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Summary

Romano-British site, probably a villa; pits discovered by workmen, and a bath house then excavated in the 1950s

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01914.00.000
  

Monument Type(s):

• VILLA? (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• OCCUPATION SITE? (Roman - 301 AD to 400 AD)

Full Description

SETTLEMENT EVIDENCE IN AREA, A BATH HOUSE AND RUBBISH PITS. Possible villa?
Work carried out on the original archive in 1995 <11> is the best source for understanding the excavations at this site. The NMR also appears to have oral information/ correspondence from D B Connah, H H Coghlan and J R W Prosser (see English Heritage's Pastscape website).

In 2019, a report said to have been written by DB Connah was provided to West Berkshire Museum by his son <14>, bringing together the specialist reports previously published separately <8><9><10>, as well as one on the geology of the building material. The report summarised the findings as a very small rectangular building with a hypocaust and a short, narrow extension at one end, most likely from the last quarter of the 4th century, dated by material in the rubbish pits. The building was decorated with fine and coarse mosaics, and a 'quite ambitious scheme' of painted wall plaster. It was not part of a larger structure as the walls were traceable and well defined. It was considered to most likely be a bath house as it would have been very small for a house, although the amount of pottery in the rubbish pits and surrounding field suggested a dwelling was nearby. A single course of carefully laid flints to the west that ran for 1.5m and was suggested to be evidence of a further villa structure.

On 10 June 2021, a magnetometry survey was carried out part of a field adjacent to the sewage works <16>. A group of positive and negative anomalies were identified in the north-eastern corner of the survey area, close to the reported location of the bath house, and of similar dimensions to those reported by Connah <14>. To the south, within the corner of an L-shaped rectilinear anomaly that may be the ditch of a former enclosure, were further anomalies suggestive of a small structure, such as a corn drier. To the south of the possible enclosure ditch was an arc of pit-like features. Other pits in a linear formation were identified in the central part of the survey area and elsewhere that may be archaeological in origin or tree throws. 100-150m west of the possible enclosure was evidence of a linear boundary ditch 'of some antiquity'.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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