Is there a Roman villa in Clapton?

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Is there a Roman villa in Clapton?

Readers of these posts will know that there are a number of Roman villas in the vicinity of Sherborne. You will recall that a couple of years ago we spotted the crop mark of a long-suspected Roman villa down where the Sherborne Brook meets the Windrush. Here's that image showing the crop mark of a rectangular structure about a hundred yards or more long. Right in the middle of this image.

Here's a zoom in:

Yesterday I was idly looking through some more satellite imagery, and I may have found another very similar structure in Clapton. It appears to be in the field just on your right, just before you get to the turn-off for Clapton as you go up the Bourton Road.

I've enhanced the image a little bit below.

You will note that, unlike the first one, the boundaries are delineated by a lighter shade rather than a darker shade. I think that's the effect from the fact that the first villa is located next to the brook, and therefore the underlying geology affects the way the crop marks are shown. This one is at the top of a hill. It's about 100 m across. The light shading is probably due to lack of irrigation because that's where the walls once stood.

Several things stand out. Firstly, it is almost identical in size to the one down by the confluence of the Brook and the Windrush only very slightly smaller. Secondly, both face roughly South-SouthWest, as is quite common for Romano-British villas. Thirdly, there are hints of parallel walls and a dividing wall down the middle, dividing courtyards, as is common.

I've checked Lidar imagery, and there's no sign of anything. That field has been ploughed repeatedly. Unlike the villa down beside the Brook, there are no other records to suggest a Roman villa here. ( But there are suggestions of a villa a few hundred yards away near where the road turns down to New Bridge). But I'm sort of 90% confident that this is another Roman villa /farm. Let me know if I've convinced you or not!

If anyone can put me in touch with the farmer who farms this field, I'd be most grateful. It would be interesting to know if he's come across any material in that field. In due course, I'll chat to the county archaeologist about this. I'm still hoping he'll visit us in the coming months.