More information : Roman villa discovered at Chilgrove at SU 84136, 3/4 mile NE of the Brickkiln Farm villa (SU 81 SW 59). (1)
Parts of the two distinct but contiguous structures have been uncovered in the villa at Cross Roads field; both contain mosaic pavements. (2)
The earliest of the two buildings is a small villa comprising 5 rooms with a corridor on the E side. A large ditch c 15ft wide and 7ft deep, lying 5ft to the W ran off beneath the W side of the second building, which was a large aisled house over 50ft wide with walls 3ft thick. There is evidence of an earlier and simpler version without internal partitions. As reconstructed, not before the late 3rd c., the house had a number of heated rooms in the W aisle; these were, with one exception, subsequently demolished. A courtyard lay to the E and a third building has been located N of this. Excavations directed by A Down for the Chichester Civic Society. (3)
In Cross Roads Field a timber structure has been recognised beneath the small corridor villa, which itself exhibits three phases of construction. A set of ten ovens and traces of one early building with flint foundations have been found beneath the aisled house, which measures 50 x 97 1/2 ft. Inside the aisled house were a number of hearths and ovens, including a circular tiled structure interpreted as a large bread oven. (4)
Visible on oblique A/Ps. (5)
SU 84121362 A large part of the villa is exposed by excavation, though some has been filled in. Excavations will continue and a report will be produced.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (6)
Further excavations revealed the third building mentioned by Authority 3 to be a bath block, the furnace of which shows two phases of alteration, overlying an earlier building. The courtyard was open on the east and the whole complex measures 180 by 200m. (7)
Chilgrove Villa - interim excavation report and notes of particular finds and features. (8-13)
Full report of the excavations of the site, named Chilgrove 2 (Chilgrove 1 is SU 81 SW 59). Five Periods were identified begining with a timber phase surrounded by a ditched enclosure in the 2nd century AD. Rebuilding with masonry and expansion of the complex subsequently occured and by the mid-4th century the rooms of the main house were laid with tesselated floors, including a mosaic. Subsequent decline saw the appearance of the hearths and a bread oven in one of the aisled barns and the bath suite was possibly turned over to corn drying. Part of the building complex were destroyed by fire in the late 4th century or later, although there is some evidence for continued use of some parts of the old bath wing. The date for the final abandonment cannot be assertained. (14)
WS 102 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (15)
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