Piddington Roman Villa
Encyclopedia
Piddington Roman Villa is the remains of a large Roman villa
at Piddington, Northamptonshire
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Northampton
.
settlement. The museum is housed in an old de-consecrated Wesleyan
chapel, built in 1851, located in Chapel End on the north-eastern edge of the village The chapel is marked by a small cross, +, on Ordnance Survey
"Explorer" map 207 of "Newport Pagnell
and Northampton South with Towcester
and Olney". If travelling by car, park at the village hall in Hackleton
: follow signs for the pocket park
on the west side of the main road, the B526. Then follow the footpath to Piddington for about 750 yards, bearing left at the footpath junction and past some allotments
. At present, the museum is only open on Sunday afternoons from 2-5pm.
, ca.3500-1500 BC, and Bronze Age
people, ca.1500-600 BC,
left behind flint tools and arrowheads which they used for hunting. No houses survived however. A late Iron Age
settlement originated around the middle of the 1st century BC where people lived in round houses inside an enclosure with an outer ditch for protection. They were skilled at pottery
and making bronze
objects and traded with continental Europe. After the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was a military presence here and the Roman villa followed later that century, first made of wood, then stone, developing into a great house over the next 250 years.
followed by a proto-villa of ca.70 AD
and then a sequence of rectangular stone-built structures, culminating in a simple cottage type villa. From the 2nd century this became an increasingly large winged-corridor-type villa with courtyard (indeed, a 2nd century well on the site is probably the largest stone-lined well in Roman Britain
and has produced a wealth of environmental
and other evidence). It also had two bath-houses, possibly one used by the estate workers and one, smaller one for the villa-owners at one end of the main range of villa buildings.
owners had their names stamped on some of the villa tiles. They were Tiberivs Clavdivs Vervs and Tiberiv Clavdivs Severvs. Their names suggest they were Roman citizens but most likely to have been native Britons. The villa was at its largest and grandest at this time. This is clear from objects found on the villa site which came from all over the Roman Empire
. Today, Piddington may be a backwater, but at the time it was part of a thriving economy with wide ranging trading partners.
villas, it apparently became abruptly unoccupied and much of it was deliberately dismantled, with "squatter"-type 'family-unit' occupation taking over from the beginning of the 4th century until at least until its end. There is also evidence for early Anglo Saxon
activity, including at least three burials and a possible dwelling. The church, probably of Anglo-Saxon
origin is, not surprisingly, close to the villa site.
was unearthed, but people from Northampton came and took it away as "souvenirs". Trial excavation started in 1959. Since then excavation on the site has been conducted by the Upper Nene
Archaeological Society, part time, since 1979. It is a long-term rescue excavation, since parts of the site are close to the surface and thus plough damaged. Currently this has been minimised with the local farmer's kind co-operation. Excavation is carried out on Sundays throughout the year, a week at Easter, three weeks in August and a further week in September.
, of Channel 4
's Time Team
and Baldrick
of Blackadder
, officially opened Piddington Villa Museum. The Upper Nene Archaeological Society, known as "UNAS", originally bought the redundant, and de-consecrated, Wesleyan Chapel in 1992. The intervening period involved restoration, conversion and fund raising. This work was finally rewarded with a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
. The museum now displays some of the many finds made during the long running excavation of the Piddington Villa over 25 years, and still on-going. Apart from the displays, the building houses stores for the many found objects. There are also displays of how it may have been to be alive in Roman Britain
. It also has a library and study room.
The museum is popular with local history study groups and local schools learning about early British history. Apart from significant archaeological material it houses displays interpreting 500 years of life at the settlement, including: a detailed model of the villa, as in the later 2nd century; a full-sized mannequin of a possible owner of the villa called Tiberius Claudius Severus, with an audio presentation; a full-scale reconstruction of sections of a typical roof and hypocaust
, the Roman heating system.
In 2006, the museum and excavations won the Council for British Archaeology
's "Mick Aston Award" for the best presentation of an archaeological project or theme to the public.
