Summary

The buried remains of a Romano-British villa, associated buildings and agricultural enclosures.

Source: Historic England

Details

Principal elements: situated on a limestone plateau at Clearwell Farm is the site of a Romano-British villa with associated ancillary buildings and field boundaries that was occupied from the second century until at least the fourth century AD.

The areas to the east and north-east of the villa have been disturbed as a result of the construction of a reservoir and a substantial chicken house together with associated service roads and are not included in the scheduling.

Description: aerial photography in 1976 revealed a substantial rectangular building in the central part of the site which was confirmed by a small excavation in 1985. It is a corridor-type villa, mainly in the form of buried masonry foundations, which is considered to represent the domestic focus of the villa estate. The building is orientated roughly west to east, measuring at least 22m in length and 12m wide, and is divided internally into at least nine rooms. Some 30m to the south is a second possible building which measures approximately 12m by 10m. The 1985 investigation uncovered sandstone masonry, gullies, pits and possible post holes. Artefacts recovered included a large quantity of Roman pottery as well as stone tesserae, iron slag, nails, glass and animal bone. Analysis of the pottery has indicated that the villa site was occupied from the second century AD and that it continued in use until the fourth, and possibly into the fifth century.

Aerial photographic mapping in 2006 by English Heritage's National Mapping Programme identified a number of other features at the site which have been interpreted as several less substantial buildings to the south, east and south-east of the main villa building and field boundaries or walls, indicating a larger complex. In addition linear features are depicted to the west and north of the principal building on the aerial photographs which have been interpreted as the remains of banks. The western feature is orientated north-south and is some 205m in length with a break towards the southern end, while that to the north measures approximately 83m long. Although these features are no longer visible above ground, they are considered to define the western and northern boundaries of the villa.

All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath these features, however, is included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The Romano-British villa at Clearwell Farm is designated for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: a good example of a Roman villa that survives well in the form of buried archaeological features;
* Potential: partial excavation and other investigative work have indicated that the site retains valuable information relating to both the development of the villa as a whole and the function and occupation of the individual structures;
* Group value: it stands in a prominent position within what was a key iron-working area during the Roman period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Catchpole, T, Clearwell Farm, Newland, Gloucestershire, Archaeological Observations, (1996)
Hancocks, Jackson, Pearson, , Evaluation at Clearwell Farm, Clearwell, Gloucestershire, Report 487 Hereford and Worcester County Council, (1996)
Atkinson, H, 'Journal of the Forest of Dean Local History Society' in Excavations at Stock Farm, Clearwell: The New Regard of the Forest of Dean 2, (1986)
Other
Dean Archaeology Group, Resistivity Survey on Stock Farm Villa, 2004, Gloucestershire County Council Historic Environment Record,
Fiona Small and Cathy Stoertz, The Forest of Dean Mapping Project, Gloucestershire: A report for the National Mapping Programme, English Heritage, (2006)
Gloucestershire County Council, The Scowles and Associated Iron Industry Survey: Project Number 3342, Project Report Volume 1, 2007,

Source: Historic England