Monument record 7150/1 - Wootton Fields Roman Villa

A Roman villa comprising a simple strip building with front and rear corridors with a bath house at the south end of the range and set within a square ditched enclosure. The building was planned prior to development, but were subsequently reburied for long-term preservation.

{1} Plan of Wootton Hall villa and associated features.

{2} Archaeological excavation was undertaken prior to development. A simple strip building 29m x 9m wide was aligned north to south and stood within a near square, ditched enclosure. The ditch had been cut more than once and, in its earlier use, there was an internal timber palisade. The building contained corridors at the front and rear giving a total width of 14.5m.
A single room at the north end of the range contained a hypocaust, decorated with wall plaster. To the south of this there were probable remnants of crosswalls indicating the presence of further rooms. Fragments of tufa and pieces of broken up opus signinum floor from the northern end of the site suggests that an early bath suite may have formed a northern wing. This was probably replaced by the southern bath suite, of which a single room, containing a pillared hypocaust, was located. An in situ- opus signinium floor had been removed from this room during topsoil stripping.
A series of hearths and ovens/furnaces lay to the north of the building and appear to represent a final phase of industrial usage. Some inhumation burials of uncertain date were recovered to the north and west of the main building.
The villa stood within a near square, ditched enclosure. The ditch had been recut more than once and, in its earlier use, there was an internal timber palisade.
Inhumation burials were present in three specific locations. Two were uncovered in the northern industrial area, both adults, and appeared to be extended and supine burials. In both instances a grave cut could only be vaguely discerened against the complex background stratigraphy and it is possible that there are further burials in the area. They seem most likely to be no earlier than late Roman in date but this has not been determined. Two inhumations were partially exposed at the northern end of the site. One was late adolescent and one adult, both interred prone, face down. At least three further inhumations lay at the eastern edge of the estate road corridor. All that could be recovered were a skull, and humerii and shoulder blades.

{5} Material brought in from metal detection, April 2002. Grid Ref given as SP766 563, near area fenced off as known 'villa' site, material recovered from spoil tips from construction and later, from builder's excavated material for foundations.

{6} A stone-lined drain along the northern side of the villa range ran towards a ditch terminal, suggesting that the ditch functioned as a drainage ditch, perhaps serving the postulated early bath house at the northern end of the villa. To the south-east the ditch ran downslope, heading to the east of a recent pond, but perhaps running into an earlier pond at this same location. It was probably a pond in this location that was dug out during the development work in 2002, and from which the metal detectorists were obtaining coins. This ditch was open into the fourth century.

<1> 1999, PLAN, (unchecked) (Plan). SNN47505.

<2> Chapman A., 2000, Archaeological Recording Of A Roman Villa At Wootton Fields, Northampton, January-February 1999 Asse, p.14 (unchecked) (Report). SNN100291.

<2> Chapman A., 2005, A Roman villa and an Anglo-Saxon burial at Wootton Fields, Northampton (Article). SNN112204.

<3> 2000-01, Northampton, Wootton Fields, Roman Villa, (checked) (Note). SNN103984.

<4> CHADWICK P., 1999, Archaeological Desk Based Assessment: Wootton Fields Extension, Wootton, Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Report). SNN63162.

<5> Woodfield P., 2002, Finds from the villa site, Wootton, Northampton, (checked) (Report). SNN103406.

<6> Chapman A; Thorne A., 2004, Further Excavation at Wootton Fields Roman Villa, p.5-6 (checked) (Report). SNN104571.

Record last edited

May 22 2023 12:13PM