C19th / C20th Landscaped garden, Chedworth Roman Villa

Summary

Area of lawn, flowerbeds, and formal garden around the C19th house. This garden extends as far as junction of slope and lower courtyard on east side, and to the car-park fence on the south. Also included are the disused early C20th vegetable plots in the lower courtyard area one of which has been exacavated.

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Description

Area of lawn, flowerbeds, and formal garden around the C19th house [147603] . This garden extends as far as junction of slope and lower courtyard on east side, and to the car-park fence on the south. The area was landscaped in the C19th prior to the construction of the house on the site, the area is effectively a raised terrace made from the spoil of the 1860 excavations.
The area contains in situ buried archaeology, including part of the south wing extension which excavation and geophysics have shown to be in tact c2m below the surface [MNA148217]. The soil is also likely to contain displaced material of archaeological / historical importance. The garden retains some of the original C19th and early C20th planting and layout and so is important to the Victorian era of the site.
Also present are four early C20th concrete bordered vegetable plots, one of which has been subject to excavation in 2001.They are arranged within a larger rectangular area, with grass-covered paths between them. The plots are lined with concrete kerbing (cast in situ) and have been used as vegetable plots since the early C20th. The northeast plot has some gravel paving laid out, and has been used in an attempt to create a Roman garden. No cultivation has taken place for some time, and the plots have recently been strimmed flat. Excavation has shown that gardening activity has disturbed the top 0.5-0.6m of soil but below this level the archaeological deposits remain in tact [SNA62028]
The main visible feature in this area is the driveway running from the road to the house, currently surfaced with coarse gravel. On the west side of the drive, is a rectangular area of lawn, with a single weeping ash tree (19th-C planting). This lawned area is bounded by a mature yew hedge on the west side. To the east of the drive, the lawned area continues, and the now-covered carriage turning circle can be seen as a raised area in the lawn, immediately to the east of the house. [SMA62028]
In the southeast part of this area the terrace slopes more gently down to the lower court, and there is an area of trees and shrubs planted here, including 19th-C introductions, and at least one grafted tree (buckeye onto horse chestnut).
The face of the slope down to the lower court follows round to the east, and is covered in coarse grass. The north end of this area is a bed of planting, mainly shrubs but with some mature trees, leading down the slope to the area of the vegetable plots. A couple of mature apple trees are planted here.[SMA62028]
In the southeast corner of this area is an electricity pole, receiving the incoming wires from the east, and marking the point where the wires go underground. There are a number of service manhole covers in the area, including two on the lawned area giving access to the foul drain, where it turns to run down to the septic tank; and one close to the southwest corner of the house, also giving access to the foul drain.[SNA62028]
Access to the lower court is either via a gently sloping grass/gravel path through the shrubbery in the southeast corner of the area, or via a flight of wooden steps with handrail running east-west down the steeper slope of the terrace, due east from the museum's southeast corner.[SNA62028]
The NW corner of this area at the junction of the East Gallery with the North Range Corridor was excavated in 2016 trench 4A (iii) and this revealed the footings of the buttress and North Range corridor external south wall and much painted plaster, coins and radiocarbon dates from charcoal yielded late 3rd to early 4th century dates [SNA68987].

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