Villas, Sanctuaries and Settlement in the Romano-British Countryside : : New Perspectives and Controversies.

• Superior document: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology ; v.95
• Author: Henig, Martin.
• TeilnehmendeR: Soffe, Grahame.; Adcock, Kate.
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, 2023.; ©2023.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (385 pages)

This volume brings together a range of papers on buildings that have been categorised as 'villas', mainly in Roman Britain, from the Isle of Wight to Shropshire. It comprises the first such survey for almost half a century.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Information -- Copyright Information -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Roman villas in Britain and beyond -- Figure 1.1 The 'Leopard Mosaic', from Dewlish villa, Dorset. This was recently acquired for Dorset County Museum from private owners, after a fund-raising campaign. (Photo courtesy of Dorset County Museum and Anthony Beeson) -- Figure 1.2. Map of villas in Table 1.1, and of the villas that are the subject of papers in this volume (individually named). NB, seven villas in Table 1.1, Aiskew (N Yorks), Beadlam (N Yorks), Eastfield (N Yorks), Ingleby Barwick (Teesside), Ketton (Rutl -- Where, when and what for? Coin use in the Romano-British countryside -- Figure 2.1. The distribution of all Roman coins recorded by the PAS between 1997 and 2011 (a dot can represent anything from a single coin to an assemblage of more than 1000). -- Figure 2.2. The distribution of site and parish assemblages. -- Figure 2.3. Bar-chart profile for rural coin loss compared with the PAS mean. -- Figure 2.4. The distribution of, a) all sites with specifically 'rural' site profiles, compared with, -- b) the distribution of villas (English Heritage dataset). -- Figure 2.5. The decline of rural coin loss in the fourth century AD, a) late third to early fourth century profiles. -- Villa mosaics and archaeology -- Figure 3.1. Whitley Grange villa, painting of the mosaic by David Neal. (Copyright David Neal) -- Figure 3.2. Bignor villa, Ganymede mosaic. (From Lysons 1817, pl. V) -- Figure 3.3. Bradford on Avon villa, mosaic in apse. (Photograph P. Witts, courtesy of M. Corney) -- Figure 3.4. Verulamium, Building XXVII,2, Room 8/9, Bacchus mosaic, detail. (Copyright School of Archaeology, University of Oxford) -- The Roman villas of the Lower Nene Valley and the Praetorium at Castor -- Figure 4.1. The area of the Lower Nene Valley.

Figure 4.2. The villa at Ailsworth shown under excavation by Edmund Artis in the 1820s. -- Figure 4.3. The villa at Cotterstock showing three of the four courtyards. -- Figure 4.4. Plan of the site at Bedford Purlieus. -- Figure 4.5. View of building 'y' at Bedford Purlieus under excavation in 2010. -- Figure 4.6. Comparative plans of some Nene Valley courtyard villas. -- Figure 4.7. The site at Fotheringhay with a villa and its possible associated village. -- Figure 4.8. The complex site at Lynch Farm showing dispersed Roman buildings. -- Figure 4.9. Major villa distribution in the Lower Nene Valley. -- Figure 4.10. Possible villa estates at Yarwell and Fotheringhay. -- Figure 4.11. Major Roman buildings within the Fenland basin and the Lower Nene Valley. -- Figure 4.12. View of Castor village from the east. The palatial Roman building extended from the right of the churchyard to beyond the road on the left of the picture. The 'North Range' extended beyond the church to east and west across the top of the slo -- Figure 4.13. Artis' map of Castor village made in 1828. -- Figure 4.14. Artis' excavations of the bath house below Castor church. -- Figure 4.15. Roman walls protruding out of nineteenth-century garden walls at Stocks Hill, Castor. -- Figure 4.16. Part of the massive wall foundations between Rooms 2 and 3 (see Fig. 4.18) of the 'North Range' at Castor. (Photo courtesy of G. B. Dannell and J. P. Wild) -- Figure 4.17. Excavations at 'Castor Barns' (see Fig. 4.19). The extent of the building at Castor can be judged by the fact that the' North Range' extended beyond the church in the distance. -- Figure 4.18. Plan of the 'North Range' at Castor. -- Figure 4.19. Plan of known Roman buildings at the 'Praetorium' at Castor.

