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Summary

Large villa complex on the bank of the river Ivel

Monument Types

• AISLED BARN (Roman - 50 AD to 409 AD)
• RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Roman - 50 AD to 409 AD)
• VILLA (Roman - 50 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• SCULPTURE (Undated)
• TESSERA (Undated)

Protected Status

• SHINE: Roman Villa and later Field System, Baldock
• Area of Archaeological Significance 15
• Scheduled Ancient Monument 27908: RADWELL ROMAN VILLA

Full description

A large villa complex. The house lies on the right bank of the Ivel with a second house, equally extensive, lying at right angles to it, and two simple rectangular barns all enclosed in an area of 200m x 250m by a broad ditch. Finds include pottery and a flint scatter <1>. Tile and tesserae have also been found <1>.
<5> points out that most large Roman villas in Britain appear to have have a formal arrangement of buildings around courtyards, but at Radwell 'some of the outbuildings are set out in a well-spaced row rather in the manner of large villas in Gallia Belgica. The dwelling-house lies on the right bank of the Ivel, facing north-eastwards away from the river. A second house, no less extensive than the first but presumably subsidiary, is aligned at right angles to it. A wall running out from the NW end of the dwelling-house appears to cut off the domestic quarters from the working part of the villa. It runs towards the SE ends of two simple rectangular barns, each c.12 by 30m, standing some 50m apart. One at least of the buildings was aisled. The whole complex was surrounded by a broad ditch enclosing an area of c.200 by 250m.'

In c.1995, 'a 9 inch marble head, believed to be 1st century AD Roman' came up for auction, having been discovered in an outhouse at Pebble Cottage, Radwell, a short distance north of the villa. The cottage was formerly occupied by a groom who also worked as a ploughman on Bury Farm. The head, made of Italian Carrara marble, and dated to about AD 60-80, may be a 'Grand Tour collector's curio', but it seems equally likely that it may have been found during ploughing, ditching or other farm activity and be directly associated with the villa <2, 3>. The head is of first-class workmanship although sawn off from its bust at the neck and weathered on the left side of the face. There is a similar head from the Roman palace at Fishbourne, Sussex <2>.
Ploughing in 2011 brought up a large scatter of roof tile, tesserae, and unabraded third to fourth century pottery <4>.

CUCAP, Cropmark of Roman villa, Radwell, PNO 3151 (Aerial Photograph). SHT14525.

Hertford Museum, Cropmarks of linear ditches associated with Radwell Roman villa, PNO 3757 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15029.

Hertford Museum, Cropmarks of linear ditches at Radwell Roman villa, PNO 3759 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15031.

Hertford Museum, Cropmarks of linear ditches, Ashwell, PNO 3760 (Aerial Photograph). SHT15032.

CUCAP, Cropmarks of Roman villa, Radwell, PNO 3061 (Aerial Photograph). SHT14283.

CUCAP, 1962, Cropmarks of Roman villa, Radwell, PNO 3062 (Aerial Photograph). SHT14284.

Green, Don, et al, 1997-8, The distribution of villas in some south-eastern counties: some preliminary findings from a survey; London Archaeologist 8/7 (winter 1997-8), 187-95 (Article in serial). SHT6435.

<1> Ancient Monuments Field Report, 1997 (Unpublished document). SHT8300.

<2> Burleigh, Gil, & Stevenson, M D, 2000, A decade of archaeological fieldwork in North Hertfordshire, 1989-1999, RNO 1352 p52-3 (Unpublished document). SHT3755.

<3> Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith J, & Burleigh, Gilbert R, 2007, Ancient Baldock: the story of an Iron Age and Roman town, Photo, p27 (Bibliographic reference). SHT6024.

<4> Information from Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, North Hertfordshire Museum, September 2011 (Unpublished document). SHT3611.

<5> Wilson, D R, 1974, Romano-British villas from the air; Britannia 5, 251-60, Pl.XXVII (Article in serial). SHT7922.

Sources and further reading

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