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Roman discovery is a villa of society

by Faith Eckersall.
It’s 80 years since the first official dig commenced at the Roman villa near Fordingbridge.
The story of this remarkable find began when Hampshire farmer Tom Porter began digging enthusiastically in a rabbit warren on West Park Farm, at Rockbourne, near Fordingbridge.
He was trying to free a ferret but, as he did so, he unearthed something much more interesting – a large quantity of oyster shells and small mosaic tiles.
Farmer Porter informed a local estate agent and chartered surveyor, Albert Tennyson Morley Hewitt.
A keen historian and antiquarian, Morley Hewitt immediately recognised the potential importance of the finds and quickly purchased the land.
The date was summer 1942 and Britain was in the middle of a World War against Germany. But that didn’t stop Morley Hewitt, who managed to gain permission for a trial dig and discovered an exquisite mosaic floor, featuring an eight-pointed star.
It’s easy to imagine his excitement at finding an undiscovered fragment of England’s Roman past.
Further digs were organised, exposing a bath-house which proved, beyond doubt, that something very special had been existed once at Rockbourne.
Over the next 30 years, the indefatigable Morley Hewitt organised a series of digs and, helped by volunteers and archaeologists, revealed more and more of Rockbourne Roman Villa.

Ruins and the mosaic at Rockbourne Roman Villa

Photo: Hampshire Cultural Trust

According to Hampshire Cultural Trust: ‘In the 1960s it attracted so many visitors that the small country roads were blocked by traffic. ‘Thousands of people watched the layout of the villa slowly revealed in front of them and more objects coming out of the ground.’
To house these objects, the magnificent Morley Hewitt stepped in again, funding a private museum on the site. That museum has since passed to the custodianship of Hampshire County Council and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Among the items that can be seen include 493 coins, which were part of a hoard discovered on the site, and an adult skeleton, who was found buried face down.
There are also numerous pots, pottery shards and other items patiently recovered by many volunteer archaeologists, including two rare milestones.
But who lived at Rockbourne?
The farming tools and animal bones discovered indicate it was primarily an agricultural place, but it’s also thought it could have been a country home for Publius Helvuis Pertinax, governor of Britain in AD 185-6, and his family.
Rockbourne’s visitor services assistant, Wade Jones, says: “Rockbourne isn’t like Fishbourne near Chichester. It’s in an out-of-the-way place and was not very wealthy or grand, it shows how more ordinary people lived in those times.”
However, he believes this is all part of its charm.
“It started out as a small cottage in about AD50 but got changed so many times over 400 years,” he says.
“They built a new wing, then they built the bath-house and hypocaust, which is the only one discovered with curved roof tiles as part of its design.”
Wade adores Rockbourne, which he describes as a unique place. During the Pandemic, when it was closed, he worked in retail but he was delighted to return back into history and has been catching up on lost time. During the summer he manages visits and all matters related to the site.
During the winter, he does more research as well as handling the villa’s social media.
“I have a huge passion for this place and there are so many reasons that make Rockbourne special,” he says. “Partly it’s because it was a more ordinary Roman residence compared to others you can see. But it’s also because the site is so peaceful – if you pay to come in, you’re entitled to re-visit throughout the year and we get a lot of local people who come here just to spend a peaceful hour or so in the countryside.”
Another reason to celebrate Rockboune, he says, is because its finds remain on site – rather than being carted off to the British Museum.
“I found a letter in the archives which showed that the British Museum had asked to have some of the pieces that had been discovered, but Morley Hewitt said no, they had to stay here.”
He is also amused by the account of archaeological writer and illustrator, Stephen R Cosh, who had the onerous task of accurately painting one of Rockbourne’s badly-repaired mosaics.
“The mosaic is preserved underground but it appeared to have undergone a repair that just went absolutely wrong, a bit of a Roman bodge job,” he says. “Stephen R Cosh described it as the worst he’d ever had to paint!
“It’s little things like that which make the place come alive.”
Visit: hampshireculture.org.uk/rockbourne-roman-villa.

Ruins and the mosaic at Rockbourne Roman Villa

Photo: Hampshire Cultural Trust

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