Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-03T21:15:26.624Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Turkdean Roman Villa, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Investigations 1997–1998

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Neil Holbrook
Neil Holbrook
Affiliation:
Cotswold Archaeology, Cirencester, info@cotswoldarch.org.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Before the transmission of the first ‘live’ Time Team television programme on 23 August 1997, the existence of a Roman villa near Chalkhill Barn in the parish of Turkdean, 12 miles north-east of Cirencester and 2 miles from the Fosse Way, was hardly known to the archaeological community (FIG. 1). That a Roman building did exist in this location had, however, been suspected for a number of years by the landowner, the late Mr Wilf Mustoe. Distinctive linear parchmarks suggestive of buildings had been clearly visible at ground level in the grass pasture each dry summer, and in 1976 Mr Mustoe made a measured sketch plan of them on the back of an envelope. Subsequently the sketch was drawn up into a scale plan entitled ‘Roman villa’ by Simon Goddard, a relation. There was little knowledge of the site outside of Mr Mustoe's family until it was independently ‘discovered’ by local archaeologist Roger Box in August 1996 whilst fortuitously flying over the site in a helicopter. In the evening light Mr Box instantly recognised the parchmarks of an unmistakable Roman villa and took a series of photographs (FIG. 2). Mr Box showed his photographs to Mr Mustoe, and with his agreement wrote to Time Team suggesting that this would be an excellent site for a television programme. Arrangements were duly set in place and the evidence of the cropmarks was confirmed by a trial geophysical survey in March 1997.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 35 , November 2004 , pp. 39 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Neil Holbrook 2007. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aston, M. 2003: Interpreting the Landscape from the Air, StroudGoogle Scholar
Blagg, T.F.C. 2002: Roman Architectural Ornament in Britain, British Archaeological Reports 329, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cool, H. 1990: ‘Roman metal hair pins from southern Britain’, Archaeological Journal 147, 148–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cool, H. 1998: ‘A general overview of the finds assemblage from Kingscote’, in Timby 1998, 220–7Google Scholar
Cotswold Archaeological Trust 2000a: Turkdean Roman Villa, Gloucestershire. Archaeological Investigations 1997–1998, Cotswold Archaeological Trust Report 001121Google Scholar
Cotswold Archaeological Trust 2000b: Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire. Archaeological Survey of Buried Mosaics, Cotswold Archaeological Trust Report 001195Google Scholar
David, A. 1995: Geophysical Survey in Archaeological Field Survey, English Heritage, LondonGoogle Scholar
Detsicas, A. 1983: The Cantiaci, GloucesterGoogle Scholar
Ellis, P. 1999: ‘North Leigh Roman villa, Oxfordshire: a report on excavations and recording in the 1970s’, Britannia 30, 199–245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaffney, C., Gater, J., Linford, P., Gaffney, V., and White, R. 2000: ‘Large scale systematic fluxgate gradiometry at the Roman city of Wroxeter’, Archaeological Prospection 7(2), 81–1003.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaffney, C., Gater, J., and Ovenden, S. 2002: The Use of Geophysical Techniques in Archaeological Evaluations, IFA Paper 6, ReadingGoogle Scholar
Gascoigne, P. 1969: ‘Clear Cupboard villa, Farmington, Gloucestershire’, Transactions Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 88, 34–67Google Scholar
Goodburn, R. 1978: ‘Winterton: some villa problems’, in Todd, M. (ed.), Studies in the Romano-British Villa, Leicester, 93–102Google Scholar
Goodburn, R. 1983: The Roman Villa at Chedworth (rev. edn), LondonGoogle Scholar
Hassall, M., and Tomlin, R.S.O. 1981: ‘Roman Britain in 1980: II. Inscriptions’, Britannia 21, 369–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattatt, R. 1985: Iron Age and Roman Brooches, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hattatt, R. 1987: Brooches of Antiquity, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Haverfield, F.J. 1906: ‘Romano-British Somerset’, VCH Somerset I, 206–371Google Scholar
