The Roman villa site south of Rose Villa lies in the Cam valley near Ickleton/Hinxton on the Cambridgeshire–Essex border, an area of intensive Romano-British rural settlement along the Icknield Way and the Cambridge–Great Chesterford road. Like comparable villas in this district, it was probably established in the 2nd century AD on the basis of a Late Iron Age or earlier Roman farmstead and continued in use into the 4th century, functioning as the residence and working centre of an estate exploiting the fertile river-terrace soils.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The villa sits within the agricultural hinterland of the small town of Great Chesterford (Cestreforda) and within a few miles of further villas at Ickleton, Hinxton and Duxford, forming part of a dense network of estates supplying grain and other produce to the regional economy. It is not individually prominent in the literature but contributes to understanding villa density in the upper Cam catchment.
Little has been published specifically about this site; evidence appears to derive mainly from surface finds (building material, pottery, possibly tile and tesserae) and aerial or geophysical indications rather than full excavation. No detailed plan, mosaic record or dating sequence is securely recorded in the public literature known to me.
The Roman villa site south of Rose Villa lies in the Cam valley near Ickleton/Hinxton on the Cambridgeshire–Essex border, an area of intensive Romano-British rural settlement along the Icknield Way and the Cambridge–Great Chesterford road. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.
Roman villa site S of Rose Villa 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 Ickleton (0.6 km), Great Chesterford (0.7 km), Roman fort, Roman town, Roman and Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Great Chesterford (0.9 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 site S of Rose Villa