More information : SP 33931525. The site of a probable Roman villa at Brize Lodge, lies partly beneath the present farm which is at the end of a south facing valley 1km from Akeman Street. Finds include a small bronze bird, perhaps an eagle which may have been a religious object from a small household shrine. (1)
A Roman bronze bird, (see Illustration Card) was found at Brize Lodge Farm on the site of a villa or bath house. It is a figurine, complete apart form its feet which are missing. It is not possible to be certain as to the identity of the species, but it looks more like a dove than an eagle. The bird certainly belongs to the category of religious material. (2)
The farm was created in the C19th. Extensive remains of a villa lie close to the present farm house and spreads of black soil with Romano-British pottery fragments occur between the lane and the Ramsden-Leafield road. Recently a trench was dug NE of the farmhouse and 2 sherds of probably C1st AD, were seen. Another trench between the house and the Ramsden-Leafield road revealed several shallow features with Romano-British wares, and also revealed the ditch to a possible prehistoric burial mound. A second burial mound survives as an earthwork. This has been an area of intense occupation from the Bronze Age onwards. (3)
SP 339153. Cropmarks suggest an Iron Age and Roman settlement further north near Cornbury Park. (4)
OX 46 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (5) |