bank of the Riccal stream at about 55m OD. The north building is now consolidated and surrounded by a wooden fence but the mosaic has not yet been returned to site. The west building is visible as a sub-rectangular platform up to about 0.4m high, with wall fragments protruding through the turf in places. Some of the excavated squares over the east building are visible as slight earthworks and vegetation marks.
The underlying enclosure ditch recorded by geophysical survey (7a) is visible in places as a very shallow, indistinct depression.
The ground drops slightly to the west and south of the villa over a wandering natural scarp to a lower terrace, beyond which is a further steep drop to the stream. The only other earthworks visible seem to be of relatively recent field drains and/or boundaries. (7)
Air photographs taken in 2006 show areas of parching (in pasture), representing the east and west wings of the villa, surrounding the excavated central section. (8)
The exposed footings of the north range of the Roman villa were mapped from an orthomosaic of air photographs captured by an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in 2021. The west range was mapped from 1969 oblique air photographs when the footings were exposed during excavation. The layout of this range is not replicated by the earthworks visible on the surface - these being more the result of the backfill following excavation. Various amorphous shallow earthworks are located in and around the villa remains, but it is impossible to determine whether they are archaeological features or the result of the numerous seasons of excavation. Additional features mapped include a very subtle curved earthwork slope to the north and north-west of the villa which correspond with a probable pre-villa curvilinear ditched enclosure detected by geophysical survey in 1992. A large square embanked feature to the south of the main villa buildings does not share any alignment with the Roman or post medieval/modern landscape. Extremely shallow in nature, but visible on both 2017 lidar and a digital elevation model derived from the UAS survey mentioned above, this feature also does not follow the alignment of the excavations and spoil heaps visible on air photographs from numerous years, so it has been tentatively mapped as a feature. The site was mapped as part of the Beadlam Roman Villa: Assessment of the Landscape Setting, Aerial Investigation & Mapping project. (9-12)
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