Monument record 1767/2/1 - Stanwick Roman villa, Redlands Farm

The first phase of Roman settlement was a mill building with barns set within a system of ditched enclosures. The mill was subsequently converted into a winged villa with rear corridor. A verandah was subsequently added to the façade. The villa declined in the late 4th to early 5th centuries.

{1} The mill was a simple rectangular building, 13.94m long and 6.8m wide externally, consisting of walls built in even courses of roughly dressed limestone facing a rubble core. The foundations were only partially exposed in one or two places, generally consisting of rubble infill. The building was divided into two internally by a cross-wall. The east end of the structure was cellared to a depth of 0.5m, so that the door in its S wall opened out onto the surrounding ground level. The cellar was 5.1m long (N-S) and 3.9m wide, and the door was 3.4m wide. The N end of the cellar’s E wall acted as the E jamb of this door, and the lowest four courses extended beyond the jamb to provide additional solidity. Floor levels associated with the W end of the building were identified but not examined.
The N wall of the mill was flanked by a parallel wall, 1m to its N. This could be traced for 7m, extending 1.6m E of the NE corner of the mill. At this point the wall appears to have bridged the leat, continuing on its E side for a further 2 m. The wall could not be traced to the E of this. It seems to have acted in part as a revetment for the mill. Only the upper courses of the wall were exposed. The N face was not present, but the rubble core was exposed; it stood approximately 0.5m high.

The sand island on which the mill was built lay where the two palaeochannels came close together before diverging again. The island location also meant that the mill was above the level of the leats. This affects the interpretation of wheel configuration. The arrangement of the mill building at the side of the leats makes a vertical wheel most likely. The only part of the mill structure which crossed either leat was a wall which would not have been substantial enough to hold the housing for a horizontal wheel. If a vertical wheel was fitted, however, the gearing mechanism could be housed in the cellar at the E end of the mill.
Phase Iib (late second to third century) was characterised by the conversion of the mill into a winged villa with rear corridor, south facing façade, a hypocaust with painted wall plaster, and a tessellated pavement.
The mill building was retained. A hypocaust was inserted into the eastern cellar. Dwarf walls were built around the interior of the cellar to help support the suspensura. Tufa and tile voussoirs were recovered from the rubble infill of the cellar. This suggests that the hypocaust had been barrel vaulted. Tile pilae were used to support the remainder of the suspensura.. The N wall of the cellar was breached to provide a flue from the furnace in the rear corridor.
The W room of the mill was divided in two by a wall laid directly on the earlier floor, without a foundation. Access between the rooms was by a door at the south end of the wall. The small amount of excavation undertaken in these rooms makes it difficult to assign floor layers to Phase Iib or Iic. The following floors could belong to either phase:
A plain white tessellated pavement; only a small fragment (2.1m x 1.3m) survived at the N end of the room. The tesserae were typically 20-30mm cubes, bedded on a layer of pea grit
Floor of opus signinum bedded on medium-coarse gravel. This was left unexcavated so it is not known whether this was the first floor in this phase.
The central room at least would appear to have been furnished with painted wall plaster at this time. At least two painted plaster skins were identifiable. It is possible that the eastern room also had painted plaster at this stage, although refurbishment of the room in Phase lIc obscured any evidence for this.
A rear corridor was added to the north of the mill block. Its main wall was built over the infilled remains of the western leat. A furnace was placed at its east end. A door was created between the rear corridor and the east wing. It is presumed that a corresponding door existed at the west end but later robbing had removed any evidence for it.
Wings were built to the east and west of the mill contemporaneously with construction of the rear corridor. Both wings were 12.8m long and 4.7m wide externally. The east wing was floored with a compacted layer of red buff clay. No floor layers could be positively assigned to this phase in the west wing. No evidence could be found for doors between either wing and the central block.

