Barcombe Villa - 2005 Summary
- David Rudling and Chris Butler (March 2006)

Baths, Pits, Walls and a Road: Discoveries at Barcombe Villa in 2005

By the end of the 2004 season of excavations we had fully revealed the large aisled building which formed much of the eastern side of the courtyard of the villa complex. In 2005 additional work was undertaken in order to further investigate and record this structure. Of particular interest was a large block of shaped sandstone which was used to support the first western aisle post at the junction with the cross-wall forming the southern side of rooms 1 and 2. This block is the only surviving pad-stone for any of the aisle posts, although at least one base may have been formed of mortared flints. Finally, in advance of backfilling and a return to arable cultivation, we lifted the small area of in-situ tessellated floor in room 1. This action further revealed the extent of plough furrows and thus the cause of destruction to this floor, and presumably also that in the adjoining room (2) where a few tesserae were also found in-situ. Unfortunately no dateable finds or features/deposits were discovered beneath the red tile tesserae.

Early Baths

During 2004 we had discovered part of an earlier building mid-way along, and at right angles to, the west wall of the aisled building (Sussex Past & Present 105, 6-7: Masonry Building 3). In 2005 this earlier structure, which is cut by the foundation trench for the wall of the aisled building, was fully revealed and identified as a small, heavily robbed out suite of baths approximately 12 metres long and 6 metres wide (see Photograph 1). To the west of the wall of the aisled building were the flint foundations of an entrance/cold room and, on its southern side, a cold plunge bath. To the east of the wall of the aisled building the remains were much less well preserved but probably included a hot room/bath within a semi-circular area at the east end (with presumably the stoke-hole, and perhaps a praefurnium, to the east of this).

Photograph 1: The Early Bathhouse

Further to the east were traces of an east-west orientated ditch, which may have been used to drain all, or part, of the baths. This ditch was cut by several features, including the east wall of the aisled building. Part of the eastern side of the baths was cut by a large trench which is inside, and parallel to, the west wall of the aisled building. At its southern end this feature also cuts the sunken rectangular area, which lies within the west aisle of masonry building 3. Although the primary function of this rectilinear trench is unknown (perhaps an unfinished ditch), it contained large quantities of building material (see Photograph 2), including some examples of tiles with unusual cut-away decorative edges (i.e. some type of facing or edging material). The dating evidence for both the baths and the rectilinear feature which cuts it have not yet been studied in detail and thus remain of uncertain dates at present. It is possible however that the baths, which some have suggested might never have been completed, may date to the period of the first masonry building (1) on the site of later winged corridor house (2). Alternatively, the baths may have been built during the early usage of the winged house but prior to the construction of the aisled building.

Photograph 2: Ditch With Building Material

 To the west of the bath-house was a large pit containing a large quantity and variety of finds. In contrast, to the north of the western end of the baths was a square pit containing a distinctive deposit of clay, but few finds. In between these two pits, and to the west of the baths, was a continuation of the line of post-holes found in previous seasons to the north. Somewhat surprisingly the previously discovered north-south orientated ditch which lies to the west of the north-west corner of the aisled building proved not, as was suspected, to continue alongside and beyond the whole length of the building. Instead it turned to the west at the north-west corner of the large square pit (see above), which cuts it.

To the north of the aisled building work continued on the cluster of mainly later Saxon pits in the north-eastern of the excavations. One of these pits, which continues under the edge of the trench, proved to be Roman in date.

Courtyard Wall

One of the main aims of the excavations in 2005 was to investigate the southern boundary of the courtyard and to see if we could locate an entrance. The excavation trench was therefore extended to the west in order to re-locate a small stretch of chalk wall footings, which had been located by trial trenching in 2004.  The wall was duly re-located and could be seen to follow the alignment of the south wall of the aisled building to the east (Photograph 3). A large gap in between the aisled building and the chalk foundations to the west is interpreted as a main entrance. The eastern end of the newly exposed wall-footings is considerably wider (i.e. c. 2m wide) than its continuation to the west. It may perhaps represent part of a structure associated with the adjacent entranceway. At the western end of the southern boundary wall the chalk footings turn northwards. A small westwards extension to the trench revealed that flint masonry buts the corner of the chalk foundations and that this continues to the west along the same alignment as the rest of the southern boundary. Further work in 2006 will aim to fully reveal these flint foundations, which may belong to a building forming part of the west side of the courtyard.

The area of the courtyard which was newly exposed in 2005 was found to contain a number of post-holes, two pits (one of which is later Saxon in date) and an area of possible flint metalling. An important aim in 2006 will be to investigate the area immediately to the north of the 2005 western extension to the excavations. Ultimately, in 2007, we hope to have investigated all of the courtyard area fronting the winged corridor building, including further parts of the Bronze Age ring ditch, Roundhouse 4 and the enclosure ditch which appears to contain the four known roundhouses.

Photograph 3: The Courtyard Wall

Church Field

Further preliminary investigations were undertaken in Church Field, which is located immediately to the east of the villa investigations. Previous work in this field (fieldwalking and geophysics) had revealed the presence of a Roman building/s with masonry foundations. The investigations in 2005 included additional survey by ground penetrating radar and two small test trenches. One of the trenches revealed a compact area of building rubble just below the ploughsoil.