Site of Roman Villa 500m NE of Snowford Bridge

1 About 500m N of Snowford bridge near the E bank of the Itchen, Roman brick, tile and pottery were found.
2 Accession Card.
3 Roman building site. c1925: trial holes dug by some schoolboys. Fragments of building material were found together with some sherds of pottery dating to the 3rd century. 1951: Small fragments of Roman building material and Romano British potsherds were found on the surface of the ploughed field centred at the above grid reference.
4 1959: Trial trenches have shown very few remains of buildings – apart from roofing tiles – and it seems that they have been destroyed by ploughing. It appears to have been principally a 4th century farmstead.
5 This site produced 109 sherds of pottery during fieldwork in 1979. The majority of these are coarse grey-wares. Wappenbury appears to be the major source of supply of pottery. The datable rim forms belong to the 2nd century. The site also produced some roughly worked pieces of local white lias limestone. The discovery of coarse tesserae, roofing and box-flue tiles, and pottery imported from the Nene valley, Mancetter and Oxford all indicate that the owners had some pretensions. The report suggests that crop marks to the S indicate a large winged corridor building (but see PRN 1648).
6 Accession Card description.
7 Excavations in 1925 and 1959 failed to produce any firm evidence for structures although quantites of of tile and coarse tesserae were recovered. Analysis of box flue tiles suggest they came mainly from Chase Wood, Kenilworth, and to a lesser extent from a kiln at Lapworth.
8 Transco pipeline excavations revealed two corndrying ovens built within a flimsy post-built building were identified in an area that was later used as a rubbish heap or midden. Linear features relating to a Romano British villa field system and hypocaust tiles were also found.
9 The early Roman period was represented by a small sub-square enclosure and connecting gully that cut across the former Iron Age enclosure (MWA8828). It appears to be part of a wider complex of activity outside of the excavation area. The principal features excavated from the main villa phase (3rd-4th Century) were the two corndriers. Most driers were housed within some form of structure to protect them from the worst of the elements however there is no such evidence at this site, although it may have existed outside the restricted area available fro excavation. The site appears to have been levelled in the late 4th century.
10 Letter from 1955.