Phase Iic (mid-third to fourth century ) saw further development of the villa, with the provision of a verandah/corridor to the façade, division of the wing rooms, insertion of a mosaic pavement, and the enclosure of the hypocaust furnace.
The front verandah/corridor consisted of a beam slot running between the projecting wings. The slot was 0.5m wide and 0.18m deep. No individual post settings could be identified. The verandah was paved in limestone. The paving had been partially removed at the W end of the room, but at the E end it survived intact. The S edge was straight, suggesting that the stones had been laid against a wall or beam.
Each wing had been subdivided twice. The first division of the W wing was achieved by building a wall across the S end. Both rooms created has simple, compacted earth floors. A small dump of tesserae was found, as well as three coin moulds. The wall was later replaced, 1 m further to the N. The E wing was developed in the same way.
The centre room of the old mill building appears to have been furnished with a patterned mosaic. None of this survived in situ, but numerous tesserae were found scattered over the floor of the room. The tesserae were typically 10mm cubes in various colours including white, yellow and brown. The cubes found in the east wing were of the same size and colour range, and probably represent waste or chippings from the construction of the mosaic. The room was also provided with painted wall plaster, small fragments of which survived.
Further changes were made to the hypocaust. The walls of the cellar were once again thickened all round, with flue vents being built into some of the walls. The original flue to the furnace was blocked, and a new one built in its place. The room was also furnished with painted wall plaster, but at this stage it is not possible to determine whether this occurred in Phase lIb or lIc.
The furnace serving the hypocaust was enclosed by the construction of a wall across the E end of the room. At the same time the original door was blocked. It is not clear, however, whether the door was totally blocked and the furnace enclosure carried to the full height of the walls. A stoke hole would have been necessary, and presumably access into the furnace room would have been required from time to time for cleaning and maintenance.

The villa declined in Phase Iid (late fourth to fifth century ). The wings were abandoned and demolished. The N gable ends of each wing were found where they had been pulled over. Only four courses of the west wing gable survived. It was notable that this was the only area of the villa to have suffered any stone robbing.
The collapsed E wing gable survived virtually intact. It was 6.45m long (N-S) and up to 5m wide. Twenty nine masonry courses were present. The lowest ten courses were laid in a herringbone pattern, incorporating a single string course. The construction changed to tabula courses above this, although some of the upper courses incorporated pitched stone in the centre of the wall. A small window was found close to the top of the gable.
Elsewhere in the building, the hypocaust was abandoned. The walls of the cellar gradually decayed, collapsing piecemeal onto the suspensura which began to break up. The N half of the cellar was completely infilled with rubble, occasionally incorporating articulated blocks of masonry and fragments of painted wall plaster. A crude limestone surface was noted over some of the rubble infill, suggesting that the room was temporarily reoccupied.
The tessellated pavement was mostly removed, leaving only a small panel.

The wings appear to have had very different functions, although their subdivisions appear to have been contemporaneous. The W wing had simple beaten earth floors. Evidence for minor industrial activity included tesserae and chippings, and fragments from three coin moulds. The latter suggests that counterfeiting was carried out on the site. The W wing, then, appears to have been a workshop. The E wing, by contrast, had properly lain floors, most noticably the limestone pavements. These give the rooms a functional rather than luxurious aspect. The E wing, therefore, may have contained the bedrooms.
The lower ten courses of the E wing gable were in herringbone construction with one string course. The upper part of the wall was predominantly built of tabula courses. It seems likely that the change in technique represents the addition of an upper storey to the wing.

Keevill, GD, & Scott, IR, 2002, Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northamptonshire: The Roman Evidence, Post-Excavation Project Design, Volume 1 (Report). SNN114127.

<1> OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 1992, Redlands Farm, Stanwick: Site Narrative, p.36-7 (checked) (Report). SNN69021.

<2> OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 1992, Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northamptonshire: Post-Excavation Assessment, (unchecked) (Report). SNN75157.

<3> Humble J., 1994, Redlands Farm, South Stanwick, Northamptonshire: Project Specification and Outline (The Prehistoric Evidence) (Document). SNN102706.

<4> Keevill G.D. & Booth, P., 1997, Settlement, sequence and structure: Romano-British stone-built roundhouses at Redlands Farm, Stanwick (Northants), and Alchester (Oxon) (Article). SNN111333.

<5> KEEVIL G D, 1992, Life on the edge: archaeology and alluvium at Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northants (Article). SNN111335.

<6> Keevill G.D., 1996, The reconstruction of the Romano-British villa at Redlands Farm, Northamptonshire (Article). SNN111334.

<7> Parry S., 1993, Raunds Area Survey Report, p.30-31 (checked) (Draft). SNN1175.

<8> Keevill G.D., 1991, Evaluations and Excavations in Northamptonshire by The Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1989-90 (Ditchford and Stanwick), p102 (Checked) (Article). SNN62113.

<9> Biddulph, E, Keevill, GD, & Scott, IR, 2002, Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northamptonshire: The Roman Evidence, Volume 2: Tables, Figures and Plates (Report). SNN114103.

<10> Biddulph, E, Keevill, GD, & Scott, IR, 2002, Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northamptonshire: The Roman Evidence, Volume 1: Text (Report). SNN114104.

<11> Keevill, GD, & Scott, IR, 2002, Redlands Farm, Stanwick, Northamptonshire: The Roman Evidence, Post-Excavation Project Design, Volume 2: The Specialist Reports (Report). SNN114126.

Record last edited

Sep 27 2022 10:52AM