Figure 4.20. Photograph of excavations at the 'North Range' of the Praetorium at Castor showing the robbed positions of massive quoin stones. (Photo courtesy of G. B. Dannell and J. P. Wild) -- Figure 4.21. Massive quoin stones built into the early medieval fabric of Castor church. -- Piddington, Northamptonshire: wealthy private farm or imperial property? -- Figure 5.1. General plan of the villa, showing all features and the main phases discussed in the text. (Drawing: Nich Hogben) -- Figure 5.2. The pre-villa phase, c. 50 BC - AD 44, showing four D-shaped structures, six round houses, circular structures (with the outline of the later villa). (Drawing: Nich Hogben) -- Figure 5.3. Copper alloy Nertomarus brooch from the Mosel region of Germany, found in a round-house drip gully. -- Figure 5.4. Fragment of an Etruscan spice strainer. -- Figure 5.5. Phase 1 -- early rectangular wooden and stone buildings, forming the 'proto-villa'. For its position in relation to the later villa, of the second century onwards, see Fig. 5.1. (Drawing: Nich Hogben) -- Figure 5.6. Phase 2 -- 'cottage- type' villa, AD 90-100/150. (Drawing Nich Hogben) -- Figure 5.7. Building 16, which partly overlay the western fort defences. For its position in relation to the rest of the complex, see Fig. 5.1. -- Figure 5.8. Fragment of painted wall-plaster with a floral design, from Building 16. -- Figure 5.9. Phase 4 -- the villa, c. AD 160-c. 190, with garden postholes. (Drawing: Nich Hogben) -- Figure 5.10. Stone base for a timber water tank, for the garden's irrigation system, adjacent to the well. -- Figure 5.11. Tiles stamped TIB.CL. [SE]VERI, the 'SE' being a later addition to the metal stamp. -- Figure 5.12. Phase 5 -- the post-fire enlargement, c. AD 190 - now a true villa of 'winged-corridor' type. (Drawing: Nich Hogben).

Figure 5.13. Computer-generated model of the third-century villa of 'winged corridor' type. (Roy Friendship-Taylor and Chris Lydamore) -- Figure 5.14. Painted wall-plaster depicting a human face, against a blue frit background. -- Figure 5.16. Gladiator (secutor) clasp-knife, third century (replica, as it would have appeared when new). -- Figure 5.17. A third/fourth-century copper alloy key handle, in the form of a panther's head. -- Figure 5.18. Roof tile, with ligatured stamp: PROC. -- Whitley Grange villa, Shropshire: a hunting lodge and its landscape -- Figure 6.1. The landscape context of Whitley Grange and the Rea Brook Valley. (Drawing by Nigel Dodds) -- Figure 6.2. Phase plans of Whitely Grange villa (after Gaffney and White 2007, Figure4.24). (Drawing by Bryony Rider) -- Figure 6.3. High-level view of the excavated baths suite looking east towards Meole Brace roadside settlement. The natatio is in the foreground. (Photo courtesy of RAF Shawbury) -- Figure 6.4. Aerial photograph of the excavation in 1996 showing the mosaic-floored room (foreground) and baths suite beyond. The wooded valley of the Rea Brook lies just beyond the villa. (Photo by Roger White) -- Figure 6.5. Map showing occurrence of cropmark enclosures in the Wroxeter Hinterland Survey study area with the occurrence of Anglo-Saxon -leah place names. (Drawing by Nigel Dodds, after Tony Maguire) -- Figure 6.6. A late Roman hunting party arrives at Whitley Grange villa. (Reconstruction by Alan Duncan, Courtesy of Shropshire Museums Service) -- Moor Park, Hertfordshire: two evaluations of an excavation of the 1950s -- Figure 7.1. Moor Park: location sketch map, showing the villa site, The More, and positions of possible water sources. -- Figure 7.2. Moor Park: plan, redrawn from a site plan prepared in the 1950s.

Figure 7.3. Moor Park: Room 1, the 'deep room', looking south. Scale on ranging rod in feet. -- Figure 7.4. Moor Park: Room 1, showing the three niches in the south wall. Scale rod in feet. -- Great Witcombe, Gloucestershire: a reinterpretation of the site as a temple rather than a villa -- Figure 8.1. Plan of Witcombe building by Thomas Lloyd-Baker. (After Samuel Lysons 1813) -- Figure 8.2. Small fountain column. -- Figure 8.3. Plan of drainage system from central Portico and Rooms 34/53. (After Leach 1998) -- Figure 8.4. Plan of phase 1. -- Figure 8.5. Plan of phase 2. -- Figure 8.6. Plan of bath suites and access routes in the west range. -- Figure 8.7. Reconstruction of Room 13. -- Figure 8.8. Reconstruction of lower baths. -- Figure 8.10. Reconstruction of Room 46 arch into ante-chamber of upper baths. -- Figure 8.9. Reconstruction of upper baths. -- Figure 8.11. Reconstruction of central gallery and octagon, an exterior perspective. -- Figure 8.12. Reconstruction of internal view from the rear of octagon (Room 15). -- Figure 8.13. Vertical view of restored floor in Room 15. -- Figure 8.14. Reconstruction view of well 32, showing steps and pool. -- Figure 8.15. Attached dwarf column from front portico. -- Figure 8.16. Reconstruction of interiors in north-east corner of the east range. -- Figure 8.17. Reconstruction view from vestibule Room 27 to the main staircase. -- Figure 8.18. Reconstruction of interior of phase 2 aisled entrance hall. -- Figure 8.19. Angled timber stair and doorway in Room 26. -- Figure 8.20. Roman buildings in the vicinity of the main complex at Great Witcombe. Main contour lines are shown except where they coincide with the survey detail. (After Holbrook 2003, Figure 9) -- Figure 8.21. Reconstruction of the central octagon and portico of Great Witcombe in phase 2.

Figure 8.22. Reconstruction view of Great Witcombe, phase 2.