Monument record 724 - Wood Burcote Roman villa and temple

Villa site with suggested temple and alleged watermill. 3 sculptured heads found c.1880 [See individual records for more detail]

{1} Privately funded excavations in 1972-6, undertaken by P. Woods & R. Turland. The first excavation in 1973 was on a part of the site that had never been ploughed(?) at SP68494690. From 1974 excavations moved to an area in the south due to threat of ploughing. Severe damage was found and evidence of much 19thc stone robbing. Source includes discussion of the site in relation to the Alchester Road and villa at Wood Burcote.

{2} Excavations on the Roman site on Burcote Wood Farm have now been under way for four years. This site lies to the south of another which was probably discovered when three farm buildings were erected in the 1850s, marked on the OS sheet 64NW as Bath or Temple site (SP685470).

{5} Watching brief undertaken in 1986 by M Shaw. A layer of dark earth containing pottery was found beneath building rubble at a depth of 0.70-1.10m below ground level. The only feature recovered was a stakehole. The pottery recovered was of 2nd-century date.

{9} At SP68554699 is a strong spring and when the waterworks were constructed c 1880 it is said that the remains of a Roman bath were found. V Ashby can give no particulars (it was "in his fathers' time"), but the site also yielded 3 sculptured heads. 2 are now in the BM and the third is in Beford Modern School museum. (Temple?).

{10} A Roman stone head found at Towcester was given to the BM in the 1880's by Sir J Fenmor-Hesketh of Easton Neston house. (Probably one of those above {9}, the only head from Towcester traced to the BM between 1880 and 1890).

{11} An impressive head, described as an antifix, but more likely a funerary monument comes from Towcester. It shows Classical influence, but the treatment and expression is entirely native.

{12} Indicated site now occupied by waterworks.

{13} SP 684469 Excavation at Wood Burcote Farm by Woods has revealed heavy clay rings, 8 ins in diameter and from 1/2 into 2 ins thick, associated with fire-bars and other kiln debris from a pre-Flavian Iron Age/Romano British pottery kiln.

{14} Roman villa and temple (?)(SP 685469) 1 km. W of Wood Burcote, on limestones and clays at 107 m. above OD. Excavations between 1972 and 1976 revealed parts of a substantial villa and its outbuildings. The villa has not been completely excavated and parts of only six rooms and a portico have been exposed. It appears to have been built in the late C1st, over earlier timber structures, and to have gone out of use by the C3rd. Two of the rooms had painted wall-plaster. Adjacent to the villa on the N lay a small rectangular stone building of two rooms, erected just after AD 200. One room contained a T-shaped corn-drying oven and a second oven had been inserted into the floor after the building had collapsed. To the NE of the villa there was a three-celled building with a portico on one side. This was built originally as a single room probably in about AD 130-160 over C1st occupation debris and pits, and the two other rooms and the portico were added at a later date. Tesserae and wall-plaster were discovered around the building.
A late C1st rectangular stone building was discovered well to the N of the villa, beside a small stream. It had three later corn-drying ovens inside it and considerable area of blackened soil and carbonised grain lay around it. The excavators suggested that this building might have been a watermilll but there is no direct evidence for this. A Y-shaped corn-drying oven was excavated to the S. Other short lengths of walling were noted elsewhere.
Among the numerous finds from the excavation and from field- walking are stone mouldings, flue tiles and tesserae. A bronze scabbard-mount with Celtic decoration, associated with pottery of the second half of the C1st AD, was discovered in the bottom of a ditch near the possible mill. A small capital of limestone, a column base and part of a shaft were also found.{16, 17, 18}

{15} Listed in gazetteer of Roman villas.

<1> WOODS P., 1975, CBA GROUP 9 NEWSLETTER, 5/17 (unchecked) (Interim Note). SNN12446.

<2> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1977, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1976, p.218-223 (part checked) (Report). SNN723.

<3> Woodfield P., 1978, Roman Architectural Masonry From Northamptonshire, 13/79-81 (unchecked) (Article). SNN101140.

<4> 1974, Britannia, 5/277-8 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN58444.

<5> Dix B.(ed), 1986-7, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1985-6, 21/156 (checked) (Report). SNN100334.

<6> 1975, Britannia, 6/255 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN55428.

<7> Burnham B.C.; Wacher J., 1990, The 'Small Towns' of Roman Britain, 152-8+160 (checked) (Book). SNN60720.

<8> Woodfield C., 1998, LETTERS, (unchecked) (Letter). SNN58562.

<9> Historic England, Unknown, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, ALF Rivet (Oral Report). SNN111577.

<10> British Museum Accession Register, BM Accession list 1880-90 (Dep of Brit & Md Antiqu's) (Catalogue). SNN10055.

<11> Ross, A, 1967, Pagan Celtic Britain, p. 87 (Book). SNN68855.

<12> Colquhoun, FD, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 FDC 13-JUL-70 (Notes). SNN111540.

<13> Frere, S S, Hassall, M W C, and Tomlin, R S O, 1974, Roman Britain in 1973, p. 277-8 (Note). SNN113032.

<14> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 156-7/Site 5 (Series). SNN77382.

<15> Scott, E., 1993, A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain, p. 148 NH 113 (Monograph). SNN110345.

<16> Wilson, D R, 1975, Roman Britain in 1974: Sites explored, p. 255 (Note). SNN115967.

<17> Hall, D N, 1975, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (5), p. 17 (Journal). SNN9947.

<18> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1978, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1977, p. 79-81 (Journal). SNN2192.

<19> Historic England, Wood Burcote villa (Archive). SNN116430.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:45PM