title: A Roman villa at the edge of Empire
title: Excavations at Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees, 2003-04
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Willis, Steven
name: Carne, Peter
Publisher: name: Archaeology Data Service
Year: 2020

description: Council for British Archaeology Research Reports, 170
description: The Roman villa at Ingleby Barwick, near Stocktonon-Tees in north-east England, is situated on a terrace on the south side of the River Tees some 40km south of Hadrian's Wall. The villa is notable as one of the most northerly known in the Roman Empire. The excavation is important both for its scale and for being carried out under modern recording conditions. The site was discovered through a programme of aerial reconnaissance and evaluation in advance of a major housing development. Aerial photographs taken in the 1970s had revealed a layout of linear ditches and a probable sub-rectangular enclosure typical of later prehistoric and Romano-British occupation in the region. Trial excavation in 1979 recovered both Romano-British and Iron Age tradition pottery. Large-scale evaluation work in 1997-2000, including geophysical survey, trial trenches and an earthwork survey, identified the site of a Roman winged corridor villa, with outlying stone-built structures. A revised development plan allowed the preservation of the main villa building in situ, in an area of public open space, while extensive excavations were carried out over the other features in 2003-04. Features excavated included an aisled building, a stone circular structure, an isolated caldarium, and the fragmentary remains of several other structures. Around the buildings was an extensive layout of contemporary rectilinear enclosures. Within some of these, there was a variety of evidence for activity associated with the villa, including pits, ovens, burials, paved surfaces and wooden structures. There was limited evidence for settlement on the site in the Bronze Age. There was also evidence for enclosures and settlement, including a circular structure, which preceded the establishment of the villa, probably in the later Iron Age. It is suggested that there was a hiatus in occupation in the 1st and early 2nd century AD, before the villa and associated enclosures were established probably in the late 2nd century, continuing in use into the late 4th / early 5th century. Anglo-Saxon occupation at the site is attested, postdating the collapse of the stone structures, suggesting a rare example of continuity in this region. Pottery deposition has chronological peaks in the Antonine, mid-3rd century, and mid to late 4th century and a fairly detailed phasing of the site is proposed, based primarily on the pottery sequence. A relatively low frequency of finds was recovered, which is typical of the region, although these included highstatus material such as fragments of a rare glass bowl and a large metalwork hoard. There was no evidence for mosaics or tiled roofs. The palaeo-environmental evidence indicates the establishment was a working farm with varied agriculture, incorporating local cereal production. Civilian sites of the Roman era in the hinterland of Hadrian's Wall are little known, with the focus of archaeological investigations having been principally upon the military. The presence of this villa and its role in the life of the region are discussed on the basis of the excavated evidence and its borderland setting.