Piddington Roman Villa

Piddington Roman Villa is the remains of a large Roman villa at Piddington, Northamptonshire, about 6 mile (10 km) south east of Northampton, a county in the East Midlands of England.

The villa is on the site of an earlier late Iron Age settlement. The museum is housed in an old de consecrated Wesleyan chapel built in 1851, located in Chapel End on the north eastern edge of the village.

Excavation by the Upper Nene Archaeological Society since 1979 provides evidence that the area close to Piddington has been occupied for ca.10,000 years. Neolithic, ca.3500–1500 BC, and Bronze Age people, ca.1500–600 BC,
left behind flint tools and arrowheads which they used for hunting. No houses survived, however. A late Iron Age settlement originated around the middle of the 1st century BC where people lived in round houses inside an enclosure with an outer ditch for protection. They were skilled at pottery and making bronze objects and traded with continental Europe. After the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was a military presence here and the Roman villa followed later that century, first made of wood, then stone, developing into a great house over the next 250 years.

The site was occupied from about 50 BC, with circular buildings followed by a proto villa of ca.70 AD and then a sequence of rectangular stone built structures, culminating in a simple cottage type villa. From the 2nd century this became an increasingly large winged corridor type villa with courtyard (indeed, a 2nd century well on the site is probably the largest stone lined well in Roman Britain and has produced a wealth of environmental and other evidence). It also had two bath houses, possibly one used by the estate workers and one, smaller one for the villa owners at one end of the main range of villa buildings.

The names of two probable 2nd century AD owners had their names stamped on some of the villa tiles. They were Tiberivs Clavdivs Vervs (Tiberius Claudius Verus) and Tiberiv Clavdivs Severvs (Tiberius Claudius Severus), presumably related. Their names suggest they were Roman citizens, but are thought most likely to have been native Britons. The villa was at its largest and grandest at this time. This is clear from objects found on the villa site which came from all over the Roman Empire. Today, Piddington may be a backwater, but at the time it was part of a thriving economy with wide ranging trading partners.

At the end of the 3rd century, earlier than most other Romano British villas, it apparently became abruptly unoccupied and much of it was deliberately dismantled, with "squatter" type 'family unit' occupation taking over from the beginning of the 4th century until at least until its end. There is also evidence for early Anglo Saxon activity, including at least three burials and a possible dwelling. The church, probably of Anglo Saxon origin is, not surprisingly, close to the villa site.

The site was rediscovered by workmen digging for limestone in 1781. A complete mosaic was unearthed, but people from Northampton came and took it away as "souvenirs". Trial excavation started in 1959. Since then, excavation on the site has been conducted by the Upper Nene Archaeological Society, part time, since 1979. It is a long term rescue excavation, since parts of the site are close to the surface and thus plough damaged. Currently this has been minimised with the local farmer's co operation.

On 4 September 2004, Tony Robinson, of Channel 4's Time Team officially opened Piddington Villa Museum. The Upper Nene Archaeological Society,