| Summary : Probable Roman villa (field system, building, enclosures, pits and boundary) seen as cropmarks. A small stone building of four or five rooms, 1 1/2 miles north-west of Barnack, may prove to be one wing of a villa or Romano-British farm. A good example of what Richmond termed the "cottage house" (a type comprising two or three main rooms served by smaller passages and lobbies, perhaps with a stair or ladder to an upper storey or loft). A square stone-lined well lies on the west side close to the presumed position of the front door. The house stands within a system of small fields, but, as the fields are not laid out in relation to it, it may have replaced an earlier timber-built homestead. The 'cottage house' and field system described by authority 1-2 above form part of a Roman villa, visible as cropmarks, which has been mapped from air photographs. The 'cottage house' was visible at TF 0567 0651 as a rectangular enclosure 20m by 10m. The foundations of the walls dividing the building into 4 rooms are clearly visible. This building sits within a field system, centred at TF 0565 0650, defined by about seven conjoined enclosures on average 55m by 40m. In the adjacent field 2 small enclosures were visible at TF 0565 0653 and TF 0561 0656. Double ditched boundaries, centred at TF 0551 0671 appear to form the westernmost limits of the field system. Attached to these at TF 0564 0651 is a posible enclosure at TF 0546 0664. Various pits were visible within the field system but there function was not clear. (Morph No. LI.775.9.1-7) The villa complex is very close to an extensive barrow cemetery (TF 00 NE 28) and so there is the possibility that some of the barrows could be of Roman date. |
More information : A small stone building of four or five rooms at TF 056065, 1 1/2 miles north-west of Barnack, may prove to be one wing of a villa or Romano-British farm. A good example of what Richmond termed the "cottage house" (a type comprising two or three main rooms served by smaller passages and lobbies, perhaps with a stair or ladder to an upper storey or loft). A square stone-lined well lies on the west side close to the presumed position of the front door. The house stands within a system of small fields, but, as the fields are not laid out in relation to it, it may have replaced an earlier timber-built homestead. (1-2)
The 'cottage house' and field system described by authority 1-2 above form part of a Roman villa, visible as cropmarks, which has been mapped from air photographs. The 'cottage house' was visible at TF 0567 0651 as a rectangular enclosure 20m by 10m. The foundations of the walls dividing the building into 4 rooms are clearly visible. This building sits within a field system, centred at TF 0565 0650, defined by about seven conjoined enclosures on average 55m by 40m. In the adjacent field 2 small enclosures were visible at TF 0565 0653 and TF 0561 0656. Double ditched boundaries, centred at TF 0551 0671 appear to form the westernmost limits of the field system. Attached to these at TF 0564 0651 is a posible enclosure at TF 0546 0664. Various pits were visible within the field system but there function was not clear. (Morph No. LI.775.9.1-7) The villa complex is very close to an extensive barrow cemetery (TF 00 NE 28) and so there is the possibility that some of the barrows could be of Roman date. This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (3)
CA 16 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (4) |