The villa and museum also have a friends’ organisation, with directors Liz and Roy Friendship-Taylor, who have played a large part in the investigation of this significant site.
----
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
at Piddington, Northamptonshire
Piddington, Northamptonshire
Piddington is a village in the south of the English shire county of Northamptonshire. known as Northants in the district of South Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, in a cul-de-sac off the main road, at the War Memorial in the village of...
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
.
Location and Directions
The villa is on the site of an earlier late Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
settlement. The museum is housed in an old de-consecrated Wesleyan
Wesleyanism
Wesleyanism or Wesleyan theology refers, respectively, to either the eponymous movement of Protestant Christians who have historically sought to follow the methods or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, or to the likewise eponymous...
chapel, built in 1851, located in Chapel End on the north-eastern edge of the village The chapel is marked by a small cross, +, on Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
"Explorer" map 207 of "Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...
and Northampton South with Towcester
Towcester
Towcester , the Roman town of Lactodorum, is a small town in south Northamptonshire, England.-Etymology:Towcester comes from the Old English Tófe-ceaster. Tófe refers to the River Tove; Bosworth and Toller compare it to the "Scandinavian proper names" Tófi and Tófa...
and Olney". If travelling by car, park at the village hall in Hackleton
Hackleton
Hackleton is a village located in the south of the English shire county of Northamptonshire in the district of South Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, and by road to the M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 15 and north of junction 14....
: follow signs for the pocket park
Pocket park
A pocket park, parkette or mini-park is a small park accessible to the general public. In some areas they are called miniparks or vest-pocket parks....
on the west side of the main road, the B526. Then follow the footpath to Piddington for about 750 yards, bearing left at the footpath junction and past some allotments
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
. At present, the museum is only open on Sunday afternoons from 2-5pm.
Iron Age
Excavation by the Upper Nene Archaeological Society since 1979 provides evidence that the area close to Piddington has been occupied for ca.10,000 years. NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
, ca.3500-1500 BC, and Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
people, ca.1500-600 BC,
left behind flint tools and arrowheads which they used for hunting. No houses survived however. A late Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
settlement originated around the middle of the 1st century BC where people lived in round houses inside an enclosure with an outer ditch for protection. They were skilled at pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
and making bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
objects and traded with continental Europe. After the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was a military presence here and the Roman villa followed later that century, first made of wood, then stone, developing into a great house over the next 250 years.
Roman
The site was occupied from about 50 BC, with circular buildingsRoundhouse (dwelling)
The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...
followed by a proto-villa of ca.70 AD
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
and then a sequence of rectangular stone-built structures, culminating in a simple cottage type villa. From the 2nd century this became an increasingly large winged-corridor-type villa with courtyard (indeed, a 2nd century well on the site is probably the largest stone-lined well in Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and has produced a wealth of environmental
Environmental archaeology
Environmental archaeology is the study of the long-term relationship between humans and their environments. Various sub-disciplines are involved to document and interpret this relationship, including paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology, geomorphology, palynology, geophysics, landscape archaeology,...
and other evidence). It also had two bath-houses, possibly one used by the estate workers and one, smaller one for the villa-owners at one end of the main range of villa buildings.
Roman Owners
The names of two probable 2nd century ADAnno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
owners had their names stamped on some of the villa tiles. They were Tiberivs Clavdivs Vervs and Tiberiv Clavdivs Severvs. Their names suggest they were Roman citizens but most likely to have been native Britons. The villa was at its largest and grandest at this time. This is clear from objects found on the villa site which came from all over the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Today, Piddington may be a backwater, but at the time it was part of a thriving economy with wide ranging trading partners.
Post-Roman
At the end of the 3rd century, earlier than most other Romano-BritishRomano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
villas, it apparently became abruptly unoccupied and much of it was deliberately dismantled, with "squatter"-type 'family-unit' occupation taking over from the beginning of the 4th century until at least until its end. There is also evidence for early Anglo Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
activity, including at least three burials and a possible dwelling. The church, probably of Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
origin is, not surprisingly, close to the villa site.
