A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



Another villa, evidently of the corridor type, was uncovered in 1863 on Mr. George 

 Palmer's estate at Ealing about a mile and a half from Well House and was, like the former, 

 only partially explored \jfourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xix. 148 ; xxxvi. 27 ; Newbury Dist. 

 Field Club Trans, ix. 183, 184]. The walls remaining occupied an area of about 75 feet 

 by 45 feet. A hypocaust was discovered, and also the remains, much mutilated by the 

 steam plough, of the border of a mosaic pavement, which showed that its pattern was 

 an ordinary guilloche in which red, white and blue were the prevailing colours, with 

 an outer border of plain red tesserae. Roofing, paving and flue tiles were found in great 

 abundance together with fragments of dark red wall plaster, pottery, animal bones, oyster 

 and snail shells. 



At a distance of about 150 yards another Roman dwelling of an inferior description 

 was discovered \Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xxxvi. 28]. It occupied three sides of a square, 

 and was 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, with an opening on its south side which probably 

 formed the entrance. There was no tessellated pavement, and the fragments of pottery 

 found were chiefly of domestic vessels. Various iron articles, such as nails and hinges, 

 were discovered and a third brass of Constantine. A third discovery was made on this 

 site in 1879, by some workmen who were excavating for field drainage and came upon 

 an arched vault, the inside measurements of which are given as 8 feet in length, 2 feet 

 in width and 2 feet in height. The sides of this structure, which was undoubtedly a 

 Romano-British tomb, were of rough flints with bonding courses of brick, and it was 

 arched over with flanged roof tiles. On the floor, which was formed by a layer of clay over 

 a natural gravel bed, were the remains of a small funeral pile consisting of wood ashes, 

 a few animal bones and two or three nails. Part of a small cinerary urn of Upchurch 

 ware and a first brass of Commodus (A.D. 180-192) were also found \Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. 

 xxxvi. 27]. 



There are a few relics from the Ealing villa in the Reading Museum, namely a small 

 vase of Durobrivian ware, two broken lachrymatories, one glass, the other terra-cotta, and 

 four small bronzes, one of which represents a dog [Descriptive Cat. Reading Mus. pt. i. 46]. 

 At Grimsbury Castle is a circular camp, probably of British origin, which stands on 

 high ground near Cold Ash Common, now almost entirely covered by a thick fir planta- 

 tion. The Ordnance Map (25 in. scale, Sheet xxxv. 3) marks a spot in the wood where a 

 Roman spear was found, and several spear-heads supposed to be Roman are said to have been 

 discovered in the gravel round the entrenchment [Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xvi. 229, 230]. 

 Including the Marlston villa in the neighbouring parish of Bucklebury we have 

 within the area of a few miles four Roman dwellings, three of them probably villas of 

 considerable size, and one tomb. 



The very small number of coins found on the three sites makes it almost impossible 

 to form any theory as to the date at which the villas flourished. 



Many Roman coins, however, are said to have been found in the neighbourhood of 

 Hampstead Norris Manor House, and are preserved in Mr. Lousley's museum [Newbury 

 Dist. Field Club Trans, i. 128]. 



HENDRED, EAST. Reynolds gives this village in his list of towns where Roman Antiquities 

 have been found [Iter Britanniarum, 444], mentioning a Roman road and Roman coins. 

 His authority seems to be the Rev. G. Woodward, who wrote in 1759 that there was 

 a road to Wantage here called the Portway and in connexion with it described the find 

 of coins at Letcombe Regis [Bibl. Topog. Brit. iv. 29]. 



HUNGERFORD. A Roman ring of gold set with a rough sapphire found in 1741 [Soc. Antiq. 

 MSS. Minutes, iv. 109]. 



ILSLEY, EAST. In March i86i,some labourers digging chalk on Stanmore Farm, East Ilsley, 

 found fragments of pottery and a piece of wall 7 feet in length, built of large flint stones. 

 At the south end of this wall were discovered wood ashes and among them a fragment 

 of bronze, the pin of a fibula, small bits of iron, some short nails and a vessel with an 

 open-work design on it, which was unfortunately broken. A level floor of beaten chalk 

 could be distinctly traced, and on it were found an iron arrow-head and a great quantity 

 of tiles. The excavations were not pursued further. It was noticed that the crops 

 had always been more luxuriant on this spot and the colours of the soil different from 

 those around it. A deep well, apparently of Roman construction, was close by, and in 

 an adjoining copse there were said to be the remains of the walls of circular buildings 

 \Journ. Brit. Arch, Assoc. xviii. 290, 291]. 



ILSLEY WEST. Roman coins ploughed up in the fields, and hundreds of iron nails found with 



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