OSMap: LR137/136
Type: Villa
Plan of the Roman building at Acton Scott
From The Cornovii by Graham Webster (fig.39)
[Based on the excavation notes published in 1844]
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NGRef: SO4589 OSMap: LR137/136 Type: Villa |
Plan of the Roman building at Acton Scott From The Cornovii by Graham Webster (fig.39) [Based on the excavation notes published in 1844] |
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See Stretford Bridge | |
 Painted plaster showing a peacock? |
The building at Acton Scott, on Wenlock Edge south of Church Stretton, lies on a south-facing slope above a stream. The rectangular building was aligned precisely east-west, and appears to have had later additions to its western end. It is probable that the building originated as an 'aisled barn', and was later part-converted into a habitable dwelling. A small bath-house was incorporated within the south-west corner of the building (and/or added on to it; the actual building sequence of the structure is very complicated).
Given the proximity of the Romano-British lead-mining complex at Linley, which lies about 4 miles to the west, and the fact that there are no other substantial Romano-British buildings within some twenty miles or so, it is very likely that the villa building here at Acton Scott is associated in some mannner with the production of lead; perhaps being the official residence of the procurator in charge of the mine, removed away from the noise and pollution of the production centre itself, and placed beside a major north-south route ('Watling Street West'; Margary#6b). There was a Roman auxiliary fort situated about 3 miles to the south along this road at Stretford Bridge.
