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This long-term project aims to investigate several Roman villa sites connected with and nearby to the Roman ‘small-towns’ of Long Melford and Pakenham, which were local urban centres in West Suffolk.
Roman villas were important, multifunctional nodes in the settlement pattern, serving as high-status residences, agricultural hubs, and administrative and cultural centres. However, they are still poorly understood as the most well-known examples, nationwide, were excavated in the early days of archaeology. The project promises new insights into Roman lifestyles, economic activities, and cultural transformation.
Since 2023 fieldwork has taken place on the villa and church of Norton, initially investigating structures in the villa enclosure, but expanded in 2024 to investigate evidence for the post-Roman period further west and around the church. These investigations have involved magnetometry and topographic survey, the recording of surface finds, and the excavation of 14 trenches in and around the villa site.
Among the many structures and features that have been excavated so far are: a large probable aisled structure; a large pit containing a substantial deposit of building material, including tesserae and painted plaster, suggesting a villa-type building or bath house; a large cellared structure and well shaft; and a corn drier. The debris found in pits included large numbers of cattle bones, perhaps a primary element in the economy of the villa farm, as well as objects including spindle whorls, knives, and a complete horse skeleton!
The project also identified the possibility that St Andrew’s Church might have originated in the late 10th /early 11th century as part of an elite residence associated with Eadgifu the Fair, wife of Harold Godwinsson. The church and the Old Rectory lie within a c.1 ha D-shaped enclosure, at least partially preserved as a bank and ditch. Excavations immediately to the west of the church identified the foundations of a previously unrecorded church tower, which stratigraphically predates the 13th century.
As well as continuing work at Norton, new excavations in 2025 will investigate a Roman villa on land near Alpheton. Previous work has demonstrated archaeological content, primarily relating to its identification as a probable Roman villa-like settlement. Amongst the features are a rectilinear enclosure consisting of two pairs of parallel ditches, trackways, the significant remains of several building including a bath-house, as well as circular features, probably representing Bronze Age ring ditches.
