Please read Important information about Oxfordshire’s Historic Environment Record data on Heritage Gateway

Designations

• Scheduled Monument () 1006352: Beaconsfield Farm Roman villa

Monument Type(s):

• BATH HOUSE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• VILLA (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• INHUMATION (Early Medieval - 601 AD to 700 AD)

Summary

Site consisting of traces of walls and large quantity of decorated wall-plaster found in 1950. Subsequent finds of buildings were made during a watching brief.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

Description

1) Geometric tesselated pavement 'plowed up somewhere about Great Tew'.
1a) An elaborate and large villa with courtyard and bath house and decorated with painted walll plaster, detached columns and geometrically patterned tesselated pavements was found in 1810 and has subsequently been partly excavated in 1827, 1950, 1951 and 1965.
2) Remains of part of a bath house, inhumations, pottery, coins, altar etc found May 1810.
3) Courtyard, with corridor, plinths of columns, tesselated pavement, bath, furnace found 1827.
4) Wall plaster recovered in 1950 during building of a new barn.
5) Trial excavations carried out by Nicholas Thomas in 1951.
6) Following construction of a new barn, E M Jope carried out a 2 day trial excavation.
7) Investigation by Catling of Ashmolean Museum, following subsidence in yard, believed to have been caused by collapse of buried Roman structure. Possible drain recorded. See report in DRF.
8) Rescue excavation, prior to construction of new barn, carried out by D Benson (1965). Watching brief for Ministry of Public Building and Works carried out by D Benson of OCCM with a limited amount of excavation. Traces of a N-S wing with a corridor facing E onto a yard were discovered; there was a suggestion of a similar wing with corridor on the S side of the yard. Several periods of construction and occupation from C2-C4 were found, as well as part of a hypocaust below a destroyed tessellated pavement. Several rooms had painted plaster walls. A hoard of 72 coins provide a terminus post quem late in C3 for the destruction of this wing. Overlying one of the destroyed rooms were the remnants of a C7 inhumation, originally covered by a small cairn. Bulldozing revealed a fragment of a collared urn. Cumulative evidence suggests the remains of a large courtyard house.
9) AP's show range of buildings (cropmarks) north of the present farm.
10) Unpublished section shows walls and "oven" made from amphora in NW corner of W range; transferred to Standlake (SVL, 19/06/07).
11) See for correspondence related to earlier planning requests.
14) Condition reported in 2009 as 'extensive significant problems, ie under plough, collapse' and the trend as 'declining'. Principal vulnerability from arable ploughing.
15) Various notes (many by Don Benson, Field Officer at the Museum) about artefacts and materials from the excavations,and their locations.

<1a> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, CBA9 NL 9 (1979) p.96.2 (Serial). SOX5.

<1> Robert Plot, 1705, Natural History of Oxfordshire, p.334f, plate xv, fig 22 (Monograph). SOX371.

<2a> General reference, Brayley & Britton: 'Beauties of England' XII, part 2 (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<2> Gentlemans Magazine, (1811) p.388 (Serial). SOX366.

<3> General reference, A Beesley: 'A History of Banbury' (1841) p.41 (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<4a> OS Record Card, SP 42 NW 1 (Index). SOX273.

<4> Oxford Architectural & Historical Society, Oxoniensia, XV (1950) p.107 (Serial). SOX284.

<5> Oxford Architectural & Historical Society, Oxoniensia, Vol XVI (1951) p.80 (Serial). SOX284.

<6> Archaeologia, Newsletter Vol 4, No 6 (1952) (Serial). SOX289.

<7> Additional Information in Detailed Record File, typescript sheet in DRF; dated April 1963 (Index). SOX258.

<8> Oxford Architectural & Historical Society, Oxoniensia, Vol XXXI (1966) p.153 (Serial). SOX284.

<9> Oxfordshire County Council, 1961, Fairey Aerial Surveys, 6125/14026 (Photograph). SOX264.

<10> HER Map Cabinet, Manuscript drawing of 1965 excavation by D Benson (Graphic material). SOX326.

<11> Additional Information in Detailed Record File, Comprehensive inventory of coin hoard from 1965 excavation (Index). SOX258.

<12> Additional Information in Detailed Record File, 2 of Thomas excavation in 1951 including hypocaust (Index). SOX258.

<13> English Heritage, Scheduled Ancient Monuments Record, SAM 96 (Scheduling record). SOX283.

<14> English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South East, p.69 (Unpublished document). SOX2546.

<15> Additional Information in Detailed Record File (Index). SOX258.

Sources

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.