Greetwell Villa

Quarry and Villa

A probable Roman villa at Greetwell (but no longer in Greetwell parish) on the outskirts of Lincoln discovered in 1884. Excavations have uncovered evidence for several phases from the late 1st to the early 4th centuries AD. Remains uncovered include a hypocaust, mosaics and other structural remains. Surviving wall plaster features petalled flowers and fragments of lettering. An Iron Age brooch and pottery described as Anglo-Saxon and a Saxon spear have also been found. Many finds from the site are in Lincoln Museum.” (NMR_NATINV-326493)

Greetwell villa had wall footings of local ironstone and was actually built on the site of the ironstone quarry. Some of the walls of the villa were decorated with large floral motifs and it also seems likely that certain rooms were decorated with wall mosaics which are very rare in Britain. The site lies beneath a housing estate on Jellicoe Avenue near the junction with Tower Drive (LN2 5PS) in the eastern suburbs of Lincoln where nothing now remains to be seen.

A geophysical & auger survey conducted in 1994 by Oxford Archaeotechnics revealed a number of archaeological features in the close vicinity, including a rectilinear enclosure, pits, ditches, drains and structures of Roman date and also suggested Iron-Age occupation of the site, probably in connection with the ironstone workings (EHNMR-975185). There are also reports of Roman burials or Romano-British barrows in the Greetwell ironstone workings (NMR_NATINV-349680).

References for Greetwell Villa

  • Britain in the Roman Empire by Joan Liversidge (BCA, London, 1968).

Map References for Greetwell Villa

NGRef: SK99557158 OSMap: LR121

Roman Roads near Greetwell Villa

None identified

Sites near Greetwell Villa