Roman villa ‘almost as big as Buckingham Palace’ found
A ROMAN villa almost as big as Buckingham Palace has been discovered. A team of archaeologists unearthed the remains of the building in a four-month excavation project.
The 278ft by 278ft foundations, dating back to AD99, were located in a farm field close to Broughton Castle, near Banbury, on land belonging to the family of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer.
The dig was led by Keith Westcott, a detectorist and historian. It is believed to be the second largest Roman villa found in Britain, after Fishbourne Palace in West Sussex, unearthed in 1960.
Mr Westcott, 55, decided to investigate after being told by John Taylor, a farmer, that he had ploughed into a large stone in 1963. Mr Taylor saw a hole had been made, and pulled out a human bone. The farmer had uncovered a sarcophagus of a high-status woman who had died in the 3rd or 4th century. Mr Westcott then found a 1,800-year-old tile from a hypocaust used to take hot pipes up walls in highstatus Roman buildings.
It was then he knew that whatever ruins lay beneath the soil were of “unimaginable quality and significance.”.
Mr Westcott said: “We’ve only uncovered about one per cent so the possibilities of what we still might find are endless.” It is hoped that a university would be interested in leading a project to carry out a full excavation.