Information for record number MWA8317:
Roman villa at Belmont, Exhall

Summary The remains of a Roman occupation site were found during archaeological work. Ditches and walls were discovered along with painted wall plaster and a hypocaust. The site was located 100m north of the church at Exhall.
What Is It?  
Type: Occupation Site, Ditch, Wall, Villa
Period: Romano-British (43 AD - 409 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Exhall
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 10 55
(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 Archaeological observation at this location (WA 8327) revealed evidence for Roman occupation, in the form of walls and a ditch. These appeared to respect the alignment of the cropmark enclosure to the south (WA 6961), rather than the Medieval street frontage. However, they may represent more than one phase of activity, with a Roman stone building possibly post-dating the enclosure of an earlier farmstead.
2 Further observation identified the Romano-British building on this site as a substantial country house or villa. The wall foundations revealed in the extension trenches appear to belong to a building range running south-west to north-east, at least 11m long and at least 5m wide, and containing at least two rooms. The diagonal channel across the northeastern room seems to belong to a channelled hypocaust, suggesting that the room had underfloor heating and the quantities of painted plaster from the demolition layers (over 200 fragments) indicate that it had elaborately decorated plastered walls. The demolition layers also produced roof tile and a fragment of window glass which also indicate that this was a high status building, probably the main dwelling house of the villa. The walls identified in 1998 were on broadly similar alignments but will probably belong to other buildings in the villa complex. The pottery assemblage which dated broadly to the second half of the 2nd century AD to the 4th century AD was predominately utilitarian coarsewares. There was evidence for cooking, drinking and eating but no storage vessels were found. villas were more than just country houses, they were also centres of agriculture and rural industry. In one complex they would have a house and often a bath house for the landowner and his family, as well as accommodation for overseers, labourers and slaves, and barns, storehouses, and industrial buildings. The villa house revealed at Exhall is likely to be extensive, with possibly more than one range, and the surrounding area is likely to contain remains of the associated buildings for agriculture, storage or industry.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Observation Report
Title: Belmont, Exhall
Author/originator: Coutts, C & Gethin, B
Date: 1998
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Observation Report
Title: Further Archaeological Observation at 'Belmont', Exhall, Warwickshire
Author/originator: C Rann
Date: 2009
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
technique Cropmark Cropmarks appear as light and dark marks in growing and ripening crops. These marks relate to differences in the soil below. For example, parched lines of grass may indicate stone walls. Crops that grow over stone features often ripen more quickly and are shorter than the surrounding crop. This is because there is less moisture in the soil where the wall lies.

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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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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument COUNTRY HOUSE * The rural residence of a country gentleman. back
monument HOUSE * A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known. back
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 STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument DWELLING * Places of residence. back
monument INDUSTRIAL BUILDING * Any building designed or adapted to accommodate trades and manufacturing activity. Use more specific site where known. back
monument CHURCH * A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known. back
monument BATH HOUSE * A building equipped with facilities for bathing, and occasionally public baths. back
monument FARMSTEAD * The homestead of a farm consisting of a farmhouse and working farm buildings, with yards, other working areas and usually a garden to the house. 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 STOREHOUSE * A building in which goods or items are stored. Use more specific type where known. back
monument ENCLOSURE * An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument DITCH * A long and narrow hollow or trench dug in the ground, often used to carry water though it may be dry for much of the year. back
monument OCCUPATION SITE * A site showing some signs of occupation but evidence is insufficient to imply permanent settlement. back
monument BARN * A building for the storage and processing of grain crops and for housing straw, farm equipment and occasionally livestock and their fodder. Use more specific type where known. back
monument DEMOLITION LAYER * A layer underneath the topsoil containing rubble or fragments of building material, e.g. mortar, tile, flint. 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