Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The southern range of the Northfleet Roman villa is n ot well understood and only partially excavated in 1913. was c 18 m south of the east range, we know that it had chalk footings and tesserae surfaces but we know nothing of the building’s date or appearance. However, it was substantial and probably served as the main house.(location accurate to the nearesty 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• BUILDING (Roman - 60 AD? to 380 AD?)

Full description

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The presence of an early Roman high status villa building at Northfleet is speculative but is well supported by finds that are otherwise awkwardly placed within the context of the enclosures and barn-like buildings revealed during excavations associated with CTRL. This building was c 18 m south of the east range, we know that it had chalk footings and tesserae surfaces but we know nothing of the building’s date or appearance. However, it was substantial and probably served as the main house.

Steadman’s plan appears to show the east wing measuring 20 ft (c 6 m) by 70 ft (c 21 m) containing three rooms, an L-shaped corridor or lobby 10 ft (c 3 m wide) fronting the house, and a return that formed an entrance or porch. Steadman’s plan potentially allies the house with row-type houses, including winged-corridor villas. It likely had a domestic function and the presence of ‘abundant tessarae’ suggests relatively wealthy and socially important residents. Its date is unknown but finds tentatively place its construction within the late 1st or early 2nd century. Though undoubtedly below the grandeur and scale of Fishbourne, the high status finds return us to the proto-palace built in the AD 60s said to have accommodated Togidubnus and could similarly define British aristocracy at Northfleet. Alongside a wealthy family the range of objects and features seen at the site suggest that the villa complex was also home for fishermen, ironworkers, craft-workers, brewers, maltsters, farmers, trappers, and millers, among others. - information summaried from source (1)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Monograph). SKE31245.

Sources and further reading

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