The Roman Villa at Rivenhall, Essex: An Interim Report

Abstract

main Roman road to London,' in a sheltered valley adjacent to copious springs which feed a tributary stream of the river Blackwater (FIG. I). The subsoil geology is mainly boulder clay containing random gravel pockets; this is capped by brickearth in places. There are numerous prehistoric and RomanoBritish sites in the vicinity. The Rivenhall villa was found in 1846 when labourers draining a field east of the church uncovered walls and a tessellated corridor (TL 828178).2 No details were recorded; the only find to survive from the nineteenth century is a decorated Celtic bronze mirror3 together with the remains of a bronze patera and ewer, probably from a burial, which were discovered in 1839 in Barrowfield just to the east of the villa.4 Grave-digging in the churchyard in the early part of this century found further walls and tessellated floors, which together with other surface finds in the area suggest a building-complex spread over nearly I2 hectares (30 acres). Excavations to relocate the villa, undertaken in I950-2, uncovered part of the north wing of a large multi-period building, apparently of courtyard type.s In March 1971 thoughtless planning unfortunately resulted in the construction of a sewer pipeline through the villa, and rescue excavations, undertaken (by K. A. R.) for the Department of the Environment,6 resulted in the discovery of the west wing of the villa, an underlying Iron Age settlement, an overlying pagan Saxon one and a deserted medieval village (FIG. 2). In view of extensive restoration and building works due to take place in the churchyard, a seven-week rescue excavation, incorporating a Training School in Archaeology and Architecture, organized by the Essex Archaeological Society, was undertaken in 1972; this was financed by the Department of the Environment, the British Academy,