Roman villa complex at Hill Farm (EHER 13859)

Excavations have uncovered the site of a Roman villa, dated from the late 1st century AD to the early 5th century. Four buildings were uncovered; the largest building was of masonry and rectangular in plan and was originally aisled and was built in the 2nd century AD, it appears to have been damaged in the last quarter of the 2nd century AD and then was rebuilt when a series of rooms were added and presumably the hypocaust and bath suite. It overlies an earlier smaller rectangular building which was destroyed in the mid-2nd century AD. The second smaller building was also of rectangular plan, it had stone footings, probably taken from another demolished building, probably a wooden super-structure and a tiled roof. Internally it had two rooms, one with a tessellated floor, the other with a floor of chalk and mortar. It appears to have been used for bronze working since fragments of crucibles, moulds and waste were found here. The third building was located on the hill above building one and is dated to the 4th century AD; it had insubstantial stone footings which indicates a wooden superstructure and a tiled roof, however finds of tesserae, window glass and painted wall plaster suggest a building of some sophistication. The fourth building's remains consisted of a rectangular floor of flint tile and gravel, but since no walls were uncovered it may have been a yard. It was located near the first building to the north and is dated to the late 2nd-3rd century AD. Circular huts were also located around these buildings and appear to be contemporary with the villa and were presumably used to house the workers. The large number of bronze artefacts from the site have been taken to suggest the villa may have been a rural religious centre. The discovery of miniature iron tools may support this interpretation. The buildings discovered may only be the villa's auxiliary structures and the main dwelling may be located on the hill above.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Roman Building (R) (Site of) (NAT). <1> 1948-1975. Excavations. An extensive Romano-British site has been revealed in OS field 130, about 700 yards south-east of Hill Farm, Gestingthorpe. Roman tile was first noticed, after ploughing, in 1948, and trial excavations by the farmer Mr H.P. Cooper, revealed several rubbish pits, one of which contained nails, an iron knife, much Belgic pottery, and Samian ware. In 1952 a drain dug round the west edge of the field revealed a dry-stone wall and two chalk floors 2 inches thick. It also disclosed an area about 100 feet by 50 feet of black soil containing much carbonized grain, with fragments of puddingstone and lava millstones. Other finds included a spear-point, a chisel, a brooch, pottery and a coin of Constantine I. Subsequent excavations by Mr Cooper have found remains at several other places in the same field. 1. TL 828388 A patch of building debris, including tesserae, some 100 ft by 50 ft, but no structure was found in position and only a little pottery. 2. TL 82773870 ('A' The basement floor and pillars of a hypocaust, measuring 14 ft by 9 1/2 ft. The filling contained much plaster, painted red, blue grey and yellow. Other finds were a bronze pin, an iron key, a bronze needle, pottery including Samian and a late 2nd century mortarium etc. South of the hypocaust was an area of building debris, including burnt daub impressed with a herring bone pattern. 3. TL 82833870 'B' Building foundations measuring 13 ft by 23 ft, comprised of dry flints and 20 inches thick. They covered a mass of earlier rubbish, including the almost complete roof of an earlier building. The west half of the floor was of red, black and yellow tesserae 1" square, too disturbed to preserve any pattern. The east half was of chalk and pieces of tile. The building had evidently been of wood, for hundreds of nails were found. 4. TL 82853872 'C' A floor of tile and stone was found but walls proved difficult to follow. A nearby ditch contained coins, four bronze bracelets and a brooch of c AD 50. Many small objects of both bronze and iron have been found as well as glass beads, bone implements etc. Over 300 coins have been found, including one Belgic and others running from Vespasian to Arcadius. It seems clear that the site was occupied continuously from the 1st century to the 4th or early 5th century. The large number of nails over 4000, points to the existence of wooden buildings. Other Roman remains may well lie in neighbouring fields: a ditch was observed on the east edge of the field 131 and two large patches of black soil in field 129. <2> - <5> August 1976. Field survey. Further excavation by Mr Cooper