which belongs to the villa's living
quarters. The tessellation consisted of tesserae cut from
the standard red and buff tiles, and was laid upon an opus
signinum floor, about 3 inches in thickness and showing signs
of subsidence to the North-East ; this pavement was badly damaged
by the plough, and ended upon a ragstone wall, which was 2 feet
thick. South-West of this wall, there was another opus signinum
floor, about 2 inches thick, laid over a hard-core foundation
of bricks and tiles, and similar to that found East and South-East
of Room 16 ; it did not extend as far as the north-eastern limit
of the bath building, but there was a space between the floor and
the bath building seemingly unoccupied by any structures and where
at least one rubbish pit (Fig. 2, Rubbish
Pit A) was dug. The function of this floor South-West of the
tessellated pavement is not clear, unless it were the floor of a
covered corridor or verandah in front of the living accommodation.
Summary
On present evidence, it is quite clear that this
site is occupied by a large Romano-British villa, which remained
in occupation from the early years of the Roman conquest to the
end of the Romano-British period. No evidence has so far been
forthcoming for any pre- or post-Roman occupation of the site.
This villa would appear to be at the centre of a
large estate, with at least one other building known to have
existed in its immediate vicinity.
There are signs that the villa was also the centre
for some unspecified industrial activity, but much further work is
needed before anything at all can be said about the economic
background of the villa.
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