Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Site of a Roman villa east of Boxted Farm excavated in 1882. The remains of a building including tessellated floors, wall plaster and glass were found. Dating evidence suggests a late 1st century AD origin ending in the late 2nd century AD.

Monument Types

• TESSELLATED FLOOR (TESSELLATED FLOOR, Roman - 67 AD to 199 AD)
• VILLA (VILLA, Roman - 67 AD to 199 AD)
• WALL PAINTING (WALL PLASTER, Roman - 67 AD to 199 AD (at some time))
• WELL (Roman - 67 AD to 199 AD)

Associated Finds

• SPINDLE WHORL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• VESSEL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• PIN (Roman - 67 AD to 199 AD)
• CHEESE PRESS (Roman - 100 AD? to 300 AD?)

Full description

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[TQ 8538 6626] Roman foundations found A.D. 1883. [R] (1) To the east of Boxted Farm the plough often turned up debris of Roman buildings. Part of the remains was excavated in the autumn of 1882. The principal discovery was a building 217ft. long and for the most part c. 50ft. wide. The walls were of flint, ragstone and tufa roughly set in mortar and about 22 inches thick. The rooms were mostly small and unpaved. The exterior room at the N. end of the east corridor was more carefully examined than the rest of the building. It yielded coloured wall plaster, tiles and sherds, including embossed Samian, and was considered by the excavators to be the only apartment which showed signs of habitation. Outside its N. wall was a rubbish pit with tiles, fragments of glass vessels and of window glass, Upchurch and Castor ware, much Samian ... two bits of white marble, some bronze objects and two small brass coins of Domitian. A hole dug at "A" also yielded sherds, tiles and a bronze stylus. This was not the whole building. About 60 yards eastwards traces of two other rooms were found, one of which contained a tessellated pavement in sandstone and chalk: in it many tesserae, sherds a bone spindle-whorl and a middle brass of Vespasian were picked up. These rooms were thought to be connected with the north end of the excavated building. Further small remains were found in a well, 12ft. deep, 30 yards S.W. of the tessellated pavement: other finds in the area included coins of Domitian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucilla. An isolated piece of strong walling, 6ft. long and 4ft. thick, was found to the south of Boxted Farm on the other side of the Upchurch Road and E. of Breech Lane: perhaps a bit of boundary wall or outbuilding. The villa may well have consisted of two or more separate structures. The occupation of the site seems to have begun and ended comparatively early. Roof tiles and fragments of tessellation in Maidstone Museum. (2) Excavation report. The building was in a field called "Earth-pit Field". Excavation commenced September 1882. See AO/58/60/2. (3) Information as (3). (4) Excavated 1883 by George Payne. The foundations were subsequently demolished and a bronze pin and 3 Roman coins found there are in the possession of Mr Matthews, master of Newington School. (5)(6) A cheese-press, of sandy red pottery, from the Romano-British building at Boxted is now in the British Museum. (7) There are no extant remains of this villa but its approximate site was confirmed by the farmer who ploughs up building debris from time to time. The isolated fragment of walling to the S. of the farm noted by Victoria County History can still be seen as a soil mark (a) but like the villa site was under crop at the time of visit. There is no record of any subsequent finds. (8) TQ 85456628. Romano-British villa at Boxted included in Schedule of Ancient Monuments. (9)

From the National Heritage List for England:
Details
The monument includes the remains of a minor Romano-British villa situated on the southern edge of the north Kent marshes, on the southern bank of the River Thames, around 2km south of the present course of the river. The villa is located on the western slope of a low, clay valley 4.3km to the north of the course of Watling Street, the major Roman road which ran from London (Londinium) to Canterbury (Cantiacorum). The known, buried remains of the villa, partially visible as a crop mark on air photographs, and recorded from partial excavations, represent a NNE-SSW orientated, south east facing, rectangular building 65m long and 15m wide, with projecting wings at either end. The main range is flanked on either side by corridors which give access to the rooms within. The foundation walls are constructed of flint, ragstone and tufa blocks set in mortar, and are c.0.6m wide. A further range of buildings associated with the villa is known to exist around 54m to the east of its northern wing, and c.27m to the south west is a well 3.6m deep. The villa was partially excavated in 1882, when it was disturbed during clay digging by local brick-makers. At least two rooms were discovered to have been floored with tessellated pavements, and their walls faced with painted plaster. Numerous finds included pottery sherds, coins, a bronze ring and hairpin found in the fill of the well, and a cheese press, which is now in the British Museum.

