Previously Unknown Large Roman Villa Found In Wiltshire
Excavations in Wiltshire’s Chalke Valley have uncovered the remains of a large Roman villa – the first complex of its kind to be found in this part of the county
Clues to the villa’s presence had been emerging over a number of years, with metal-detectorists Albert Barnes, Graham Barnes, and Kevin Webb reporting discoveries of nummi and radiates (low-denomination Roman coins), among other objects including fragments of copper-alloy spoons, to the local Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Finds Liaison Officer at Salisbury Museum.
Its location and layout became clearer thanks to a magnetometry survey undertaken by Teffont Archaeology in 2020, and more extensive investigations by Archaeological Surveys on behalf of PAS Wiltshire in 2021.
These revealed the plan of a large structure measuring over 35m long – and, in autumn 2024, an excavation run by Teffont Archaeology and Cardiff University brought some of the building’s remains to light once more.
This work (supported by money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, through Cranborne Chase National Landscape’s Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme) uncovered traces of an extensive villa complex, comprising a main structure and several additional buildings including a barn and a bathhouse.
This latter feature, identified by its characteristic pilae and box-flue hypocaust system, is believed to have had a hot room (caldarium), warm room (tepidarium), cold room (frigidarium), and a plunge pool.
Image: Archaeology News
The villa appears to have been constructed over multiple phases, and, while the main structure is thought to date to the 3rd-4th century AD, the project team suspect that the site was occupied throughout the Roman period, and possibly even earlier.
The complex was sumptuously decorated, speaking to the likely high social status of its owner. High-quality geometric mosaics were found in some corridors and rooms of the main villa building, and significant quantities of painted plaster were discovered both there and in the bathhouse, accompanied by architectural stonework such as pieces of columns, including a capital.
Dr Denise Wilding, post-excavation manager at Teffont Archaeology, who co-directed the project with Dr David Roberts of Cardiff University, said that the finds challenge previous assumptions about settlement patterns and social relations during this period.
‘The discovery underlines the fact that while we may think we have a clear idea of the distribution of settlement in Roman Britain, many major sites remain to be discovered,’ she explained.
Finds from the site are currently undergoing post-excavation analysis, and the project team plan to run a series of local talks about the results.
See more here the-past.com
Header image: illustration of the Littlecote villa, Berkshire, courtesy Visit Hungerford
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