Monument record 938 - Romano-British villa, north of Road Hill Farm

Site of a Roman villa discovered in 1846 with a Tesselated pavement. Further finds of pottery, tile and tesserae made in 1967. Geophysical survey confirmed the presence of buildings and associated enclosures and field systems.

{3} Field names: Barn Close and the Mere. Barn Close is pasture but was ploughed previously. It was recently trenched into for field drainage (Barn Close). Pot sherds and fragments of roofing tiles were present in the backfilling. The Mere was recently ploughed for the first time: there were many white limestone tesserae plus other indications. Situated at top of gently rise with land falling to the south east and north west. Fieldworker: HCR Frost. Frost's siting agrees with Whellan's description. No trace on 1949 RAF aerial photos. Harpole villa site at SP68936209. First probed on 14/3/1953.
A pipeline crosses the site from SP69216234 to SP68986180. Along this line a heavy scatter of building debris, Romano-British pot sherds and tesserae were found (centred to SP69066200). Lighter scatter of pot all over the field except in the south west corner.

{4} Haverfield quoting Whellan - an extensive villa with rough unornamented tesselated floor discovered on rising ground north of Harpole village.

{5} Roman Settlement (SP 690620), lies in the N.W. of the parish, on Boulder Clay at 120 m. above OD. Roman pottery, tiles and tesserae were found here in 1967. This may be the site of an alleged villa N. of the village. Otherwise the latter is a mislocation of 836/1.

{7} Roman sherds, tile, tesserae found June 1967 along pipeline.

{9} Geophysical survey characterised the likely footprint of a possible courtyard villa, including an eastern and western wing and areas of magnetic response from building material remains. A synthesis of the geophysical evidence shows that the ditches that define the putative field systems align well with the villa footprint. Finds of building stone, floor, roof and box flue tile, and tesserae made by fieldwalking all agree extremely well with the suggested villa shape. The overlapping character of the anomalies indicates some degree of chronological stratigraphy in the development of the villa building and the fields. The overall north-west to southeast orientation of the features is a function of the topography of the site. The villa was situated astride the ridge with a pleasing aspect, land falling away on both sides on the aforementioned alignment.

{13} The greatest change to the complex occurred in the late 3rd century AD and is associated with the construction of a double courtyard winged corridor villa. A large central domestic complex best interpreted as a Villa Urbana associated with a northern courtyard and a range of auxilliary buildings representing the Villa Rustica in another courtyard to the south. The anomalies revealed by the resistivity survey in the courtyard area of the main villa complex do not appear to correlate with this phase and may be of a later phase, possibly 4th to mid 5th century. Suggested that they could be the foundations of a substantial aisled building. The apsidal shape of the northern end is indicative of a basilica structure not unlike those connected to the early church, although the alignment of the building is unusual.


{14-16} E Pretty refers to the discovery of a tessellated pavement in 1846 {14}, being 22' long by 10' wide and says that other finds were made to a considerable extent beyond the spot {15}. Pretty's 2 1/2" map (1854) shows a 'Pavement' sited at the NW corner of the road junction of Harpole {16}. The siting of this villa on Pretty's map is highly suspect.

<1> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F1 JB 17-MAR-69 (Note). SNN111452.

<2> 1961, H.M.S.O. List, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN8489.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP66SE2 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<4> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.197 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<5> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.73/Site 3 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<6> Whellan, 1874, History, Topography & Directory of Northamptonshire, p.316-319 (unchecked) (Book). SNN1002.

<7> Brown, A.E. (Ed.), 1967, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1966/67 (Roman), 2/11 (checked) (Article). SNN58197.

<8> Fisher, I., 2003, A Geophysical Survey at Harpole, Northamptonshire April 2003, p.2 (checked) (Report). SNN108387.

<9> Butler, A., 2008, Geophysical surveys at Barn Close and Harpit, Harpole, January 2006-December 2007, p.4 (checked) (Report). SNN106727.

<10> Horne B. (Editor), 2009, South Midlands Archaeology (39), p.26 (checked) (Journal). SNN106544.

<11> Chapman, P. (Ed.), 2010, Archaeology in Northamptonshire, 2008, p.179 (checked) (Article). SNN107502.

<12> CLASP, 2005-12, CLASP (Community Landscape and Archaeology Survey Project) Newsletter (Newsletter). SNN108402.

<13> Young, S. & Kay, F., 2015, Geophysical survey of Barn Close and The Mere, Grange Farm, Harpole, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN110289.

<14> 1847, Journal of The British Archaeological Association (Vol.2), p. 364 (Journal). SNN12382.

<15> 1850, Journal of The British Archaeological Association (Vol.5), p. 375 (Journal). SNN10347.

<16> The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1853, Archaeologia (35), p. 394 (Journal). SNN58177.

<17> Scott, E., 1993, A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain, p. 144/NH 62 (Monograph). SNN110345.

<18> Fisher, I, 2003, Geophysical survey at Barn Close, Harpole, Northamptonshire, April 2003 (Report). SNN116733.

Record last edited

Feb 12 2025 9:37AM