Reasons for Designation
Romano-British villas were extensive rural estates at the focus of which were groups of domestic, agricultural and occasionally industrial buildings. The term "villa" is now commonly used to describe either the estate or the buildings themselves. The buildings usually include a well-appointed dwelling house, the design of which varies considerably according to the needs, taste and prosperity of the occupier. Most of the houses were partly or wholly stone-built, many with a timber-framed superstructure on masonry footings. Roofs were generally tiled and the house could feature tiled or mosaic floors, underfloor heating, wall plaster, glazed windows and cellars. Many had integral or separate suites of heated baths. The house was usually accompanied by a range of buildings providing accommodation for farm labourers, workshops and storage for agricultural produce. These were arranged around or alongside a courtyard and were surrounded by a complex of paddocks, pens, yards and features such as vegetable plots, granaries, threshing floors, wells and hearths, all approached by tracks leading from the surrounding fields. Villa buildings were constructed throughout the period of Roman occupation, from the first to the fourth centuries AD. They are usually complex structures occupied over several hundred years and continually remodelled to fit changing circumstances. They could serve a wide variety of uses alongside agricultural activities, including administrative, recreational and craft functions, and this is reflected in the considerable diversity in their plan. The least elaborate villas served as simple farmhouses whilst, for the most complex, the term "palace" is not inappropriate. Villa owners tended to be drawn from a limited elite section of Romano-British society. Although some villas belonged to immigrant Roman officials or entrepreneurs, the majority seem to have been in the hands of wealthy natives with a more-or-less Romanised lifestyle, and some were built directly on the sites of Iron Age farmsteads. Roman villa buildings are widespread, with between 400 and 1000 examples recorded nationally. The majority of these are classified as `minor' villas to distinguish them from `major' villas. The latter were a very small group of extremely substantial and opulent villas built by the very wealthiest members of Romano-British society. Minor villas are found throughout lowland Britain and occasionally beyond. Roman villas provide a valuable index of the rate, extent and degree to which native British society became Romanised, as well as indicating the sources of inspiration behind changes of taste and custom. In addition, they serve to illustrate the agrarian and economic history of the Roman province, allowing comparisons over wide areas both within and beyond Britain. As a very diverse and often long-lived type of monument, a significant proportion of the known population are identified as nationally important.

Despite some disturbance caused by past ploughing and clay digging, the Romano-British villa at Boxted survives comparatively well and has been shown by partial excavation to contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Around 260m to the south west of the villa are the remains of a Romano-Celtic temple. These monuments are broadly contemporary and their close association will provide evidence for the relationship between social, economic and religious practices during the period of their construction and use. (12)

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS DISCOVERED 1882 Types: VILLA (Photograph). SKE197.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS DISCOVERED 1882 Types: VILLA (Photograph). SKE197.

Anon, 1882, Remains of a Roman Building discovered near Lower Halstow, Kent, p.162-3 (Article in serial). SWX9268.

Anon, 1882, Remains of a Roman Building discovered near Lower Halstow, Kent, p.162-3 (Article in serial). SWX9268.

<1> OS 6" 1908 (OS Card Reference). SKE48323.

<2> VCH Kent 3 1932 106-8 148 156 plan (OS Card Reference). SKE50993.

<3> Arch Cant 15 1883 104-7 plan (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34723.

<4> Collectanea Cantiana 1893 60-7 69 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE39216.

<5> PSA 2nd Ser 9 1881-3 357-9 (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE48801.

<6> Arch Cant 24 1900 lx (G Payne) (OS Card Reference). SKE34874.

<7> Antiquities of Roman Britain 1951 34 (British Museum) (OS Card Reference). SKE33287.

<8> F Stevens (Owner) Boxted Farm (OS Card Reference). SKE41727.

<9> F1 CFW 09-JUL-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42496.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 86 NE 18 - July, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4539.

<11> English Heritage schedule entry 15th Sept 1994 (OS Card Reference). SKE41640.

<12> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading

Related records