Excavation
The site was rediscovered by workmen digging for limestone in 1781. A complete mosaicMosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
was unearthed, but people from Northampton came and took it away as "souvenirs". Trial excavation started in 1959. Since then excavation on the site has been conducted by the Upper Nene
River Nene
The River Nene is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in the county of Northamptonshire. The tidal river forms the border between Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for about . It is the tenth longest river in the United Kingdom, and is navigable for from Northampton to The...
Archaeological Society, part time, since 1979. It is a long-term rescue excavation, since parts of the site are close to the surface and thus plough damaged. Currently this has been minimised with the local farmer's kind co-operation. Excavation is carried out on Sundays throughout the year, a week at Easter, three weeks in August and a further week in September.
Site museum
On 4 September 2004, Tony RobinsonTony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
, of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
and Baldrick
Baldrick
Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil to the lead character...
of Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
, officially opened Piddington Villa Museum. The Upper Nene Archaeological Society, known as "UNAS", originally bought the redundant, and de-consecrated, Wesleyan Chapel in 1992. The intervening period involved restoration, conversion and fund raising. This work was finally rewarded with a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. The museum now displays some of the many finds made during the long running excavation of the Piddington Villa over 25 years, and still on-going. Apart from the displays, the building houses stores for the many found objects. There are also displays of how it may have been to be alive in Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. It also has a library and study room.
The museum is popular with local history study groups and local schools learning about early British history. Apart from significant archaeological material it houses displays interpreting 500 years of life at the settlement, including: a detailed model of the villa, as in the later 2nd century; a full-sized mannequin of a possible owner of the villa called Tiberius Claudius Severus, with an audio presentation; a full-scale reconstruction of sections of a typical roof and hypocaust
Hypocaust
A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning "under" and caust-, meaning "burnt"...
, the Roman heating system.
In 2006, the museum and excavations won the Council for British Archaeology
Council for British Archaeology
Established in 1944, the is an educational charity working throughout the UK to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations...
's "Mick Aston Award" for the best presentation of an archaeological project or theme to the public.
The villa and museum also have a friends’ organisation, with directors Liz and Roy Friendship-Taylor, who have played a large part in the investigation of this significant site.
Other sources
- Current ArchaeologyCurrent Archaeology- Summary :Current Archaeology describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources online, which labels the title 'Britain's favourite archaeology magazine'. It was founded in 1967 by Andrew Selkirk, a...
, 146; and 207, page 60 - Information for diggers
- http://www.whitehallvilla.co.uk/index.htmlWhitehall Farm Roman Villa and Landscape Project at Nether HeyfordNether HeyfordNether Heyford is an English village west of Northampton off the A45 road, in the shire county of Northamptonshire, known as "Northants". It is by road to the M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 16, north of London and southeast of Birmingham...
] - Compulink
- Piddington Villa Museum
- Location
- Current Archaeology Directory
- Borough Hill Roman villaBorough Hill Roman villaBorough Hill Roman villa is located on the north tip of Borough Hill, a prominent hill near the town of Daventry in Northamptonshire. The villa’s remains lie within the ramparts of an Iron Age fortress which covers the summit of the hill...
near DaventryDaventryDaventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2... - BannaventaBannaventaBannaventa was a Romano British Fortified Town which was situated on the Roman road of Watling Street, which today is known as the A5 trunk road. Bannaventa is northeast of the village of Norton in the English county of Northamptonshire...
Roman Town near Norton, NorthamptonshireNorton, NorthamptonshireNorton is a village in the district of Daventry in the English County of Northamptonshire. The village is about east of Daventry, west of Northampton. Junction 16 of the M1 motorway is about south-east and the nearest railway station is at Long Buckby to the east... - CosgroveCosgrove, NorthamptonshireCosgrove is a village in Northamptonshire, England about north of Stony Stratford, north of central Milton Keynes and south of Northampton along the A508 road and south-east of Towcester along the A5 road...
Roman villa and bath house
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