Record Details

NHER Number:4921
Type of record:Monument
Name:Roman villa at Glebe Farm, Feltwell

Summary

A Neolithic or Early Bronze Age pit, a Roman villa and bath house and a possible medieval vicarage were excavated here in the 1960s. Extensive remains of the bath house hypocaust, part of an underfloor heating system, were investigated. Several human skeletons were also found.

Images

  • A watercolour receonstruction of Feltwell Roman bath house.  © Norfolk County Council

Location

Grid Reference:TL 7136 9096
Map Sheet:TL79SW
Parish:FELTWELL, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Glebe Farm.

1962. North east of St Nicholas Church.
Roman building material and sherds found.

1964. Excavation.
Excavation of Roman bath house and pit containing medieval to post medieval sherds.
Iron Age sherds found.

1965. Excavation.
Roman villa?

A pit excavated beneath the Roman foundations at Context 1 was found to contain prehistoric pottery sherds, worked flints (including a 'saw') and animal bones.
These objects were donated to the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1965.275).
Information from (S1)
The pottery sherds were subsequently examined by F. Healy and identified as fragments of a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Grooved Ware dish. See drawing (S2). The other finds were identified as a small quantity of animal bone fragments, a worked bone point and a small assemblage of worked flints comprising 2 cores, 8 flakes, 1 end scraper, 1 side and end scraper and 1 bilaterally serrated blade (S3).
See (S4) (in which drawings (S2) and (S3) are reproduced) for further information, including a detailed description of the Grooved Ware pottery.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 September 2018.

1969. Excavation.
Medieval vicarage.

1960 to 1970.
Human skeletons and Roman sherds found.

Pre 1979.
Roman coin found.

1979. Commercial excavations.
Few Roman sherds.

See notes in file and (S5) and (S6).
E. Rose (NAU), 24 July 1990.

Monument Types

  • PIT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • BATH HOUSE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BUILDING (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • HYPOCAUST (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • PIT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • VILLA (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • WELL (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

  • HUMAN REMAINS (Undated)
  • ANIMAL REMAINS (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • CORE (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • END SCRAPER (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • FLAKE (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POINT (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • SERRATED BLADE (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • SIDE AND END SCRAPER (Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
  • ANIMAL REMAINS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BEAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BUCKLE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • FLUE TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • ROOF TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • STEELYARD WEIGHT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TL 79 SW 11 [2].
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Roman. Feltwell [5].
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Post-Medieval. Feltwell [2].
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Middle Saxon. Stamford Ware, Feltwell Glebe Farm.
---Collection: Norfolk Historic Environment Record Staff. 1975-[2000]. HER Record Notes. Norfolk Historic Environment Service.
<S1>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Bronze Age. Feltwell (Glebe Farm).
<S2>Illustration: Healy, F. 1964. Drawing of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Grooved Ware pottery sherds. Film. 1:1.
<S3>Illustration: Healy, F. 1964. Drawing of a prehistoric serrated flint blade. Film. 1:1.
<S4>Thesis: Healy, F. 1978. The Neolithic in Norfolk. Vol II pp 189-191.
<S5>Article in Monograph: Gregory, A. 1982. Romano-British Settlement in West Norfolk and on the Norfolk Fen Edge. The Romano-British Countryside, Studies in Rural Settlement and Economy. Miles, D. (ed.). British Archaeological Reports British Series No 103 pp 352-376. pt ii, pp 351-376.
<S6>Monograph: Healy, F. 1996. The Fenland Project, Number 11: The Wissey Embayment: Evidence for pre-Iron Age Occupation. East Anglian Archaeology. No 78. p 28.

Related records - none

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