Monument record 0078800000 - MILL END VILLA

Dimensions - Width 0020 Length 0035 m
Plan Form - E SHAPED
PLAN OF ROMAN VILLA MADE WHEN DROUGHT SHOWED FOUNDATIONS (B1-2).
LARGE AMOUNT TILE, POT & FLINT NODULES FOUND AFTER PLOUGHING. SOME EARTHWORKS VISIBLE (B2-3).
VILLA OVERLOOKING THAMES (B3).
PLANNED ON GROUND & PLOTTED FROM AP'S (B4-5).
POSSIBLY ASSOCIATED WITH NEARBY VILLA (CASS 00868)(B6).
SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT NO. 27152 (B7).
Geophysical survey of the villa site by Chiltern Archaeology and local volunteers in May 2008 as part of the 'Romans in the Hambleden Valley Project' confirmed the presence of the villa, a possible NE-SW boundary ditch to the SE and a possible kiln. No other associated buildings or features were identified within the survey area. A resistivity pseudosection across the boundary ditch suggests it is approx 1.5m deep and 16m wide with sloping sides and a rounded base. Metal-detecting survey of non-scheduled area of Thames Field located finds of iron nails and iron slag at depths of 10cm to 25cm; the slag was concentrated near a possible kiln identified by geophysical survey (B9).

Site of Roman villa (at SU 78658487 plotted from site plan) the outline at which was shown clearly on the surface in a very dry summer. (B10)

A considerable number of fragments of roofing tiles etc found on this undisturbed site by D G Nicholls. Much uneveness of the ground was apparent. (B11)

Mill End - Turf markings and Aps show a large villa site here. (B12)

Faintly visible on air photographs. (B13)

Amorphous platforming centred at SU 7865 8487 in a field of permanent pasture is indicative of a buried structure. The farmer here, Mr Bowen, and local informants confirm that parch marks of 'rooms' (viz Brighten's plan) were visible in dry conditions although none has shown in recent years. Until
recent years the field was occasionally ploughed, and amounts of large flint nodules, tile and pottery were brought to the surface, (b). On field investigation no certain Roman material was found in the vicinity although 3 possible Roman sherds were found in the bank of the Thames at SU 7862 8476.

The plan of this building (1) may have association with the excavated villa complex c 600.0m to the N (see SU 78 NE 5; CAS 00868). Published survey (25") correct. (B14)

Plan of parch marks in the summer of 1975 made by ME Farley, County Archaeologist. (B15)

See Archives Folder P/F 38, number 2279.

7884 SU 78 SE Area centred SU 786848 HAMBLEDEN E-shaped Roman villa (approx. 35m x 20m) opening to SW and overlooking the Thames. Parallel linear features to E.

NMR 70 SU 7884/8/84

Fragments of Roman pottery and tile have been recovered from the surface of the field which is now under pasture. (B16)

SU 787849: Roman Villa at Mill End, scheduled. (See Illustration Card). (B17)

SU 78658487: Roman Villa, Hambledon. (listed) (B18)

The Villa at Mill End, Hambledon was first recorded by Mr. E. Paynton in July 1921, © when it was visible as a parchmark in grass. The site was first photographed from the air as a cropmark in July 1969 and June 1970 by the NMR (see Authority (7) and again in 1975, by M E Farley who also plotted the parchmarks on the ground (see Authority 6 and Illustration Cards 1,4).

The single building which it was possible to plot is unlikely to have stood alone and there were indistinct traces of other structures. The plan shows a winged building with a central porch. At the 'rear' lay a corridor subdivided into rooms, and there is a hint of a corridor or portica at the 'front'.

Although we know nothing certainly of the dating of Mill End, the Hambledon Villa site (SU 78 NE 5 - CAS00868) was in occupation from the 1st - 4th centuries, and the two were almost certainly in existance concurrently. (B19)

(SU 78658487) ROMAN VILLA ® (site of) (NAT) (B20).

The villa site lies in a pasture field the NW end of which drops abruptly 0.7m along the hedgeline of the adjacent field, and the area is barely 3m above the level of the Thames.

The position of the villa is indicated by a faint rise in ground approx. 25m wide and about 50m long, aligned NW to SE. It is centred at SU 78658485, which point corresponds with the centre of the villa as depicted on the plans by Brighton and Farley. (B21)

The villa, a number of ditched boundaries, which are probably the remains of enclosures, and a fragment of road are visible as cropmarks and have been mapped from aerial photographs. The boundaries form an incomplete enclosure with elements which are 45m long. They are centred at SU 7863 8493. The road is defined by parallel side ditches, which measure 50m, with traces of a metalled surface between. It is centred at SU 7888 8491. (Morph No.s TG.306.10.1-5)

This villa may be a southerly extension of the Roman settlement at Hambledon (SU 78 NE 5; CAS 00868).

This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (B23).

Possibly linked to CAS records 00868, 04557, 15657, and 00869.