More information : (SU 73615263) Roman Villa (G.S.) (Remains of) Well (G.S.) (Plan shewn) (1)
Excavation by Miss D.M. Liddell of the Roman building found by Mr. P.L. Parsons in his orchard at Lodge Farm, was carried out in 1929 & 1930 and should be completed in 1931. A small dwelling, later converted into an elaborate bath-block, was uncovered in 1929 and a large house, probably the quarters of farm hands or domestic staff, in 1930. (2)
The bath-block measured c.60 x 30' and was made up of seven rooms and a furnace and flue. Room 'D' had a hypocaust and decorated wall plaster, and there was a well or sump between it and room 'F' with which it must originally have been one. Room 'G' had a tessellated unpatterned pavement and a drain leading through its N.E. wall. Room 'F' may have been meant to hold water as a plunge bath, as the floor plaster curved up the walls for about a foot. Among the pottery found was New Forest, Castor, Salopian painted, and other wares, nearly all of which can be paralleled at Silchester. There were three small Samian sherds. Four coins were found, ranging in date from A.D.260 to A.D.350. The finds were all kept by Mr. Parsons. (3)
Account of 1929 excavation. (4)
The building excavated in 1930 covered an area 120 x 63'. It was poorly built of flint, bonded with tiles, the walls being 2' thick and, originally, probably c.10' high. In its final stage, most of the internal divisions were lath and plaster partitions. A row of rooms at the S.W. end, with floors of stamped earth and cobbles and roughly built walls, were probably outbuildings: many iron objects were found in them. A row in a similar position on the N.E. side may have been residential rooms, some trace of tessellation being found. A curious channelled hypocaust with chalk floors was built into the N.W. corner of the large central rectangle. 71 coins were found; except for one Antonine and three 3rd cent, all were of the period 306-381. At least two periods in its history were revealed, and, to judge from the coloured wall plaster found beneath the chalk floor of the central area, the earlier had been more elaborate than the later, which showed no sign of wealth or display. It may be that the large rectangle was a barn-like hall divided into small rooms, with a row of rooms with pent roofs against the short sides. No doubt it served as a farm-house. (5)
Foundations visible. (6)
The foundations of the buildings excavated are now completely covered in grass and undergrowth and though the plan may still be traced on the ground no walling or structural feature is now visible. It appears from the information given by the owner, Mr. Parsons, that in the years immediately following the excavation, considerable damage was done to the exposed floors and walling by the weather, particularly frost. Pieces of tessellated floor, and quantities of roofing tile and brick can be seen in the orchard. The material found, 1929-30 is inadequately displayed in a garage of the farm and is in very poor condition. (7)
Site overgrown: nothing visible apart from a scatter of building material. Mr. P.L. Parsons died in 1958, and his collection went to the Willis Museum in 1966. (8)
HA 68 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (9)
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