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Report Title
Archaeological recording of a Roman villa at Wootton Fields, Northampton January-February 1999; asseessment report and updated project design
Publisher and Publication Year
Northamptonshire Archaeology - 1999
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Summary
ABSTRACT A previously unknown Roman villa was located during monitoring of groundworks on a new housing development. The exposed building remains were cleaned and planned before they were backfilled for long-term preservation. An adjacent area containing cut features of both Iron Age and Roman date was excavated prior to road construction. A roundhouse ring gully and a scatter of pits are dated from the mid-first century BC to the mid-first century AD. They suggest that there may have been continuity of occupation from the late Iron Age. The main villa building was probably a simple strip building with front and rear corridors. A room at the northern end contained a channelled hypocaust and had been decorated with painted wall plaster. At the opposite end a pillared hypocaust had supported the opus signinum floor of a hot room, but the remainder of this small bath suite was not exposed. The pottery and coins spanned the later first to fourth centuries, but second and third century material predominated. The size of the building and the paucity of domestic and personal items suggests that the villa was not of exceptionally high status. Geophysical survey and limited excavation demonstrated that the main building stood within a 70m square ditched enclosure with a number of phases of recutting; the earliest including a timber palisade. A series of hearths and ovens/furnaces to the immediate north of the villa represent a final phase of industrial usage following the abandonment of at least parts of the main building. Some inhumation burials of uncertain date were recovered to both the north and west of the main building. 1 INTRODUCTION-----------------------------
ABSTRACT
A previously unknown Roman villa was located during monitoring of groundworks on a new housing
development. The exposed building remains were cleaned and planned before they were backfilled for
long-term preservation. An adjacent area containing cut features of both Iron Age and Roman date was
excavated prior to road construction.
A roundhouse ring gully and a scatter of pits are dated from the mid-first century BC to the mid-first century
AD. They suggest that there may have been continuity of occupation from the late Iron Age.
The main villa building was probably a simple strip building with front and rear corridors. A room at the
northern end contained a channelled hypocaust and had been decorated with painted wall plaster. At the
opposite end a pillared hypocaust had supported the opus signinum floor of a hot room, but the remainder
of this small bath suite was not exposed. The pottery and coins spanned the later first to fourth centuries,
but second and third century material predominated. The size of the building and the paucity of domestic
and personal items suggests that the villa was not of exceptionally high status.
Geophysical survey and limited excavation demonstrated that the main building stood within a 70m square
ditched enclosure with a number of phases of recutting; the earliest including a timber palisade. A series of
hearths and ovens/furnaces to the immediate north of the villa represent a final phase of industrial usage
following the abandonment of at least parts of the main building. Some inhumation burials of uncertain
date were recovered to both the north and west of the main building.
1 INTRODUCTION-----------------------------
Table of Contents
