Monument record 734/1 - Mileoak Roman Villa (Formerly known as Foscote Roman Villa)

Around 65-75 AD a substantial rectangular stone building was constructed. It had corridors on both long sides, twelve rooms, at least one mosaic a hypocaust and a cellar. Demolished in c 140-160 AD. Also evidence for late Iron Age occupation.

{1} On the road from Towcester, in a westerly direction, about a mile and a half towards Abthorpe, foundation tiles are dug up, the road apparently passing over the site; a Roman coin of the lower empire was found in an adjoining sawpit.

{3} Fragment of mortaria found at the delf between Towcester and Abthorpe. It bears the potter's mark on the rim, PERTVI.M. Section shown Fig.3 p.108.

{4} Name 'Mileoak Roman villa' suggested as more appropriate than previously recorded name 'Foscote villa'. Pottery and structural remains were first noted on the site of this villa about 1846-8, and VCH Vol.1 includes the site in its list of villas (no.23 Foscote Villa). The precise location was forgotten until 1954 when the field named Delf No.1 on the south side of the Towcester - Abthorpe road, which had been under grass in living memory, was ploughed and the site again recognised by locals.
Excavation was undertaken. There was Belgic occupation below the villa. 13 areas of burnt material, probably hearths. On surface of a thin layer of ironstone cobbling. No other associated structures were located, apart from a few possible postholes. The small amount of pottery recovered indicates a late Belgic date.
Around AD 65-75 a substantial rectangular stone building c.40m x 16m was constructed on the site. It had corridors along both long sides, twelve rooms, at least one mosaic and a hypocaust and a cellar. This building continued in use without major alteration until c.AD 140-160, when it was demolished.
Works to the road in the mid-C19th had left the building untouched on the south side, but on the north side the land surface had been cut in a slope down to the new carriageway, thereby removing most of the north-western corner of the building.
Small test trenches to the outer walls were cut in 1954 after ploughing had exposed the villa. The approximate extent of the villa was determined.
The threat from ploughing resulted in excavation by The Ministry of Works in 1955, and a small area was left unploughed. In 1956 the excavation was extended to a small part of the field on the north side of the road. Plan: Fig.3. Photographs of excavation trenches.
The larger part of the building lay to the south of the road. There was a corridor on the east and west sides, and five rooms within the central area. Details of structure and room by room analysis given, including possible wall panels.
The western side of the building to the north had been destroyed, possibly by ploughing. This northern section also contained a cellared area with extremely deep footings. Five remnants of pilae were found in Room 11, along with fragments of box or flue tile. Also many coarse red tile tesserae 1-1.5ins square were found, indicating that these were used either entirely for the flooring in this room, or possibly only as a border to a finer mosaic.
The area under the road was investigated by opening eight small trenches in the roadside verges. Remnants of the footings were found, along with internal partitions, but this was all that survived beneath the road level.
C.6m from the east of the stone building, and on a different alignment, was a gravel path c.0.2m thick. At its north end the path overlay destruction rubble from the villa building.
12m to the east of the villa building part of a probable ditch was excavated, also orientated north-south. Its backfill contained clay with fragments of tile and wall plaster, along with samian dating to the Flavian or early Trajanic periods, and so must have been backfilled in the late C1st AD. It was very irregular and may have been a quarry for clay for the stone building, but a drain associated with the building would seem to be the most likely function. More details given. Plan.

{5} Easternmost corridor of wattle and daub on masonry foundations. A stokehole was entered from the east. The corridor and hypocaust now lay beneath the road. Brick tesserae floors were identified in the living rooms in the north, with clay floors in the south. Letter and sketch map by M.Thompson.

{6} A late Iron Age phase included numerous hearths, postholes and cobbling, with pottery. A Romano-British rectangular stone building 40m x 16m, with a corridor on each of the long sides. Twelve rooms were identified. At least one mosaic, a hypocaust and a cellar were found. An extensive scatter of Roman pottery and other occupation debris covers the site.

{8} Iron Age settlement and Roman villa (SP 669 477) The main phase of occupation was represented by a rectangular stone building, 40 m. by 16 m. with a corridor on each of the long sides and containing 12 rooms. At least one mosaic, a hypocaust and a cellar were found. It was constructed in AD65-75 and remained apparently unaltered until AD140-160 when it was demolished.

{9} Limestone walls c.20ins thick with painted plaster on the inner faces. Two floors of green clay and one of red triangular tiles. A possible doorway 6ft wide in the centre of the east wall.

{10} Site 23, Foscote. About 1.5 miles on the road from Towcester to Abthorpe, close to a little delf, a sawpit, and the road itself, numerous bricks, building and roofing tiles, Samian and other pot sherds, including a pelvis stamped PERTUI-M, and a coin of the Lower Empire were found c.1846-8. The site was not explored.

{11} 1 1/2 miles SW of Towcester, near Mileoak Farm, the Roman building found in 1846-8 was tested again 1954-5. The building measured 130' by 50' from N to S and faced W, with a portion on the W, and a closed in corridor of wattle and daub on masonry foundations on the E. The N part, with brick tessarae floors, contained the living rooms, and the S. half, with clay floors, the outbuildings. At the NE end traces of stokehole was entered from
the E corridor and heated the hypocausts which seem to have been covered by the road. Beneath the Roman building were found sandstone rubble floors with numerous hearths, associated with late Belgic pottery.

{14} Among the relics of brick and tile, a fragment of a mortaria, with the potter's name, PERTVI.M.(?). The bricks were of very fine manufacture, thicker than usual, and one found in quarter circle, the whole diameter nearly 24 inches, and about three and a half inches thick. There were fragments of foundation tiles, which were large and overlapped. Roof tiles also of a smaller size, like the modern fragments of black urns, were found.

{15} A heavy scatter of Romano British occupation debris found in plough at the indicated site. Mr Green was not contacted.

Historic England, Undated, Mileoak Villa Excavation, Photographs of excavation (Archive). SNN114431.

<1> PRETTY E., 1847, Proceedings of The Association, 1846, p.355 (checked) (Journal). SNN13366.

<2> 1956, The Journal of Roman Studies, p.134 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN13176.

<3> PRETTY E., 1852, On The Discovery of Roman Remains Near Towcester, p.108-9 (checked) (Article). SNN13368.

<4> Green C.; Draper J., 1978, The Mileoak Roman Villa, Handley, Towcester, Northamptonshire: Report on the Excavations of 1955 and 1956, p.28-66 (unchecked) (Article). SNN47605.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP64NE9 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<6> HENSHAM B.E., Manuscript Notes, (checked) (Manuscript). SNN60169.

<7> Hall D., 2001, The Woodland Landscapes of Southern Northamptonshire, p.33-46 (unchecked) (Article). SNN102520.

<8> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.158/Site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<9> Ashby V.S., 1954, Correspondence., (unchecked) (Letter). SNN47604.

<10> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.199 (checked) (Series). SNN100368.

<11> 1957, The Journal of Roman Studies, p.214 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN13177.

<12> Unknown, 1954, Mileoak Roman Villa test pits, 1954 (Photographic prints (B&W)). SNN111074.

<13> Ashby V.S., 1954, Corresponence, (unchecked) (Letter). SNN55571.

<14> PRETTY E., 1849, Proceedings of The British Archaeological Association, 1848 (Vol.4), p.396 (checked) (Journal). SNN13367.

<15> Baird, J., 1970, Field investigators comments, F1 JB 29-JAN-70 (Notes). SNN110341.

<16> Scott, E., 1993, A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain, p. 147-8, NH 112 (Monograph). SNN110345.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:17PM