Monument record 3229/1/1 - Wollaston Roman villa

Cropmarks identified on aerial photographs clearly show a small corridor villa with most of the wall lines still visible. Fieldwalking survey over the site found a large number of artefacts including Roman pottery and building material including tesserae and roof and flue tiles. Scheduled monument.

{1} Fieldwalking over the site of a Romano-British villa in 1967, by R. Harper

{3/12} Site of Roman Villa found by St Joseph using aerial photography at 901649 in Wollaston parish. It consists of a range of rooms with a parallel corridor running between two larger rooms, which project slightly forwards at either end of the range.

{6/13} SP 901649 Cropmark of a villa. In the field several sherds, mainly of 4C date, a scatter of limestone and tufa, roof tiles, some of stone, painted wall plaster, red and white tesserae, Kiln waste, coins of Severus Alexander, Tetricus I, and two other late coins, an iron lock and a small bronze bell all found since 1959 and
now in Northampton museum. APs indicate this villa to be situated at SP 90096499. No excavation has taken place. Perambulation revealed 3c./4c. sherds, oyster shell, plaster and Ro brick fragments. All material was left on the site.

{9} A small corridor villa with most of the internal walls still visible. Immediately to the south east a series of circular structures is also visible. From the site of the villa have come limestone blocks, red and white tesserae, brick and roof and flue tiles, as well as much Roman pottery including samian, painted wall-plaster, three coins, a small bronze bell, an iron lock, pieces of baked clay, perhaps kiln bars, a few worked flints and black hand-made pottery, probably of Iron Age. A leaf-shaped arrowhead has been found in the field to the south.

{10} Cropmarks of a small Romano-British corridor villa

{11} Listed in gazetteer of Roman villas

{14/15} A Roman villa site and adjacent boundary ditched enclosure system is visible as cropmark on aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. Located in a field corner about 578 metres NW of Vicarage Farm and centred at SP 90073 64990, the villa is a rectangular pale cropmark about 23 x 11.5 metres, internally subdivided into at least 9 rectangular or subrectangular enclosures or rooms. Centred about 85 metres to the SW are a series of fragmentary but interconnected ditched enclosures that may be field boundaries or boundary ditches that extend over an area about 4 metres SW-NE and 103 metres NW-SE.

<1> Northampton Museum Archive Index, (unchecked) (Index). SNN36250.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP96SW11 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<3> 1961, The Journal of Roman Studies, 51/134 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN11345.

<4> Hall D.N., 1971, Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal (Vol.6), p.3 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN34512.

<5> HOLLOWELL R., 1971, Aerial Photography and Fieldwork in the Upper Nene Valley, 6/18 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN106546.

<6> Moore W.R.G., 1968, Roman Settlement in the Upper and Middle Nene Valley, p.73 (Uncertain). SNN15188.

<7> Northampton Museum Topographical Index, Site List (unchecked) (Index). SNN1470.

<8> Brown, A E (ed), 1972, Northamptonshire Archaeology, 7/38 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN25623.

<9> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.176 site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<10> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<11> Scott, E., 1993, A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain, p. 148, NH 118 (Monograph). SNN110345.

<12> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, J K St Joseph ABD 94 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<13> Colquhoun, FD, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, 10-SEP-70 (Notes). SNN111540.

<14> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NHC 2879/25 29-JUN-1985 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<15> Info Terra Ltd; Blue Sky; Tele Atlas, 2005, Google Earth Imagery, 26-JUN-2005 ACCESSED 25-MAR-2019 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111743.

<16> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 6:22PM