i 
+ Samy” 
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by Harold Brakspear, B.S.A. 241 
the men and securing every feature of interest as brought to light 
that the success of the undertaking is due. 
The villa was situated on the side of a hill, sloping north, over- 
looking the valley of Box brook, to the east and north of the 
parish church. 
The high ground is still full of a number of very strong springs, 
which doubtless influenced the choice of the spot for habitation by 
the Romans. The springs coming from the limestone rock had 
from time immemorial deposited masses of tufa down the slope 
upon which the villa was built, and this tufa was used largely for 
foundation of the floors and hypocausts. Whether the springs 
were collected into a reservoir before serving the villa is im- 
possible to say, but the surplus water was carried away through 
deep culverts. 
So great was the body of water from these springs that throughout 
the middle ages it was sufficient to drive a mill belonging to 
Monkton Farleigh Priory. The dam of this mill was formed upon 
the site of the court of the villa, possibly being merely an enlarge- 
ment of an impluviwm, and yet remains as a pond. The mill was 
still in use to the end of the eighteenth century, and the mill 
house is now incorporated in that of “The Wilderness.” The 
writer of the article in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1851, already 
quoted, says “little remains of the mill are now visible here, 
excepting the place of the over-shot wheel and the circumstance 
that very many old-fashioned millstones are to be seen in the 
pavements about the premises.” 
The plan of the site shows the position of the villa with respect 
to the modern boundaries and buildings at present existing. 
The recent excavations were principally confined to plot A, and 
embraced the whole of the north-east portions of the building. 
Some small parts were traced outside that ground on the north 
(plot E), and in the Vicarage garden (plot B) on the east. Un- 
fortunately it was not possible to complete the excavations in 
the Vicarage garden to the outside walls. The excavations were 
also continued along the west side of plot D, but beyond a 
small fragment in the extreme north angle nothing was found, 
