Latimer Villa

By about 300 CE, the Roman villa at Latimer, once an Iron Age farm, had developed into a corridor villa that  symmetrically bounded the western end of a large courtyard. This courtyard also enclosed two smaller outbuildings to the south.

The courtyard was walled, and in the center of the eastern wall was a sturdy gate though which passed a banked, paved road. This bisected the courtyard and continued on to the main entrance of the house. A planting hole suggests that the gate may have been flanked by a tree on at least one side.

This courtyard was divided roughly into quadrants:

• The northwest and southwest portions of the courtyard were probably rectangular gardens, divided by the road that ended at the front door.

• East of that, the southeast quadrant contained planting beds made up of six parallel bedding trenches, each about 20’ long. This area was bisected by a broad path leading south from the main roadway to the outbuildings in the southeast corner of the courtyard. Stake holes found around these beds suggest that these gardens were fenced.

• A large area in the northeast quadrant may have been an orchard.

Archaeologists found iron knives, pruning tools, and spade shoes at Latimer, much like these found at similar sites:

Spade with iron shoe	Pruning hook	Knife

Resources

• Gardens in Roman Britain - R.J. Zeepvat

• Gardens of Roman Britain, W.F. Jashemski (English Heritage Report 14, London, 1990)

• Latimer: Belgic, Roman, Dark Age and Early Modern Farm, by Keith Branigan

• Roman Villas and the British Countryside - Le Bedoyere