SNN104571 - Further Excavation at Wootton Fields Roman Villa

A Roman villa partly investigated in 1999 is being preserved under public open space within a new housing development. A small, sub-rectangular enclosure dating to the mid-first century AD adds to previous evidence for occupation on the site pre-dating the villa. At the north-eastern corner of the villa precinct a series of shallow ditches had fallen out of use before a kiln was constructed in the late second or early third century. The third to fourth century activity comprised a shallow pond and associated pits and ditches. A pit on the margin of the pond contained a small hoard of late Roman coins deposited in the 370's AD. In the fourth century extensive dumps of iron smelting debris were deposited ina series of shallow hollows. A small quantity of fifth century pottery and a single Anglo-Saxon inhumation burial, radiocarbon dated to the seventh century, show that there was later activity around the villa site.