More information : (TQ 41658715) Roman Villa (R) (site of) (1)
The first reference to a Roman building at Wanstead occurs in a letter from Smart Lethieullier to Roger Gale, in 1735. The matter was repeated by Lethieullier in a later letter to Dr. Charles Lyttleton, read to the Society of Antiquaries in 1746, in which Lethieullier refers to the letter to Gale. A tessellated pavement was said to have been uncovered during the planting of trees in Wanstead Park in 1715. The pavement was not completely uncovered and no plan of it seems to exist although it was said to have consisted of a man on horseback bordered with a wreath style pattern. South of the pavement, brick foundations were said to have been found. Some years later during further improvements to the park, sherds or fragments of urns, many pieces of brick, bones, a silver medal and two copper medals were uncovered. Excavations were begun in 1947 (at the site marked on the OS 6" map) under the direction of J Elsden Tuffs, and although appreciable amounts of roofing tile and pieces of brick were found, it was not until the summer of 1962 that any positive results were achieved. A number of trenches and holes revealed pottery, animal bones, oyster shells, a coin, iron nails, hypocaust flue tiles, tesserae of various sizes, a piece of wall plaster and some large flints. No foundations have yet been found. (2-4)
P Morant's 18th century work on the antiquities of Essex notes Wanstead in the index, presumably intending to refer to the Roman finds in the park, however there appears to be an indexing error in this work as the there is no corresponding mention in the text. (5)
Roman Villa in Wanstead Park, Wanstead.
Trial trenches by W Essex Archaeological Group in 1983-4 revealed much scattered building debris including tesserae, roof and flue tile, a column base and wall plaster, slight structural evidence and 2 ditches. Post Medieval field drains contained redeposited Roman material and a large pit contained wall plaster but no substantial structures survived; 18th century landscaping and vague location hinder identification of site. (6-7)
"Roman antiquities consisting tessellated pavement, pottery etc found at various times on the east side of Wanstead Park & situated about 10 chains east of the Temple". Stukeley reference may contain a wrong orientation and in fact relate to this site rather some otherwise unknown find on the eastern side of the park. (8)
[ Later English Heritage compiler's comment on the above text, inserted 14-NOV-2011- please note it is unclear from where the reference to the location "10 chains east of the temple" is derived- for further note/commentary on the above sources please see source 13 below],
Roman villa. (9-10)
"Wansted ..... Here appears to have been a Roman villa, or some little station. For, in the year 1715, as the then Sir Richard Child's gardeners were digging holes, for planting an avenue of trees in the park, on the south side of the lower part of the gardens, they discovered a tessellated Roman pavement. The owner would not permit it to be quite laid open 'but it was of red, white, black etc' tesserae with a red border 'and in the middle, the figure of a man riding, holding something in his right hand. The pavement was situated on a gentle gravelly ascent, towards the north; &, at a small distance from the south end of it, a spring, or well, of fine water, now absorbed in a great pond. From this well the ground rose gently towards the south, till it came to an exact level, which reaches a great way. On the very brink of this level, and about 300 yards directly south from the foresaid well & pavement, were the ruins of some brick foundations..." (Formerly recorded with TQ 48 NW 16). (11)
ES 74 Mentioned as the site of a Roman villa.
GT 16 Mentioned as the site of a Roman villa. (12)
Staff comment: note by English Heritage record compiler Robin Page, added 14-NOV-2011. Please note it is unclear from where the reference to the location "10 chains east of the temple" mentioned in the record text allegedly pertaining to sources 8-8a is derived, as it not in the letter included in Stukeley Memoirs (source 8) nor does it appear in the relevant section of the first volume of the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society (source 8a). It may be a mis-attribution or gloss, perhaps together with the comment regarding a "wrong orientation", introduced when the references were supplied by a member of Essex County Council staff in the early 1990s. The actual reference to Wanstead, given in the original as "Wansted", in the memoirs of Stukeley, is in the form of correspondence between Smart Lethieullier and Roger Gale, dated July 12th 1735. It is not a direct observation of Stukeley. Lethieullier's letter and footnotes to the published version of the memoirs notes that he, Lethieullier, had found tesserae and other finds at the site in the Park, but that the description of the mosaic itself came from a Mr. Holt, described both as "the gardiner" and the "surveyor of works" during the planting excavations. Please note also that source 8a- the 1st volume of the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society perpetuates a probably error as to the date of finding- where 1746 is suggested. The error may come from a misreading of the reference in volume I of the Archaeologia (source 4) and may relate the date when the matter, in this instance recorded in a later letter of Lethieullier- referring back to the older correspondence with Gale, was read to the Society of Antiquaries (November 1746). Clearly both the earlier letter and the text of the later letter when checked refer to 1715 as the year when the mosaic was found. (13)
In 2007 a survey using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was undertaken in Wanstead Park. In area 3 of the survey, north of Perch Pond, there were results interpreted as showing possible walls of a building. (14)
|