Piddington Roman Villa, West Northamptonshire

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What is recorded here

Piddington developed from an Iron Age farm into a large Roman villa occupied for centuries. Volunteer excavation since 1979 found two bathhouses, an exceptional stone-lined well and scratched names that may identify owners and estate workers.

Who made it and when

An enclosed Iron Age community settled here in the first century BC. After the conquest a timber house appeared around AD 70, then generations rebuilt it in stone as a winged corridor villa.

How it was made and used

The estate combined elite rooms and private bathing with farm and workshop labour. Two bathhouses may have separated owners from workers, while the deep well supplied water and preserved evidence from the surrounding environment.

What was found

The Upper Nene Archaeological Society found mosaics, painted plaster, pottery, tools and inscriptions. Names scratched on pottery, including Tiberius Claudius Severus and possibly Senicianus, offer rare clues to people linked with the villa.

What remains

Excavated foundations have been recorded and protected, while finds are displayed in Piddington's former Wesleyan chapel. Large areas remain below fields after more than forty years of community-led work.

Why it mattered

Piddington reveals Roman change across a whole estate, not merely a luxury house. Its long volunteer excavation has also made local residents responsible for recovering and explaining their own buried landscape.