Description

Sussex (centred on NGR 511700 132800) to investigate the remains of a Romano-British mansio and staging post complex which straddled the Roman road Stane Street, and the associated strip settlement. Part of the Site is a Scheduled Monument (WS222). The evaluation comprised an extensive geophysical survey and six trenches.
The Site had been investigated in the early part of the 20th century by Samuel Winbolt, who exposed parts of the mansio building and attempted to define the associated strip settlement along Stane Street to the south.
The geophysical survey successfully plotted the outline of the bank and ditch enclosure surrounding the mansio complex, some of the mansio walls, and elements of the strip settlement including field systems, trackways, pits and areas of possible industrial activity. Ditches and trackways were largely aligned on Stane Street, and the focus of the settlement appeared to lie on the eastern side of the Roman road.
Trenching augmented these results with more detail of some of the rooms within the mansio, their construction and later robbing, enabling the definition of this site as a classic courtyard mansio. A trench was also excavated across the bank and ditches of the enclosure on the southern side.