Roman Villa at Alresford Lodge (EHER 2115)

A Roman winged-corridor villa was found in a field adjacent to Alresford Lodge, discovered in 1884 and excavated in 1885 by H. Laver. The walls had been robbed down to the foundations and the villa was probably more extensive originally. Mosaic pavements, plain red pavements and a hypocaust were in evidence. Finds included painted wall plaster, tiles, pottery and single coins of Faustina and Commodus. Also an iron spearhead and axe which Laver thought to be Saxon but VCH dates the axe to 4th century. Many cinerary urns were found in the NE corner of the field indicating a probable cremation cemetery.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. A Roman corridor villa found in a field adjacent to Alresford Lodge, discovered in 1884 and excavated 1885 by H. Laver. See plan. The walls had been robbed down to the foundations and the villa was probably more extensive originally. <1> A tessellated pavement was discovered in 1884 and, after investigation, numerous fragments of pottery, glass, bone, plaster, 20 square feet of red tessellated pavement were found and the next year (1885) excavations continued revealing walls hypocaust and more pavement. A villa of the corridor type was revealed with its principal rooms to the SW. <1> The few finds included pottery, window glass, two coins of Faustina and Commodus, a spearhead and an axe, both of iron, several tiles and much painted wall plaster and broken mosaic. <2> The spearhead and axe were thought to be Saxon in date but VCH dates the axe to 4th century. Many cinerary urns were found in the north-east corner of the field. The finds are in Colchester Museum. The published siting has been adjusted slightly to agree with site plan in <7>. Nothing is visible on air photographs.. <12> ES 2 Listed as the site of a winged-corridor villa. <15> Other refs: <3>-<9> <13> <14> <16>