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A Roman Fortified Villa at Norton Disney, Lincs.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

Adrian Oswald
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Extract

Villas are so uniform in character that they arouse comparatively little interest compared with the military problems of Roman Britain. But a villa surrounded by ditches, whether for defensive purposes or not, can be immediately classed as a rarity. A list of such examples of domestic fortification in the Roman period includes the houses at Castle Dykes, near Ripon, at Cwmbrwyn in Carmarthenshire, at Bartlow in Cambridgeshire, at Langton in Yorkshire, and at Ely near Cardiff. Of these only the two last have been scientifically excavated, and only the house at Ely has fortifications which conform to the building. In these circumstances the discovery of a villa surrounded by five ditches and occupied, through five periods of construction and reconstruction, from the latter half of the first to the middle of the fourth century is of particular interest.

The villa in question is situated some 200 yards east of the Fosseway, at a point 9 miles south of Lincoln and a mile and a half north of Brough (Crococolana). The site is marked on the Ordnance Survey and known locally as Potter Hill. It comprises a long ridge of land some hundred feet higher than the plain in which Crococolana is placed. Stukeley in his Itinerary says, ‘and journeying to the space of about 12 Roman miles, I found Collingham on my right hand: there is a high barrow or tumulus called Potters Hill, where they say was a Roman pottery: it stands upon an eminence commanding a prospect both ways upon the road. Half a mile further is Brough.’

Nevertheless the presence of a Roman building was not suspected until the discovery in 1933 by the farmer, Mr. E. Taylor, of a mosaic pavement.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 1937 , pp. 138 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1937

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References

page 138 note 1 Mr. A. Smith, Curator of Newark Museum, immediately secured a lease of the site, and I have to thank him for raising an excavation fund which enabled me to do two months' uninterrupted work. My thanks are also due to the Duke of Portland, the Newark Corporation, and the Thoroton Society for their financial generosity and support; to the Ancient Monuments Department of H.M. Office of Works for making it possible for me to undertake the excavation; to the Newark Museum Committee for releasing Mr. F. Bevis from the Museum; and to Mr. Bevis himself for invaluable assistance in the field. For many of the drawings and much advice on pottery I am most deeply indebted to my father, Dr. Felix Oswald, F.S.A. I am also indebted to Dr. L. H. D. Buxton, F.S.A., for his appendix on the human remains.

page 140 note 1 Arch., viii, 363 ff.; V.C.H. Notts. ii, 30–1.

page 140 note 2 Richborough Report, i, pl. xix, 2; Margidunum, by Oswald, Felix, Trans. Thoroton Soc., 1927, pl. xv, p. 33Google Scholar.

page 141 note 1 Felix Oswald, Margidunum, pl. xiv, p. 28; Richborough Report, ii, pl. xxix, pp. 98–9.

page 141 note 2 Among other finds was a possible kiln-stand, which taken in connexion with the presence of wasters among the fluted pots is of some significance, but negative in character in the absence of an actual kiln.

page 146 note 1 The above robbery, unlike that of the baths and some of the walls of the basilican building, could not be recalled by the local inhabitants and probably occurred at an early date. It is noteworthy that the edges of the mosaics had not been disturbed by the robbery, hence it may perhaps be inferred that the pavements were visible when the robbery took place. In this connexion it should be noted that a great many tesserae were found in the concrete of last-period floors in the basilican building, where they were used as a matrix. It is perhaps possible that the dwelling-house fell out of use before the occupation ended.

page 148 note 1 So also at Verulamium, the Greek key pattern is confined to the earlier mosaics.

page 148 note 2 Unfortunately it proved impossible to remove either mosaic. Newark Museum did not possess the room for them, and I was loath to destroy them in case the opportunity for removal should present itself at a later date.

page 148 note 3 See above, p. 146.

page 154 note 1 As at Ely.

page 178 note 1 Phil. Trans. A 192, p. 213.