Shining a Light on Roman Roadside Settlements in South-East                                  England and Beyond

Following publication of 'The Rise and Decline of Druce Farm Roman Villa (AD60-650)' BAR British Series 676, 2022 Archaeology of Roman Britain Volume 8, Lilian Ladle has kindly agreed to talk to us about this multi-period site. Exacavations were carried out 2012-2018  by East Dorset Antiquarian Society under Lilian's direction.

This long-lived site reveals evidence for prehistoric activity, and Roman occupation from mid-1st century, with the earliest proto-villa found in Dorset. Phases of construction and demolition highlight a story of villa development and decline.

Emma Corke, Director of the Cocks Farm Abinger excavations, will be telling us about the latest discoveries at Cocks Farm Abinger. Fieldwork has been taking place in the area outside the known Roman villa for more than a decade, and has revealed evidence for wider land use, both during the Roman period but also in prehistory.

The Zoom link will be sent a week in advamce to RSG members. If you are a SyAS member you can join RSG for free - just click on the membership tab and follow instructions to join RSG.

A Zoom talk will take place on the evening of 7th January, 2025. David Bird, who directed excavations at Ashtead Roman Villa and Tileworks between 2006 and 2013, will be telling us about what information has come to light in the build-up to the final publication. You can see the interim reports via the links on the Roman Studies Group page - Recent reearch and fieldwork - Ashtead Roman Villa Project 2006-2013. 

Following on from the RSG Surrey Rural Settlement Project, a sub-group took on the challenge of identifying possible Roman roads in the Ewhurst area together with related settlement evidence. Chris Gibson will tell us about the research and fieldwork undertaken, together with archaeological issues along the way.

The Zoom link will be sent a week in advamce to RSG members. If you are a SyAS member you can join RSG for free - just click on the membership tab and follow instructions to join RSG.

Following the Roman Studies Group AGM, David Millum of the Culver Project will update us on excavations at Bridge Farm, a Romano-British settlement in the Ouse Valley, East Sussex. RSG members visited the site in Summer 2024, and David will tell us not just about the current season's excavation, but about the project over the last two decades.

Learn more about David Millum, his research projects and publications at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David-Millum

The Conservation and Heritage teams at Southwark will be holding a Roman Day at the Heritage Centre, 147 Walworth Road, Southwark.  The morning will consist of the opportunity for people to see some Roman material from the Southwark collection and material excavated by some of the archaeological companies who work regularly within the borough. In the afternoon there will be three talks about the roman archaeology of Southwark, roman roads, burial grounds and settlement, largely focused on Landmark Court.

We will be returning for a third year of test pitting this season at Albury Park to investigate the deserted medieval settlement which once stretched across the course of the former road which continued all the way to Shere. The original village of Albury was displaced in the early 19th century (to its current location to the west), and little now remains standing of the former cottages. However, with the help of geophysical survey, LiDAR and - of course - a large-scale series of test pits spread across the site, we are working to uncover and learn more about the original settlement!