Borough Hill Roman villa
| Borough Hill Roman villa | |
|---|---|
 Plan of Borough Hill Roman villa | |
.svg)  Borough Hill within Northamptonshire | |
| General information | |
| Type | Roman Building |
| Location | At the north end of Borough Hill |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°15′48″N 1°08′18″W / 52.263422°N 1.138252°W |
Borough Hill Roman villa is located on the north tip of
excavated until 1852 when local historian Beriah Botfield thoroughly excavated and recorded the site.[3] Botfield employed an artist to make drawings of the site and these illustrations along with Botfield's notes, manuscripts and some of the antiquities found on the site are now kept at the British Museum
.
The excavations
Botfield’s excavations revealed a large range of rooms which ran from north to south, part of which was a
marlstone (sandstone), infilled with rubble. The inside walls were plastered, as may have been the exterior, although this is not certain. The building had a tiled roof, examples of which can be seen in Northampton Museum. Some specimens of frescoed plaster were found still clinging to the remains of interior walls. It was also discovered that the villa had an elaborate heating system installed under the building. Hot air from a furnace or hypocaust flowed through the building by means of flues. Some of the floors were supported upon brick or flat stone piers which supported the floor leaving a two to three foot gap in which the air flowed. Botfield also discovered a well south-west of the villa. The well was stone lined and in the upper levels of the well a skeleton was found, with bronze accoutrements as well as an iron fibula
and hook.
The site today
A walk across the site of the villa reveals nothing today. Botfield very carefully backfilled the site to its original state. The nature of the construction of this villa, being built from sandstone, meant that the only way these remains would survive the ravages of the British weather was to backfill the site.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-319-23734-2
- ^ Reported to The Gentleman's Magazine September 1827:209-11.
- ^ Beriah Botfield, "Some Account of the Roman Villa, and the Discoveries made on the Borough Hill, the ancient Bennaventa", in Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Society of Antiquaries of London, 1853
- ^ William Edgar, Borough Hill (Daventry) and its History, inside cover plate, ASIN: B001075ZNY
- ISBN 0-11-700900-8
- ^ William Edgar, Borough Hill (Daventry) and its History, page 44. ASIN: B001075ZNY
External links
- Roman central heating: the hypocaust
- Hypocaust
- How to build your own hypocaust Channel 4 Time Team project
