Information for record number MWA3884:
Excavation of Roman Building at Bleachfield Street

Summary The remains of a Roman building were found at the Bleachfield Street Allotments, Alcester, during an excavation.
What Is It?  
Type: Building, Findspot
Period: Romano-British (43 AD - 409 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Alcester
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 08 57
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 Site E, the S most plot of Bleachfield Street Allotments, was brought to notice by the poverty of the crops on a broad strip running obliquely across the plot. A series of eleven trenches revealed a very complex history. A road running roughly E-W, 4.6 m wide, constructed of pebble and gravel 0.3m to 0.35m thick, had been laid on turf containing late C1 pottery. Subsequently a large building had been built over the road, not inconsistent with a villa of 'corridor' type with foundations cut into the road. At a later period the foundations were completely robbed. At the extreme end of the Site, below the robbed levels, substantial well-built walls gave the angle of the building with remains of a stoke arch and C4 material. A recent excavation has disturbed the hypocaust. This was probably connected with an earlier excavation (PRN 521).
2 Listed as Site no 23.
3 Cards record Samian, bone objects, and a bronze object from near the skeleton.
4 Bleachfield Street, foundations of a masonry building and metalling, probably of the road towards Stratford.
 
Sources
Source No: 4
Source Type: Article in serial
Title: Britannia: Roman Britain in 1987
Author/originator: S S Frere, MWC Hassall and R S O Tomlin
Date: 1988
Page Number: 415-508
Volume/Sheet: 19
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: WM
Author/originator: PMB
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Roman Alcester
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title:
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 76 (1958)
Author/originator: Birmingham Archaeological Society
Date: 1960
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 76
   
Images:  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source Britannia Britannia, the journal of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies which contains articles about the archaeology of Roman Britain. It is published annually and copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
source TBAS Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
source WM Warwickshire Museum Aerial Photograph Collection. A collection of oblique and vertical aerial photographs and taken by various organisations and individuals, including the Royal Airforce, The Potato Board, Warwickshire Museum. The collection is held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Roman About 43 AD to 409 AD (the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD)

The Roman period comes after the Iron Age and before the Saxon period.

The Roman period in Britain began in 43 AD when a Roman commander called Aulus Plautius invaded the south coast, near Kent. There were a series of skirmishes with the native Britons, who were defeated. In the months that followed, more Roman troops arrived and slowly moved westwards and northwards.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument BUILDING * A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known. back
monument ARCH * A structure over an opening usually formed of wedge-shaped blocks of brick or stone held together by mutual pressure and supported at the sides; they can also be formed from moulded concrete/ cast metal. A component; use for free-standing structure only. back
monument FINDSPOT * The approximate location at which stray finds of artefacts were found. Index with object name. back
monument ALLOTMENT * A share or portion of land, allotted to a person, often used for growing, vegetables, fruit, etc. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument HYPOCAUST * A Roman under-floor heating system in which hot air heated by a stoked furnace, flowed through channels, created by either raising the floor on pillars of brick and tile or cutting channels into the concrete floor and tiling over them. back
monument VILLA * A term for a type of house, with varying definitions according to period. Roman villas were high-status and usually associated with a rural estate, whereas Georgian and later period villas were often semi-detached, town houses. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument BLEACHFIELD * Large field or yard used to lay fabrics out ready for bleaching. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument WALL * An enclosing structure composed of bricks, stones or similar materials, laid in courses. Use specific type where known. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record