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When excavations ahead of a new road bypassing Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar in North Yorkshire began in 2015, it was anticipated that an enclosure of pre-Roman date lay on the route of the new road near Bedale, but the site of a hitherto unknown Roman villa near Aiskew was also located. Coincidentally, both the enclosure and the villa were situated alongside a routeway that ran on slightly higher ground above local floodplains; this was exactly the same route that the modern engineers chose, as shown on the cover image which shows an artist’s reconstruction of the enclosure site overlain onto an aerial photo of the excavation.
The excavations of both sites detailed in this monograph provide fresh perspectives on the traditional view of the local population of the north repressed by the Roman military. Evidence of metalworking and briquetage suggests the inhabitants of the enclosure were sophisticated people with their own distinctive culture and traditions. Similarly at Aiskew, our excavation revealed the layout of the villa to be a significant building, larger and more complex than recent villa excavations in the area.
Many thanks to Martin Millet for this extract from his foreword:
I am certain that both the major sites reported upon in this volume will figure significantly in all future discussions of this fascinating region. Those of us who visited the excavations, which were undertaken under very challenging conditions, cannot but be impressed by what the excavation and post-excavation teams have produced. They are all to be warmly congratulated.
Martin Millet, Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge
