Monument record MDR7089 - Romano-British farmstead I, north of Egginton Brook, Willington

A complex of cropmarks (2, 3) showing linear features and enclosures was partially excavated in 1972 by TVARC revealing, among other things, two farmsteads of the Romano-British period. (1) Isolated Romano-British features and artifacts were found over the whole excavated area at Willington. However, in two areas the concentration of finds and features within enclosures suggested centres for farming activities, although the evidence for dwellings was in both cases poor. Both date to the 2nd century: Farmstead I may begin late in the 1st century whilst Farmstead II [see SMR 27927] may continue into the 3rd century. There were three Roman phases in the area of Farmstead I and a number of enclosures or compounds of varying sizes, the smaller of which were perhaps paddocks. Features from the different phases contained similar artefact assemblages, suggesting a fairly short life for the enclosures, although the land may have remained in agricultural use for a much longer period. The northern and earliest enclosures of the Roman period lay on a level surface, but from there the ground fell away noticeably, so that the southern boundaries of the large enclosure lay in the flood silts of Egginton Brook. A number of ancient flood silts were excavated and it was clear that the southern compounds flooded during Roman times. The number of pits and post-holes in one of the enclosures was greater than anywhere else and was also in the area least likely to be flooded. It was consequently more thoroughly investigated than any other part of the Farmstead in the hope of identifying farm buildings or dwellings. Sixteen post-holes were excavated but there was no regularity in shape or size and no coherent plan could be seen. On the eastern side of a large phase III enclosure was a roughly circular hearth which had been reconstructed at least three times. There was little evidence as to its function, which was probably industrial rather than domestic. Pottery recovered from the site dated from the late 1st and 2nd centuries; other finds were few but included an iron hook and a fragments of a small iron bowl. (4) The cropmarks have been transcribed onto an overlay at a scale of 1:10000. (5)