FRAG went back to the Fane Road allotments for 4 days digging from 17th to 20th May. The primary objective was to understand more about the Roman wall discovered during test pitting in October 2017 (Trench 1). With a great turn-out of volunteers we were also able to open a second trench over a nearby area which had been excavated in 2014 but not to any great depth, and never fully understood (Trench 2).
There were some interesting finds along the way including painted wall plaster, Samian and Nene Valley ware. However, more significant was to try to interpret the layout and use of this area to the south of the main villa building.
Trench 1 revealed the well defined foundations of a significant east-west wall (at right angles to the assumed direction of the wall first glimpsed in 2017!). Both trenches showed significant areas of heating and charcoal remains; these would have been associated with hypocaust heating systems though how these were arranged is still poorly understood.
We hope to return to the area in October 2019 to continue to piece together the jigsaw.
Thanks must go to
- Fane Road Allotment Association
- Kay who kindly let us dig on her allotment
- Peterborough City Council for granting a temporary licence to excavate
We will be publishing an interim report on this excavation and other test pitting work over recent years before we return later in the year.