1.2 Topography and geology 1.3 The archaeological context 2 The excavation and recording of the villa 2.1 Aims and objectives 2.2 Geophysical survey 2.3 The site chronology 2.4 The Iron Age settlement 2.5 The Roman villa 2.6 The medieval field system 3 The finds 3.1 The Iron Age pottery Dennis Jackson 3.2 The Roman pottery Tora Hylton 3.3 The Roman building materials Tora Hylton 3.4 Other finds Tora Hylton 3.5 The Coins Ian Meadows 4 Discussion1.2 Topography and geology 1.3 The archaeological context 2 The excavation and recording of the villa 2.1 Aims and objectives 2.2 Geophysical survey 2.3 The site chronology 2.4 The Iron Age settlement 2.5 The Roman villa 2.6 The medieval field system 3 The finds 3.1 The Iron Age pottery Dennis Jackson 3.2 The Roman pottery Tora Hylton 3.3 The Roman building materials Tora Hylton 3.4 Other finds Tora Hylton 3.5 The Coins Ian Meadows 4 Discussion
Headings
Tora Hylton, Mark Roughley, and Alex ThorneABSTRACT
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Wootton Fields development
1.2 The circumstances of the excavation
1.3 Topography and geology
1.4 The archaeological background
1.5 The archaeological context
1.6 Acknowledgements
2 THE EXCAVATION AND RECORDING OF THE VILLA
2.1 Aims and objectives
2.2 Geophysical Survey Peter Masters
2.2.1 Introduction
2.2.2 Magnetometer survey
2.2.3 Results
2.2.4 Resistivity survey
3 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
3.1 The Chronological Sequence
3.2 The Iron Age Settlement
3.3 The Roman Villa
3.3.1 The villa enclosure
3.3.2 The villa building
3.3.3 The industrial area
3.3.4 Other ditches and pits
3.3.5 Inhumation burials
3.4 The medieval field system
4 THE FINDS
4.1 The Iron Age pottery Dennis Jackson
4.1.1 Fabrics
4.1.2 Forms
4.1.3 Decoration and surface finish
4.1.4 Discussion
4.2 The Romano British pottery Tora Hylton
4.2.1 Fabrics and Forms
Fabric E Mortaria
4.2.2 Chronology
Early Roman Pottery
Later Roman Pottery
3.3 Roman building materials Tora Hylton and Andy Chapman
Fabrics
3.4 Other finds Tora Hylton
Iron
Lead
Glass
Quernstone
3.5 The Coins Ian Meadows
3.6 The faunal and environmental evidence
4 SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL AND PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS
4.1 The stratigraphic record
4.2 The Iron Age Pottery
4.3 The Roman pottery
4.4 The Finds
4.5 The Building materials
4.6 The faunal evidence
4.7 The human remains
5 REPORTING AND ARCHIVE
5.1 Reporting
5.3 The site archive
6 METHODS, RESOURCES AND PROGRAMMING
6.1 Work completed
6.2 Proposed work
6.3 Key Personnel
6.4 Timetable
Northamptonshire Archaeology
Tora Hylton, Mark Roughley, and Alex Thorne
ABSTRACT
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Wootton Fields development
1.2 The circumstances of the excavation
1.3 Topography and geology
1.4 The archaeological background
1.5 The archaeological context
1.6 Acknowledgements
2 THE EXCAVATION AND RECORDING OF THE VILLA
2.1 Aims and objectives
2.2 Geophysical Survey Peter Masters
2.2.1 Introduction
2.2.2 Magnetometer survey
2.2.3 Results
2.2.4 Resistivity survey
3 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
3.1 The Chronological Sequence
3.2 The Iron Age Settlement
3.3 The Roman Villa
3.3.1 The villa enclosure
3.3.2 The villa building
3.3.3 The industrial area
3.3.4 Other ditches and pits
3.3.5 Inhumation burials
3.4 The medieval field system
4 THE FINDS
4.1 The Iron Age pottery Dennis Jackson
4.1.1 Fabrics
4.1.2 Forms
4.1.3 Decoration and surface finish
4.1.4 Discussion
4.2 The Romano British pottery Tora Hylton
4.2.1 Fabrics and Forms
Fabric E Mortaria
4.2.2 Chronology
Early Roman Pottery
Later Roman Pottery
3.3 Roman building materials Tora Hylton and Andy Chapman
Fabrics
3.4 Other finds Tora Hylton
Iron
Lead
Glass
Quernstone
3.5 The Coins Ian Meadows
3.6 The faunal and environmental evidence
4 SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL AND PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS
4.1 The stratigraphic record
4.2 The Iron Age Pottery
4.3 The Roman pottery
4.4 The Finds
4.5 The Building materials
4.6 The faunal evidence
4.7 The human remains
5 REPORTING AND ARCHIVE
5.1 Reporting
5.3 The site archive
6 METHODS, RESOURCES AND PROGRAMMING
6.1 Work completed
6.2 Proposed work
6.3 Key Personnel
6.4 Timetable
Northamptonshire Archaeology