Roman Badsey

The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD and stayed for about 400 years. There is little doubt that people were living in the Badsey area at the time of the Roman occupation. A recent Badsey Society field walk added to the numerous local finds of coins, pottery and other objects from this period. Although there has been much speculation, nobody knows the precise location of a settlement or where roads passed through. There is much still to be discovered.

Above: Roman finds in the Badsey Area: (1) 4th century Glevum Ware made in the Severn Valley, (2) Two sides of a denarius coin showing the Emperor Domitian 86-96 AD, (3) Roman jewellery. With thanks to the Evesham Almonry museum.

Below: This map of the Vale of Evesham shows the location of some of the evidence.
Two Roman roads: (1) The south end of the road between Bidford-on-Avon to South Littleton, and (2) Buckle Street or Ryknield Street. The main local sites for Roman finds: (3) Black Banks, (4) Badsey Undergrounds, and (5) Fox Hill. Please note all three sites are on private land.

Where is the evidence?

Terry Sparrow in a Brief History of Badsey and Aldington wrote about the early occupation of the area:

"... Much more conclusive evidence is available to us relating to the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, which began in 43 AD. Largely as a result of the work of a Badsey market gardener, the late Arthur Jones, some half dozen sites have been located, yielding many different items, including various kinds of pottery, stone querns (hand mills), whetstones for sharpening tools and coins of about 20 Roman emperors, ranging from Claudius (41 to 54 AD) to Gratianus (367 to 383 AD). The large number of these finds, coupled with the fact that they were scattered over several sites throughout the parish, leads us to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that people were living here between 1600 and 2000 years ago, although probably not all of the sites were occupied simultaneously. Evesham was not a Roman-British settlement as far as we know and the nearest Roman road, Ryknield Street, passed through Bidford-on-Avon and Honeybourne and on to the Cotswolds, where there is abundant evidence of British and Roman occupation."

[See 21st century perspective for a different view on Evesham.]

Arthur Savory and Roman Antona

Arthur Savory lived at Aldington Manor between 1874 and 1901 and wrote a book Grain and Chaff from an English Manor about his experiences there. In the final chapter, he describes the Roman finds at Black Banks and develops his own theory about Roman settlement in the area. He argues that the name Aldington is derived from the Roman Antona, mentioned in the Annals of Tacitus.

[See 21st century perspective for a word of caution on Savory's theory.]

Field walking

A group of around 20 enthusiasts took part in a field walk on a sunny spring day on April 12th 2003. Martin Dore kindly gave us permission to use his field in the Badsey Undergrounds. The field was marked out in 20 metre squares, each individual square being allocated to a walker. The walker would then walk up and down the square collecting bits of pottery, coins, flint, etc.. As well as the field walkers, there was also a metal detectorist. The day produced many pieces of Romano British pottery. Most of these were Severn Valley ware, with fewer pieces of glazed Samian ware, and a small number of earlier iron age shards. A couple of Roman coins were also found.

The field Walk was organised by the Badsey Society and the South Worcestershire Archaeological Group (SWAG).

Roman roads

Ryknield Street, or Buckle Street as it is called locally, is generally accepted as a Roman road running between Alcester and Weston-sub-Edge. It passes about 5 kilometres east of Badsey.

There has been no shortage of speculation about other Roman roads closer to Badsey. Writing in 1920, Arthur Savory made a case for several other Roman roads in the area.

A note of caution is offered by Neville Taylor of the Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service. At a talk in 2003, he argued that only seven roads in the whole of Worcestershire could be proved to be Roman. His analysis was based on evidence from aerial photographs, excavation, field walking and place name analysis. One of his seven roads is Ryknield Street. The only other which comes close to Badsey is the road from Bidford-on-Avon to South Littleton, proved by excavation evidence in Cleeve Prior. If this Roman road continued further south it would pass through Blackminster and Badsey itself.

Arthur Jones

Arthur Jones (1863-1950) spent most of his life studying the archaeology of Badsey. Although he does not appear to have written any articles himself, the following archaeological publications mention his work:

Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeology Society for 1944, Vol XXI, 1945, ed by E A B Barnard
"Two rare coins have been reported, the first Anglo-Saxon sceattas recorded from Worcestershire: one from Sedgeberrow and the other from Badsey Fields. The latter was found by our member, Mr Arthur E Jones, who has presented it to the Worcester Museum, there to take its place among other interesting coins which he has found on the same site and thereabouts. These coins, less than half an inch across, are of base silver, stuck at, or imitated from those struck at London, the remains of which name are preserved in the ONIOIU of the obverse. The reverse shows a figure (? An ecclesiastic, possibly Mellitus, Bishop of London, c 604-616) bearing two long crosses and clothed in a long robe with a chequered upper part. The head on the reverse is derived from the Roman coinage."

The Archaeological Newsletter, October 1949, Vol 2, No 6
"One of the most interesting areas of occupation, dating from this period and as yet unexplored, is centred in the black alluvial soil of the Lower Avon. Here in the Badsey-South Littleton district, and almost within the shadow of Bredon Hill, lies a rich area of cultivation which may have been farmed as early as the second century BC. Rising slightly above the dark fen-like cultivated fields are ridges an low hillocks on which there is evidence of intensive settlement over a period of some centuries and including the whole of the Roman occupation. Indeed it may well be that the inhabitants of Bredon, who appear to have left the hill fort after the dramatic engagement, settled in this area from the early years of the first century AD. The find, now deposited at Worcester Museum, include much Iron Age and Roman material with coins dating from Claudius to Arcadius. The discovery is due to the active interest taken by Mr A E Jones of Badsey over a period of three-quarters of a century (!). He has been responsible for saving many of the objects and recording them, and it is to be hoped that full-scale excavations on scientific lines may be undertaken at one or more of the settlement sites in this district."

21st century perspective

The notes below were kindly provided by a member of the Worcestershire Archaeology Unit in 2006.

In a local context it is important to use sources such as Arthur Jones and Arthur Savory as their observations are just as valid now as they were then. Unfortunately their conclusions are almost always incorrect because much more evidence has been recovered and there is a more sophisticated understanding of Roman Britain than existed in the early 20th century For example - there most definitely was a Roman settlement on the site of the present town of Evesham but it would have been a farming and trading community not a "town" in the traditional Roman sense.

Here are some general books on Roman Britain for people who would like a modern understanding of the period

For the general reader M Millett, Roman Britain (Batsford 1995) is very good.

A lengthier book is P Salway, The Roman era (Short Oxford History of the British Isles; Oxford University Press 2002).

For those who are prepared to work a bit harder then R Hingley Rural Settlement in Roman Britain (Seaby 1989) gives a better idea about what Badsey and Aldington may have been like and has a nice bit at the beginning discussing the old view of Roman Britain based on the model of the British Empire and why this is not helpful.