Barcombe Villa - 2004 Summary
- Chris Butler & David Rudling

At the end of the 2003 season we had excavated the north end of a new masonry structure (Building 3), provisionally identified as an aisled building, and investigated the area between this and the winged-corridor villa (Building 2) excavated in 2001-2. The excavations in 2004 were intended to complete the excavation of Building 3 and the north-east part of the site.

Saxons at Barcombe

Over the previous three seasons we had found hints of Saxon activity at Barcombe, including a possible temporary structure attached to the front of the decaying villa building. In 2003 a large depression in the north-east part of the site was partly investigated and produced numerous sherds of later Saxon pottery. A small pit at this location also yielded an almost complete Saxon pot. The total excavation of this area in 2004 revealed numerous small pits, many of them inter-cutting (see plan), some small gullies and post holes, together with the ‘banana-shaped’ feature initially investigated the previous season. Many of these features produced sherds of un-abraded later Saxon pottery, some produced quantities of animal bone, whilst a Saxon knife and fragments of a bun-shaped loom weight were also found. Most of the pits contained large quantities of flint nodules in them, and in a few cases appeared to have been packed with the flint nodules. Also of interest was the large amount of iron slag, suggesting that this might have been an industrial area. Although no evidence of buildings has been found, it seems that after a possible gap of a few hundred years the villa had become a focus of activity again.

Masonry Building 3

The excavation area had been enlarged southwards to establish the full extent and nature of Building 3.The east and west walls of the building only existed as chalk or flint foundations, normally just a single course of which remained. However, although heavily robbed, the south wall foundations were still substantial. Here, for the first time at Barcombe, we were able to see not only the robber trench, but also the original wall-footing trench. This had been excavated slightly wider than the proposed foundations, which comprised a bottom damp-proof course of chalk held in place with clay, and then above this the flint wall construction. The gap between the flint wall foundation and the edge of the trench had then been backfilled with soil. Where the flints had only been partly robbed-out, it was possible to see the complete sequence of events in the wall section.

Although there appeared to be a gap in the wall at its south-east corner, this is most likely due to the effects of ploughing, and not the location of an original entrance, the location of which cannot be determined with any certainty (but see below for one possibility). Two parallel lines of post pads were discovered within the main, southern part of Building 3, and may mark the position of roof supporting posts. These post-pads had also been robbed-out and were badly truncated by recent ploughing, but in one there was a remnant of mortared flint, which originally formed the base for the post. The presence of these post-pads confirms the idea that this building was an aisled building - a common structure found at many villa sites. Such buildings were probably used for various purposes, including domestic accommodation. At Barcombe, as at Chilgrove 2 in West Sussex, at least two of a group of three rooms at one end of the building had tessellated floors and thus indicate a relatively high status of usage.

The interior of the aisled structure had few other features. In the south-west corner there was a rectangular, slightly lower, area that may have marked a sunken floor of a building or room within the side aisle of Building 3. Two almost parallel linear features were located just inside the east and west walls (see plan). The western linear feature, which was V-shaped, appeared to have partly silted up before being filled with building demolition material. In contrast, the eastern linear feature was much shallower and had a flat bottom. It had been filled with rubbish including pottery, animal bone, some tile and the occasional metal object.

Outside Building 3 in the south-east corner of the site were a number of pits. One was possibly a later Saxon cesspit, whilst a second was filled with discarded building material including tegula, imbrex and tesserae.

The most interesting feature was located on the west side of Building 3. Three narrow flint wall footings, which appear to butt the outside wall of the aisled building, run off westwards extending outside the current trench. On the inside of Building 3 at this location, and under a large spread of building demolition rubble was a rectangular area of mortared flints measuring 5m x 6m and perhaps forming the floor of an entrance, room or a building of a different date. This was only partly excavated in 2004, and it is our intention that in 2005 we will complete its excavation and also extend the trench to the west in order to trace the full extent of the flint walls abutting the outside face of Building 3.

Other Activity

Trial trenches had been excavated earlier in the season to try and establish the full extent of the villa complex. These had targeted anomalies, thought to be ditches, detected by the original resistivity survey. On the south side one trench encountered the flint footings of a wall, which appeared to be a continuation of the south wall of Building 3. However, an adjacent trench failed to locate any further continuation of this wall, which may therefore be part of a building rather than a wall marking the southern boundary of the villa courtyard. On the west side, two trial trenches revealed a Roman ditch, which probably does form the west boundary of the villa complex. No corresponding ditch (or wall) was encountered on the east side of the site.

Further work was carried out in the area between the two main masonry buildings, and revealed a re-cut ditch, which may have originally enclosed Building 3. There were also a number of postholes, and a later prehistoric ditch, perhaps part of a field system that pre-dated the villa.