Ever wonder what secrets lie beneath this common ground? We are standing at the site of Ashtead Roman villa. It is located on Ashtead Common in Leatherhead, Surrey. This wasn’t just a house. It was part of a larger complex. This complex included a bathhouse, tile works and clay pits. Imagine the industry here long ago.
The main period of activity at Ashtead Roman villa was AD 117-38. However, some buildings were erected earlier around AD 67-79. This suggests a gradual development of the site. Around AD 150, something changed. The buildings were dismantled. But the story doesn’t end there. In AD 180, the villa was partly rebuilt. Despite these efforts, the site was abandoned by about AD 200.
Ashtead Roman villa was a corridor villa. Its design was once considered unusual. It had two rows of six rooms behind the corridor. Most corridor villas only had one row. However, excavations in 2007 suggest something else. It is likely the villa originally consisted of a single line of rooms. This would make it more similar to other villas of its kind.
The first excavation of Ashtead Roman villa happened in 1924. A.W.G. Lowther discovered the site. Later, in the 1960s, J.N. Hampton found the clay pits and some kilns. These discoveries helped to paint a better picture of the villa. A five-year partnership project began in 2006. Its goal was to uncover even more information about the villa site. The City of London, Surrey Archaeological Society and English Heritage joined forces.
One task was to study the spoil heaps from the 1920s excavations. They also examined the approach road. The team discovered many remains and fragments of a stone road. The road crossed the common. In 2007, the Surrey Archaeological Society’s Roman Studies Group excavated to determine the wall’s phasing. Their results suggested the villa had a single line of rooms originally. They also found evidence of an earlier building beneath the corridor. High-quality pottery, painted wall plaster and a tile board were also unearthed.
The bathhouse was located 50 metres south of the villa. It was likely used by workers from the nearby kilns. Tiles found at Ashtead Roman villa had roller-stamped designs. Three pellets of Egyptian Blue were found among the wall plaster. These were probably paint pigment stock for use at the villa. A gold pendant earring was also discovered near the site.
Ashtead Roman villa had some unusual characteristics. The rooms at the front were narrower. It lacked terminal pavilions. The groups of rooms seemed to ignore the spine wall. There was also a reception room leading to a dining room. These rooms had unusual proportions.
Excavations show that the outer walls of rooms 6 and 4 are of different builds. Room 4 was added to 6. The overall sequence on the villa site had three main periods. A chalk floored structure, a stone-founded structure with at least three main phases, and a final raising period with extensions along both sides out to a gutter, probably also including construction of the attached bath house.
Today the land offers quiet reflection on the lives of those who once lived and worked here at Ashtead Roman villa.