More information : [SJ 8946 1027] Roman Villa at Engleton. About 500 yds to the south of the Watling Street near its junction with the Ro Road to Deva. Built facing east on a slight eminence overlooking the River Penk. Excavated in 1937 by the Wolverhampton Arch. Soc. A corridor villa, approx 120ft by 72ft. The southern extremity had been destroyed by quarrying. On the evidence of the finds the villa would appear to have been inhabited from the late C2 until the C4. 'The Samian ware is considerably earlier in date but the fact that the coarse pottery is consistently later makes a C2 date likely'. No indication of habitation after the C4. A Saxon coin of Eadred Rex 946-955 AD possibly indicates a period of stone robbing. The original house consisted of a main block of four rooms, a north wing, the foundations of an apse and a bath wing. 'In all probability there was a corridor on the east side, but this fact was not established because it would have necessitated the destruction of the Period III corridor floor'.
Important additions were made in the C3 (Period II) and in the third and last Period the main alteration was the rebuilding of the south-
east wing. The villa lacked a walled farmyard but appears to have had in place of it a boundary ditch. In addition to the pottery the finds included bronze brooches and a pin, various iron objects and a number of C3 and C4 Ro coins.
Sited from map. See AO/56/364/5. (1)
JRS2 quotes 1. (2)
There is a replica of a Saxon penny of Eadred, 946-955 found at this site, stored at the William Salt Library, Stafford. Acc. No.110/41, pres. by Mr G.P. Mander. (3)
Fragments of mortared stone walling and floors of opus signinum can be seen protruding from the face of an old quarry at the southern end of the villa. A vigorous nettle-growth and uneven ground mark the remainder of the villa. The material from the 1937 excavations is exhibited in Wolverhampton City Museum and Art Gallery. (4)
The centre of the disturbed area was surveyed on to 25" A.M. at SJ 8945 1023. (5)
No change. (6)
ST 5 A large winged corridor villa which had deep wings with bow fronts, in the Mediterranean manner, later modified as rectangular rooms. Bath suite with two hypocausts. (7)
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