This is a minor Romano-British villa site located in the parish of Marshfield, South Gloucestershire, on the southern fringes of the Cotswold limestone uplands. The villa likely operated during the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, the principal period of villa development in the region, and was probably a modest agricultural establishment rather than one of the elaborate winged-corridor or courtyard villas seen elsewhere in the Cotswolds. A medieval barn was later constructed on or near the site, reusing the location and possibly Roman building stone.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The villa sits within one of the densest concentrations of villa estates in Roman Britain, in the agriculturally rich hinterland of Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) and the small town of Bath (Aquae Sulis), supplying both urban markets with grain, wool, and other produce. Its proximity to St Mary's Well may indicate continuity of a water source important from Romano-British through medieval times.
Little detailed excavation appears to have been published for this specific site; it is known largely from surface finds, building debris, and the standing/buried remains associated with the medieval barn, which together led to its scheduling as a designated monument. Typical recovery from such Cotswold-fringe sites includes ceramic building material (tegulae and imbrices), pennant sandstone or oolitic limestone wall footings, coarseware and Black Burnished ware sherds, and occasional tesserae
This is a minor Romano-British villa site located in the parish of Marshfield, South Gloucestershire, on the southern fringes of the Cotswold limestone uplands. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.
Parts of a minor Romano-British villa and later medieval barn 545m south east of St Mary's Well 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 Kings Weston Roman Villa (7.1 km), Gatcombe (7.8 km), Roman settlement, part of an associated field system and earlier Iron Age settlement remains at Gatcombe Farm (8.1 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Parts of a minor Romano-British villa and later medieval barn 545m south east of St Mary's Well