Details

The monument includes a Roman villa and associated features situated on a
south east facing slope and adjacent valley bottom. The main villa building
lies on the lower slope c.500m north west of a spring which lies on the lower
slope of the opposite side of the valley.
The main focus of the monument is the villa building which shows as a low
platform on the gentle lower slope of the hillside. To the south of the
platform is a field boundary, and south beyond this a low lying marshy area
which contains a number of earthworks including a distinctive platform which
is thought to be a bathhouse associated with the villa.
Evidence for the villa and associated structures is from a number of
different sources. Air photographs show a well defined winged villa aligned
north west-south east, with an indication of an enclosed yard on the north
side of the villa building. The associated earthworks are also visible on air
photographs. Geophysical survey, undertaken in the summer of 1993, confirmed
details of the main villa building, providing dimensions of c.37m wide and
c.33m long, and confirmed the survival of additional associated enclosures to
its north and east. The survey also indicated the presence of buried remains
of wall alignments south of the main villa building in the marshy ground north
of Lukeley Brook. Dennett, working on the main villa building in 1856, was
able to observe one wall 20ft or 30ft long and 3ft wide composed of bonded
stone and flint. Some of the villa walls were subsequently robbed out by local
farmers to repair farm buildings. For many years Romano-British pottery, tiles
and coins have been found in the vicinity of the villa. The coin evidence
relates to the period from Nero to Constantius. Finds from metal detector
enthusiasts in the marshy field to the south of the main villa building have
been plotted and show marked concentrations of metal artefacts in this area.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Romano-British villas were extensive rural estates at the focus of which were
groups of domestic, agricultural and occasionally industrial buildings. The
term "villa" is now commonly used to describe either the estate or the
buildings themselves. The buildings usually include a well-appointed dwelling
house, the design of which varies considerably according to the needs, taste
and prosperity of the occupier. Most of the houses were partly or wholly
stone-built, many with a timber-framed superstructure on masonry footings.
Roofs were generally tiled and the house could feature tiled or mosaic floors,
underfloor heating, wall plaster, glazed windows and cellars. Many had
integral or separate suites of heated baths. The house was usually accompanied
by a range of buildings providing accommodation for farm labourers, workshops
and storage for agricultural produce. These were arranged around or alongside
a courtyard and were surrounded by a complex of paddocks, pens, yards and
features such as vegetable plots, granaries, threshing floors, wells and
hearths, all approached by tracks leading from the surrounding fields. Villa
buildings were constructed throughout the period of Roman occupation, from the
first to the fourth centuries AD. They are usually complex structures occupied
over several hundred years and continually remodelled to fit changing
circumstances. They could serve a wide variety of uses alongside agricultural
activities, including administrative, recreational and craft functions, and
this is reflected in the considerable diversity in their plan. The least
elaborate villas served as simple farmhouses whilst, for the most complex, the
term "palace" is not inappropriate. Villa owners tended to be drawn from a
limited elite section of Romano-British society. Although some villas belonged
to immigrant Roman officials or entrepreneurs, the majority seem to have been
in the hands of wealthy natives with a more-or-less Romanised lifestyle, and
some were built directly on the sites of Iron Age farmsteads. Roman villa
buildings are widespread, with between 400 and 1000 examples recorded
nationally. The majority of these are classified as `minor' villas to
distinguish them from `major' villas. The latter were a very small group of
extremely substantial and opulent villas built by the very wealthiest members
of Romano-British society. Minor villas are found throughout lowland Britain
and occasionally beyond. Roman villas provide a valuable index of the rate,
extent and degree to which native British society became Romanised, as well as
indicating the sources of inspiration behind changes of taste and custom. In
addition, they serve to illustrate the agrarian and economic history of the
Roman province, allowing comparisons over wide areas both within and beyond
Britain. As a very diverse and often long-lived type of monument, a
significant proportion of the known population are identified as nationally
important.

Despite having been ploughed over and the walls having been partially robbed
out by local farmers in the past, the Roman villa at Clatterford survives well
and is known from geophysical survey and the recovery of finds to contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to
the villa and the landscape in which it was constructed. This villa is one of
only seven to have been identified on the Isle of Wight.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Kell, E, 'Journal of the British Archaeological Association' in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, , Vol. 12, (1856), 160-1
Other
Internal memorandum of survey, Payne, A, Archaeological Geophysics At Clatterford, (1993)
Motkin, D. L., 91D1-29, 91D2-10, (1991)

Source: Historic England