Pangbourne is the site of a Romano-British villa situated on the south bank of the Thames in the Berkshire downs, in a landscape rich with similar rural establishments along the middle Thames valley. Like comparable villas in the region (e.g. Maidenhead, Cox Green, Hambleden), it likely originated as a modest farmstead in the 1st or 2nd century AD and developed into a more substantial residence by the 3rd–4th century, before declining in the late 4th or early 5th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The villa formed part of the dense pattern of agricultural estates exploiting the fertile river terraces of the middle Thames, probably supplying grain and other produce to nearby market centres such as Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) and Dorchester-on-Thames. Its riverside position would have facilitated transport by water as well as overland routes.
Pangbourne is the site of a Romano-British villa situated on the south bank of the Thames in the Berkshire downs, in a landscape rich with similar rural establishments along the middle Thames valley. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.
Pangbourne is classified as a Roman villa — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Eling Roman villa (10.2 km), Roman amphitheater at Calleva Atrebatum (13.8 km), Calleva (14 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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