Hodder, I., and Millett, M. 1980: ‘Romano-British villas and towns: a systematic analysis’, World Archaeology 12, 69–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, N. (ed.) 1998: Cirencester: The Roman Town Defences, Public Buildings and Shops, Cirencester Excavations 5, CirencesterGoogle Scholar
King, A. 1996: ‘The south-east façade of Meonstoke aisled building’, in Johnson, P. with Haynes, I. (eds), Architecture in Roman Britain, CBA Res. Rep. 94, London, 56–69Google Scholar
Leach, P. 1998: Great Witcombe Roman Villa, Gloucestershire. A Report on the Excavations of Ernest Greenfield 1960–1973, British Archaeological Reports 266, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Mackreth, D. 1995: ‘Pre-Roman and Roman brooches’, in Blockley, K., Blockley, M., Blockley, P., Frere, S.S. and Stow, S., Excavations on the Marlowe Car Park and Surrounding Areas, Canterbury, 955–82Google Scholar
Merrifield, R. 1995: ‘Roman metalwork from the Walbrook — rubbish, ritual or redundancy’, Transactions London and Middlesex Archaeological Society 46, 7–44Google Scholar
Middleton, J.H. 1890: ‘On a Roman villa in Spoonley Wood, Gloucestershire; and on Romano-British houses generally’, Archaeologia 52, 651–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, P. 1979: Agricultural Buildings in Roman Britain, British Archaeological Reports 70, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neal, D.S. 1977: ‘Witcombe Roman villa: a reconstruction’, in Apted, M.R., Gilyard-Beer, R. and Saunders, A.D. (eds), Ancient Monuments and their Interpretation, London, 27–40Google Scholar
Neal, D.S., and Walker, B. 1988: ‘A mosaic from Boughspring Roman villa, Tidenham’, Britannia 19, 191–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pullinger, J. 1990: ‘Excavation report — the Roman villa at Boughspring with a new assessment’, Dean Archaeology 3, 12–25Google Scholar
RCHME 1976: Iron Age and Romano-British Monuments in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, LondonGoogle Scholar
Rawes, B. 1991: ‘A prehistoric and Romano-British settlement at Vineyards Farm, Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire’, Transactions Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 109, 25–89Google Scholar
Rawes, J., and Wills, J. (eds) 1998: ‘Archaeological review no. 22 1997’, Transactions Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 116, 191–212Google Scholar
Reece, R. 1959: ‘Coins from the Roman villa at Chedworth’, Transactions Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 78, 162–5Google Scholar
Reece, R. 1991: Roman Coins from 140 Sites in Britain, CirencesterGoogle Scholar
Reece, R. 1998: ‘The Roman coins’, in Timby 1998, 400–21Google Scholar
Reece, R., and Guest, P. 1998: ‘The coins’, in Holbrook 1998, 247–93Google Scholar
RIB: Collingwood, R.G., and Wright, R.P., The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, I (1965), II (1990–1995)Google Scholar
Riha, E. 1979: Die römischen Fibeln aus Äugst undKaiseraugst, Forschungen in Augst 3Google Scholar
Smith, J.T. 1963: ‘Romano-British aisled houses’, Archaeological Journal 120, 1–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J.T. 1997: Roman Villas. A Study in Social Structure, LondonGoogle Scholar
Timby, J. 1998: Excavations at Kingscote and Wycomb, Gloucestershire, CirencesterGoogle Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.O., and Hassall, M.W.C. 1998: ‘Roman Britain in 1997. II. Inscriptions’, Britannia 29, 433–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.O., and Hassall, M.W.C. 2000: ‘Roman Britain in 1999. II. Inscriptions’, Britannia 31, 433–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, G., Fowler, P., Noddle, B., and Smith, L. 1985: ‘The excavation of a Romano-British rural establishment at Barnsley Park, Gloucestershire’, Transactions Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 100, 65–190Google Scholar
Weston, D. 1999: The Physical and Chemical Property Analysis of Archaeological Soils and Sediments, unpublished PhD thesis, University of BradfordGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D.R. 1973: ‘Roman Britain in 1972. I. Sites explored’, Britannia 4, 271–323CrossRefGoogle Scholar