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The Roman Villa at Boxmoor Interim Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

D. S. Neal
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Abstract

Excavations at this site, first uncovered by Sir John Evans over a century ago, have so far been undertaken in two seasons, one in 1966 and the other in 1969. No final report can be published until more work has been done not only on the main building but also on outbuildings that may exist. It is hoped that the following brief architectural description and tentative dating will suffice until a more substantial report is prepared on these and further excavations to be carried out over the next few years.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 1 , November 1970 , pp. 156 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © D. S. Neal 1970. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 I would like to thank Mr. Carrington, the Headmaster of the school, for all his help during the excavation and Miss Gillian Thomas, Mr. Roger Stangar, Mr. Jonathan Dunkley and Mr. Chris Henderson for supervising the work. Mrs. Mavis Cousins, Miss Meg Amesden and Miss Katherine Ede organized the pottery shed. Boys from Boxmoor School and Corner Hall School as well as other volunteers assisted in the work. Machinery, generously loaned by the following local firms, Atlas Copco, Access Equipment, Bernard Sunley, and Masters Plant, was of enormous help during the excavation. Finally I am indebted to James Brown of Verulamium Museum for acting as site photographer, and to Prof. S. S. Frere for reading this report in typescript, and for making many valuable suggestions at the site.

2 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 051086 excavated by the author, report in typescript. Interim plan in J.R.S., lvii, 187, Fig. 9.

3 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 078019 V.C.H. Herts, iv, 147.

4 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 037057, Archaeologia, xxvii, 434.

5 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 043059, Archaeologia, xxiv, 394–98. Re-excavated by the author. Report to be published with final report on Boxmoor House School excavation.

6 A bronze figurine of Mercury. Evans, Boxmoor Villas, 1853, V.C.H. Herts, iv, pl. xiii.

7 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 083078. Possibly a mausoleum of second-century date. Excavated by the author, unpublished. Pottery has also been found nearby at Breakspears, SP 092076.

8 O.S. I in. Sheet 160, SP 055064.

9 Archaeologia, xxxv, 56. Plan and illustrations in Evans, Boxmoor Villas, 1853, and V.C.H. Herts, iv. The dimensions of the rooms in this report and in the V.C.H. are confused. Evans appears to describe them from west to east, but their given dimensions do not tally with the actual room-sizes. The re-discovery of a tessellated pavement with an ‘embattled’ design in Room 4, (quoted as No. 3 in Evans's list of room numbers, but quoted as No 2 in the following paragraph p. 58) confirms that the building under discussion is the same as discovered by Evans. Another problem in interpreting Evans's plan is that he described the building as facing south: this is apparent from the following, ‘The excavations were commenced about the centre of the line of rooms, of which four were successively laid open. A large space of ground to the right hand of these rooms, and immediately in front of the present house was cleared and presumably lowered’. This landscaping is to the rear or to the east of the house, and could only be described as being ‘to the right hand’ when facing south. The majority of Evans's trenches were clearly discernible as he thoughtfully backfilled them with chalk.

10 A composition of clay and chalk.

11 The other pavement he discovered, decorated with an ‘embattled’ pattern, was found in Room 4 and probably belongs to Period 5.

12 Illustration of mosaic in Evans, Boxmoor Villas, 1853, and V.C.H. Herts, lv, pl. xxii (facing page 152).

13 R. E. M. and T. V. Wheeler, Verulamium, A Belgic and Two Roman Cities, pl. xl and pl. xlvi a.

14 Richmond, ‘Roman leaden sealings from Brough-under-Stainmore’, Arch. Ael., xxxvi (1936), 104 ff.Google Scholar