| Date | 6 January 2012 |
|---|---|
| Source | Slough Observer |
| Reference | VP-0011 |
| Volume | Views of the Past |
| Collection | Views of the Past |
Transcript
Work unearthed Roman history
Views of the past by Elias Kupfermann
IN 1886 a Roman villa was uncovered at the top of Castle Hill, Maidenhead. This was to become the home of Alderman Richard Silver, who had been Mayor of Maidenhead in 1872 and 1877.
In October of that year, Alderman Silver invited the celebrated Taplow antiquarian James Rutland to excavate the site of his new home.
Rutland was famous for the excavation of the Taplow Anglo-Saxon burial mound in the old churchyard adjoining Taplow Court.
Evidence for a Roman villa at this site (a field known as ‘Cow Parlour‘) had already been found in the form of pieces of ‘tegula’ or Roman roofing tile.
The excavations revealed a furnace composed of flint nd chalk and a suite of three rooms containing a hypocaust (Roman underfloor heating) and a small bathing seat or ‘solium’ which was covered in plain white mosaics.
A midden or rubbish dump was found to the north of the site which contained a large quantity of animal bones and broken pottery. Part of the building had been destroyed by gravel extraction.
Other finds from the Castle Hill area suggested that the villa had covered a large area. In 1896, during the construction of a second house called ‘Eturia‘ further foundations were uncovered.
Part of this house is believed to have actually been built on the Roman foundations of the villa. In 1960, during the laying of a gas pipeline, at the Castle Hill end of Grenfell Road, a large quantity of Roman pottery was found together with a flint and chalk wall running across the road.
The finds from the original 1886 excavation together with a model of the villa were presented to the old Maidenhead Museum by Alderman Silver and remained there until its closure.
For many years the actual location of the villa had become lost, although it was known it was in the vicinity of Castle Hill from descriptions in the local newspaper at the time.
Quite excitingly, in February 1987 the removal of rockery from one house in Grenfell Road produced some foundations of Roman date. These were actually discovered by me.
A substantial flint wall was uncovered together with a small area of hypocaust. Finds from the Roman villa can be seen at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre.
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