The Snodland Romano-British Villa Complex
The remains of the Romano-British villa at Snodland are situated on the west bank of the River Medway, overlooking the valley floodplains to the east. This site is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and has been known about for over a hundred years, although in recent times the Church Field residential estate has been constructed over the footprint of the older Romano-British activity. Prior to this development however, a number of separate archaeological excavations had taken place, together revealing a substantial complex of buildings, including the central villa, with ranges, floors, wall plaster and hypocaust remains, as well as a number of outbuildings and other associated archaeological features. In September 2006 geotechnical investigations were carried out on an adjacent sports field to the northwest, which revealed an important Romano-British coin hoard, comprising approximately 3,600 mid-4th century bronze coins (KAS Newsletter Winter 2006/7).
In advance of further development, Archaeology South-East was commissioned by CgMs Consulting on behalf of Smurfit Kappa UK to undertake archaeological excavations across the proposed site. During the course of this work, extensive and previously unrecorded Romano-British deposits were uncovered, including the partially exposed remains of a building. This structure consisted of a minimum of five rooms, possibly orientated around an open courtyard area. However, its foundation trenches continued to the east, well beyond the designated area of excavation, where they would almost certainly have been destroyed by modern services, and the course of the railway line. The depth of the surviving footings, combined with the plentiful remains of Romano-British tile would suggest that the building once comprised a single storey structure, complete with tiled roof. In spatial terms, this building would have been located less than 100 metres away from the centre of the main villa complex, whilst datable artefacts connected with the upstanding life of the structure suggest it once formed a contemporary and integral part of the broader 2nd-4th century Romano-British landscape.
British Villa Complex
British estate. Conversely, the archaeological evidence indicated a comprehensive phase of demolition having taken place during the Romano-British period itself. Given the relatively good survival of structural elements from earlier excavations on the main site to the southeast, it seems likely that this building was deliberately robbed of its materials, and that its component flint, ragstone and tile were used for construction elsewhere on the estate.
The surrounding grounds seem to have been delineated by a large enclosure ditch and within this area a number of notable features were recorded, including post-holes and pits, a cremation, a pond and a substantial preserved chalk footing adjoining the building, probably on the same alignment as one of its gable ends. If so, a good sized wall may have once existed, thereby marking some form of garden boundary. Beyond the enclosure ditch to the west more pits and gullies were recorded, indicating farming and small scale industrial activity as well as a number of geometrically orientated ditches, indicative of a Romano-British field system.
To the south of the building, close to the excavated coin hoard, and defined within a network of intercutting ditches, four articulated human burials were revealed. Two of these graves contained almost complete Romano-British pots. The burials themselves were not orientated east to west, and the presence of ceramic grave goods with the bodies is indicative of pre-Christian burial traditions. Interestingly, the skeletons were located directly beneath what, until recently, had been changing room facilities and a boxing club. Two small baby skeletons were also identified within a specific room in the building, one of which had been placed on a complete piece of Roman roofing tile known as tegula. In Romano-British times, babies were often buried beneath or close to kitchens, thus providing a possible indication of the buildings function. Another human burial was recorded close by, buried in a grave partly lined with large pieces of Romano-British tile.
A broad number of finds were retrieved from the site, including brooches, rings, hairpins, tweezers, beads, glass and coins, as well as the more ubiquitous ceramic, bone, and iron material. Many of the finds are dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries, although some signs of earlier activity have been recorded, most notably a copper alloy La Tene Brooch, of Late Iron Age to 1st century origin, as well as two Colchester two-piece brooches dating to the 1st century. The coin hoard has been dated to the mid-4th century, and was recovered from a ditch that had been backfilled late in the site’s development, evidently no longer in use. Therefore, it seems likely that the burial of these coins points to the final stages of the Romano-British occupation of the Snodland villa.
Clive Meaton
Archaeology South-East