Summary

The buried and earthwork remains of a Romano-British villa, its associated outbuildings and trackway, on elevated land just north of the River Windrush.

Source: Historic England

Details

The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and includes a villa with associated buildings and trackway. The villa is likely to have been occupied at some time between the second and fourth centuries AD, but no more precise date is discernible from the visible remains, which have not been excavated in modern times. The site may also provide evidence for its occupation and use following its principal period of occupation during the Romano-British period. Roman tiles, tesserae and wall plaster were possibly found on this site in 1931, and more recent damage by rabbits and moles has indicated that the site was clearly domestic, with rubble stone, Roman tile, tesserae and pottery regularly emerging at the surface. The site is centred on SP 2168 1323 and extends over 415 metres east-west and 400 metres north-south. The site comprises four probable buildings, three of which are defined by building platforms and one is defined by walls, indicated by linear earthworks.

The largest building platform is visible as an earthwork and is centred on SP 2168 1322 and measures 108 metres long and a maximum of 46 metres wide. Its longer axis extends east-west, and it is amorphous in shape, though roughly rectilinear at its western end. The mound is disturbed, with several holes in the top which could be the result of early antiquarian excavation. A further probable section of this building platform is located circa 10 metres to the west of the western end. It has been divided from the main portion of the building platform by a modern hedgerow, removed on aerial photographs taken in 1970 and visible as a cropmark. This additional section of the building platform measures 36 metres long and 10 metres wide. The northern building platform is defined by an earthwork, and is centred on SP 2174 1329. It was visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs taken in 1946, but is visible as a cropmark of a stonework or rubble deposit on aerial photographs taken in 1961; it remains just discernible on the ground. It extends over an area which measures 88 metres east-west and a maximum of 42 metres north-south. The building platform is amorphous in shape, and seems to have been disturbed, or may have originally been more than one building.

The eastern building platform is defined by a cropmark in an arable field. It is centred on SP 2159 1322 and comprises a sub-circular area of stonework or rubble which measures circa 31 metres is diameter.

A trackway, defined partly by cropmarks and partly by an earthwork which is levelled on later photographs extends past the southern edge of the eastern building platform. The northern section of the trackway is oriented north-south, and it changes orientation to NNW-SSE as it bends past the edge of the eastern building platform.

The western building is defined by a wall, indicated by a J-shaped linear bank. It is centred on SP 2159 1322 and extending over an area which measures 70 metres long by 20 metres wide. The longer axis of the building extends east-west, and the western end of the J forms three sides of an enclosure which measures circa 18 metres square. A trackway defined by a pair of parallel drainage ditches extends up to the western building. It is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1930s, and as cropmarks on aerial photographs taken in 1946. The trackway extends between SP 2157 1321 and SP 2161 1316, and is oriented NW-SE. The drainage ditches measure 3.6 metres apart, and less than 2 metres in width. The trackway is cut by the modern pattern of drainage ditches.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The Romano-British villa East of Great Barrington is included on the Schedule of Ancient Monuments for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: a good example of a Romano-British villa which survives well in the form of earthworks and buried archaeological features;
* Potential: the site has been subject only to antiquarian investigation, so there is clear potential remaining for future excavation to discover valuable information relating to both the development of the villa as a whole, and the function and occupation of the individual structures.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), , Ancient and Historical Monuments in the County of Gloucester Volume One: Iron Age and Romano-British Monuments in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, (1976), 12, plate 50
Other
Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record Summart Report for Area 364 - Roman Villa E of Great Barrington,
National Monuments Record Monument Report - Great Barrington Villa, 332436,

Source: Historic England