Roman BritainWadfield Roman villa
Roman Villa · Civilian

Wadfield Roman villa

Roman Britain
Pleiades ID: nhle-3074
Site type
Villa
Category
Civilian
Latitude
51.9329
Longitude
-1.9675
Overview

History & context

Wadfield is a Romano-British villa on the Cotswold escarpment near Sudeley, just south of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire. Active principally in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, it was a courtyard villa of moderate size with a bath suite and several mosaic-paved rooms, part of the dense pattern of prosperous late Roman rural estates exploiting the fertile Cotswold landscape.

Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →

Significance

Historical significance

The villa belongs to the well-known cluster of Cotswold villas — including Spoonley Wood, Chedworth, and Hailes — that flourished in the late Roman period, reflecting the agricultural wealth of the region and its proximity to Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester), one of Britain's largest civitas capitals.

Archaeology

Archaeological record

The site was excavated in 1863 by Emma Dent of Sudeley Castle, revealing ranges of rooms around a courtyard, a hypocausted bath block, and at least one geometric mosaic which survives in situ under a protective cover. Finds were modest but typical — coins, painted wall plaster, and tesserae — and no major modern re-excavation has been published, so the chronology remains based largely on the Victorian work.

About this site

Questions & answers

What is Wadfield Roman villa?

Wadfield is a Romano-British villa on the Cotswold escarpment near Sudeley, just south of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a villa site from the Roman period in Britain.

What type of Roman site is Wadfield Roman villa?

Wadfield Roman 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.

What other Roman sites are near Wadfield Roman villa?

Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Spoonley (2.2 km), Romano-British villa 170m south west of Winchcombe School, Greet Road (3.3 km), Milhampost Roman site (5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.

How can I research the history of the area around Wadfield Roman villa?

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.

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