Rural Villa in Latimer

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Location

Garden

Keywords

Garden Description

Excavations at this country house in Buckinghamshire have produced evidence for gardens adjacent to the main residence in its latest phase dating to the beginning of the 4th century (Fig. 1). The house at the west is of the winged corridor type, fronted by a large courtyard bisected by a paved central drive with a banked edge. Between the outer courtyard wall and the house were areas used for gardening (G in Fig. 1). Just inside the outer yard wall on the south side of the drive traces of at least six bedding trenches cut into the natural subsoil and running parallel to each other were followed for at least 5 meters (b in Fig. 1). These have been interpreted by the excavator as the remains of vegetable gardens (Fig. 2). He also attributed a number of stake holes in this area to small fences bounding the vegetable gardens, and suggested the possibility of an orchard on the northern side of the drive as well as a formal flower garden nearer to the house between the projecting wings, for which there is no concrete archaeological evidence. Finally a small pit just inside the courtyard gateway may represent a pit dug to take one of a pair of trees flanking the entrance.

Plans

Fig. 1: Plan of the residential building (A) with excavated bedding trenches (b) in its garden courtyard (G).

Credit: Adapted from Branigan 1971, fig. 20.

Images

Fig. 2: Reconstruction of the house and garden.

Credit: Courtesy of K. Branigan.

Dates

early 4th century CE - unspecified

Bibliography

K. Branigan, Latimer. Belgic, Roman, Dark Age and Early Modern Farm, Bristol, 1971, pp. 85-86, 184, figs. 14, 20 (worldcat)
M. Carroll, Earthly Paradises. Ancient Gardens in History and Archaeology. London: The British Museum Press, 2003, 19, fig. 29
M. Carroll, They came, they saw, they gardened. The Garden: Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 128.6, 2003, 461, fig. p. 463
R.J. Zeepvat, "Roman Gardens in Britain," in: A.E. Brown, ed., Garden Archaeology. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 78, London, 1991, p. 56, fig. 5.3. (worldcat)

Gardens of the Roman Empire

Rural Villa in Latimer

Location

Garden

Keywords

Garden Description

Plans

Images

Dates

Bibliography

Places