Monument record MDO6128 - Roman villa at Myncen Farm, Gussage St Andrew, Sixpenny Handley

Site of a possible Roman villa at Myncen Farm. Examination of the arable land immediately south of St Andrew's Church during fieldwalking in 1987-88 noted a dense spread of Romano-British building debris; including possibly tegula or box flue, fragments of Roman tile, Purbeck limestone, clay roof tiles, sandstone and tufa blocks and small tesserae of limestone and clay. Also pottery of 3rd to 4th-century date. Following geophysical survey and fieldwalking, a series of 1 metre square test pits uncovered evidence for substantial foundations, traces of a hypocaust, in situ tesserae, glass and painted wall plaster.

ST 976141. Examination of the arable land immediately south of St Andrew's Church produced fragments of Roman tile, possibly tegula or box flue. (The reports of a 'Mosaic' from Cashmoor Inn (ST 91 SE 103) may indicate a Romano-British settlement in the vicinity). <1>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 123, (Green C S) (Serial). SDO84.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1997, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1996, 155-7 (Serial). SDO11592.

<3> Esmonde Cleary, A S, 1997, 'Roman Britain in 1996: South-Western Counties' Britannia (Article in serial). SDO16782.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1991, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1990, 117 (Serial). SDO90.

‘A ROMAN BUILDING IN GUSSAGE ST ANDREW
During field-walking in the winter of 1987/8 the writer noticed a substantial spread of Romano-British building debris, about 50 m across, on a terrace immediately above the stream. The rubble comprised Purbeck limestone and clay roof tiles, sandstone and tufa blocks, limestone and clay tessarae, the latter of small size.

The site may well be more extensive but is truncated to the west by a track and to the east by the road to Cashmoor. The fields beyond the track and road are both permanent pasture and show no obvious earthworks. Hutchins [Footnote: Hutchins, John, Dorset, 3rd Ed. (1861-70), Volume II, p. 547.] records the discovery in a field called Oak Hill of ‘remains of Roman houses’. He mentions tiles of Tisbury stone, plastered walls, red and white tessarae the size of dice. Although the similarity of finds to the present site is noteworthy his description leads one to believe the earlier discovery was nearer to the hamlet of Minchington. The reasonably high status building debris found would suggest we may be dealing with a villa or villas. The small amount of pottery of Romano-British date found spans the 3rd-4th centuries. Medieval pottery found over the site together with the re-use of Roman tiles in the fabric of the church of Gussage St Andrew suggests extensive robbing during this period.’

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1998, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1997, 169-72 (Serial). SDO12420.

<6> Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1997, Britannia: a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies 28, 445 (Serial). SDO19421.

<7> Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1998, Britannia: a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies 29, 423-4 (Serial). SDO19422.

<8> Esmonde Cleary, A S, 1999, 'Roman Britain in 1998: South-Western Counties' Britannia (Article in serial). SDO16783.

<9> Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1999, Britannia: a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies 30, 367 (Serial). SDO19423.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 912528 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 15 2023 9:58AM