in the 1960s at site 'A' (correctly located at TL 82773873) revealed a corridor villa with bathhouse, hypocaust and apsidal protrusion at the south corner. The villa had overall measurements of 36.0m north-east by south-west by 18.0m transversely and lay in a natural south-west facing hollow. It has now been ploughed and only a light scatter of Romano-British pottery marks its site. An excavation still in progress at TL 82743884 has revealed fragmentary remains of a mosaic but no other evidence of a building. It is probable that the mosaic was removed from the villa and dumped here during rebuilding, but as yet no connection has been conclusively established. Surrounding the villa and ranged along a ridge 50.0m to the south-east, Mr Cooper has found finds indicative of considerable industrial activity particularly bronze working. A scatter of Romano-British black coarse ware sherds (2-3 per sqm) centred TL 82703860, suggests that occupation spreads into the adjacent south west field. All the finds from the area including over 500 coins, window glass and styli are in a private museum at Hill Farm and Mr. Cooper is in the process of publishing his conclusions of the site. A find of clay mould for a statuette has been published by Prof. Frere <6>. No finds have been made in the fields to the northeast and perambulation produced no evidence of any features. <7> Roman site at Wiggery Wood - scheduled. <8> Roman site at Wiggery Wood. Scheduled no 180. <9> ES 31 Listed as the possible site of a Roman villa. <10> Pre 2001. Excavations. Roman masonry buildings including one interpreted as a villa, associated pits, gullies, ditches, hearths, twelve circular huts (two of which were excavated) and burnt areas. Discovered at Hill Farm when Mr Cooper deep-ploughed part of his land; he began to excavate on his land in 1949 and continued up to 1975. The three excavated masonry buildings are interpreted as follows: Building 1. The villa. Approximately 36m long by 18.40m wide orientated north-east by south-west. A 1.50m wide gap in the footings at the north-west corner must represent an entrance. The original structure was almost certainly aisled; a row of large post-holes was found along the south-west side; another row of posts may be inferred on the opposite side of the building which was not fully excavated. The south-west end of the building was divided into four rooms, one with a semi-circular wall; the latter contained a hypocaust. The north-west of the building was divided into five rooms; these were fully excavated but no floor levels were found storage vessels were found in some of the rooms. About halfway along the western side the baths were located; the main room was about 4.30m by 2.60m with a floor of opus signinum and the bases of hypocaust pillars in situ. Wall plaster was recovered from the fill of the room. A channel of tile led through the north-east wall to a stokehole. There seems to have been an earlier building beneath Building 1 which was burnt down after the last quarter of the second century (thought to have been constructed in the late first century). Building 1 may have been constructed in the late second century, immediately after the fire, coins of AD 296 and AD 275 were found in the floors of Rooms 7 and 8; the baths produced a coin of AD 340. The latest material is early 5th century; a pot from the destruction rubble is probably fourth. Building 2. A small structure, about 5m x 8m; possibly used by a bronze worker. Finds include crucibles, a mould and bronze-casting waste. The superstructure is thought to have been timber. Postholes may represent an earlier building. Building 3. Sited towards the top of the hill; a rather insubstantial wall footing was excavated suggesting a wooden superstructure. No floor levels found. Magnetometer survey showed two rows of massive posts, so the building was aisled like Building 1. Finds included wall plaster and window glass. <11> Finds from the excavations are numerous and include: brooches; bracelets hammers; chisels; spearheads; styli; glass beads; worked bone, antler and jet. Further finds from fieldwalking in surrounding fields are also reported upon. <12> March 2015. Resistivity survey. A limited resistivity survey produced results which indicate potential archaeology. In the south-west portion of the surveyed area is an area of relatively higher resistance which suggests the possibility of some sort of “hard” area which may be remains of a building base. There are areas of greater resistivity adjacent to the villa wall which may be demolition material scatter. There is a hint that there may have been a wall running parallel and close to the villa. <13> See also: <14> - <27>