The site north of Fernhill Farm lies in northern Hampshire, in the chalk downland between Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and the upper Test valley. It represents one of the numerous Romano-British villa estates of the central southern chalkland, most likely active from the later 1st or 2nd century AD through into the 4th century, a pattern typical of villas in the territory of the Belgae.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Villas in this zone formed part of a dense agricultural hinterland supplying Winchester and the wider Solent economy, exploiting downland cereal cultivation and sheep husbandry on land already organised into "Celtic" field systems in the pre-Roman Iron Age. The site contributes to the well-attested pattern of modest-to-middling villa estates clustered around Venta Belgarum rather than being individually prominent.
The site north of Fernhill Farm lies in northern Hampshire, in the chalk downland between Winchester (Venta Belgarum) and the upper Test valley. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman villa N of Fernhill Farm 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 Roman villa in Cow Down Copse (4.7 km), Roman corn drier S of Tin Wood (6.7 km), Sparsholt (6.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Roman villa N of Fernhill Farm