Excavation at Linton Roman Villa

Excavations at Linton were conducted by the Archaeology Section of Cambridgeshire County Council in September 1990, in advance of a new water pipe-line proposed by the National Rivers Authority (Figures 1 and 2). The pipeline ran adjacent to the large Roman villa site at Linton, formerly in the Essex parish of Hadstock, and it was predicted that considerable archaeological remains were likely to be affected by the pipe trench and the nearby outfall. In view of the importance of the villa site, the NRA agreed to fund rescue excavations in the area.

Excavations uncovered an extensive range of Roman buildings, associated ditches and yard surfaces. The complex of buildings lay some 50m away from the wealthy villa excavated by R. C. Neville in 1846-1850. The walls had coursed flint rubble foundations and one building was subdivided into at least 5 small rooms. Pottery dated from the second to the fourth century AD. A collapsed length of Roman walling, Iron Age pits and gullies and field ditches of Belgic date were also observed. In places the buildings were buried by 1.5m of colluvial hillwash. The foundations have been largely preserved intact, except where cut by the narrow pipe trench.