Site 2 : Empingham north Romano-British villa

The site (code EPN 71) was located 400m north of Site 1 on the opposite side of the Gwash Valley (SK 942 081), and now lies under the crest of the reservoir dam at its north end. It was first discovered during fieldwalking in 1970 when it showed up as a dense concentration of Romano-British pottery. The area of the scatter was trial trenched in late October 1970 which indicated the need for further work. In July 1971 topsoil was removed by machine and excavation, directed by M.S. Gorin, continued periodically into early autumn. The pace of development meant that there was insufficient time to excavate the site completely. Two phases of activity were identified. Phase 1 dates to the later Roman period and comprises a masonry building of aisled plan constructed probably during the later third century but possibly as late as the mid-fourth century. Phase 2 sees the area of the aisled building reused as a Christian cemetery in the middle AngloSaxon period and may imply that the building was remodelled into a church or chapel. [Taken from Introduction]