Monument record CSM 002 - Windmill Hill (Rom)

IPSMG location (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) wealthy villa ? site (S9).
1928: Pair of bronze lions cast in half relief, hollow underside with corroded ends of iron dowels leaded into sockets showing that they had been affixed to some substantial object. Found in the end garden while digging celery trench at Number 1, Old Council Houses (S2).
13 October 1928: A shorthand notebook on the "Roman Site" Capel St Mary, Council Cottages: "A trench was dug on the site of the discovery of the bronze lions to a depth of five feet. Roman material recovered 8ins to 1ft 8ins deep with blackened soil, broken tiles and pottery but only sparsely. Old loamy soil continued to about 4ft then fine clean sand with worked flints". (Then a sketch plan and section with measurements.) "The depth of loamy soil disclosed in the trench was a surprise, as clean gravelly sand was seen just below the surface in a small pit on the council field to the west of the cottage gardens." "A Roman midden was disclosed at the SW side of the pit clearly filling an old excavation in the sand. A definite bed of oyster shells with much broken pottery and some tile occurred in the midden, also a small piece of bronze ? a lace or tag-end, also a piece of window glass and the bones of ?, pig etc etc and iron nails." (S12).
1948: Finds listed include remains of foundations, window glass, plaster, iron objects and `terra sigillata' of the C2 (S1).
1946-1948: The site of the important Rom building (villa recognised after discovery of lions above) is covered by the gardens of the council houses so that no extensive excavation has been possible, but as further houses were to be built, the outskirts were examined by Stanley West and Basil Brown of Ipswich Museum, when painted wall plaster, window glass, C1 & C2 pottery were found. The presence of glass cubes of various colours, and of the sticks from which they were cut, may indicate the presence of a worker in glass mosaic engaged in the decoration of the building or its furniture... suggests that the establishment was one of considerable quality (S3). Other finds include Samian dish F27, iron knife, sestertius of Sabina (wife of Hadrian), brass ring, bronze pin, knife blade(?), key, bronze needle and 5 pins, also miscellaneous sherds and tiles from kiln waste in meadow (S4).
1952: (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) A, traces of hypocaust and walls said to have been seen by T J Andford (S5).
1963: (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s), tesserae of green and blue glass, with parts of glass cakes and chippings, also Samian tessera, found in garden of donor's house, (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s)(S6).
(see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s), flue tiles found in top of a pit overlying a water channel formed of a plank of wood, 1 foot 8 inches wide and 5 inches thick. Pit revealed in the side of a sewer trench by (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) (S7). 1966: Glass tessera 3/8 inch x 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch thick, decorated with gold foil protected by a sheet of glass; from same site as blue and green glass tesserae above. One other tessera wth gold foil found by donor, (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s), was subsequently lost by him (S8). Mislocated on IPSMG card to (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) A (J Plouviez).
(see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s): Pottery sherds and nails. From a floor, probably of a courtyard which associated out building, exposed during road widening at Windmill Hill. The floor consisted of a layer of closely packed cobbles some 3 inches thick. Over this at the N end was a layer of "opus signinum" 4 inches thick containing small stones and fragments of tiles. This extended for 9 feet and was traced 4 feet to the E of the road; nails, fragments of roofing tile and scraps of grey pottery were resting on this floor. In this part, the cobbled layer was covered with 4 inches of rammed gravel. The remains of a kiln visible in the side, but too little had survived the bulldozer to state its use. The site is about 60 yards from the Rom villa found in 1927. IPSMG notebook C3 p71. (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s).
Grid references adjusted by J Plouviez after watching brief 9/2/1984 on planning application number B/471/82 (June 1982).