Monument record MDO2718 - Roman Villa in Bindles Close, Thornford

A Roman Villa discovered in 1849 when a single tessellated floor was uncovered. In 1876 the site was excavated by Prof Buckman, who found several rooms. The site was relocated in 1955 for the Ordnance Survey and partly re excavated by John Leach in 1961-2, the discrepancies between the account of Buckman and the remains found in 1961 led to the excavator raising doubts as to whether the site he was working on was the same as that excavated by Buckman.

Roman remains including tesserae and pottery were found during drainage operations in a meadow to the north of Thornford. A few years later, in 1876, an excavation was carried out which revealed four rooms each with a mosaic pavement, also "passages", of which two were paved, showing a somewhat extensive range of buildings. Roof-tiles, painted wall plaster, pottery, etc were also found. Excavations in October 1961 on the site which lies in a field beside the footpath from Thornford to Bradford Abbas, about 300 yds south of the river Yeo, were carried out by Leach and the Sherborne School Archaeological Society. "Two seasons excavations have produced a plan of a winged corridor villa of conventional shape". Six rooms have been uncovered, one of which had a simple tessellated pavement, linked by a corridor paved with slabs of lias. The majority of the floors were paved with rough slabs. Room 4 had the tessellated pavement along with painted wall plaster and a hearth. The corridor was 7 ft 6 ins wide and ran along the south side of rooms 1 to 4. Coins found ranged from Caracalla (AD 211-217) to Valens (AD370). Samian, coarse ware and various animal bones have also been found. There are signs of more buildings some 60 yds to the south and … "It is by no means certain that the building here described is identical with that discovered by Professor Buckman … It seems reasonable to expect that there remains a great deal more to be discovered at Thornford." <1> <3> DO 30 Listed as the site of a Roman villa which began as a small rectangular block of rooms and was subsequently developed into a winged corridor house. <8>

Record last edited

Oct 4 2022 4:02PM