Located on the south side of the River Tees, in north-east England, the
Roman villa at Ingleby Barwick is one of the most northerly in the Roman
Empire. Discovered originally through aerial photography and an
extensive programme of evaluation, the site was excavated in 2003-04 in
advance of housing development. Unusually for the region, the site
demonstrated evidence for occupation from the later prehistoric period
through to the Anglo-Saxon. The excavations at Ingleby Barwick are
significant not only for their scale but also for being carried out
under modern recording conditions, allowing for extensive and detailed
analysis of the finds. The villa is also a rare example of a Roman
civilian site in the hinterland of Hadrian's Wall.
The Roman winged corridor villa and its outlying stone structures were
surrounded by an extensive layout of rectilinear enclosures. While the
main villa building was preserved in situ, excavation of the surrounding
area revealed features such as ovens and paved surfaces, as well as rare
finds such as a glass tableware vessel probably from Egypt and a large
hoard of metalwork. The pottery has allowed a detailed phasing of the
site to be proposed, while the environmental evidence reveals the villa
to have been a working farm.