Romano-British Villa

Pitney, Somerset

NGRef: ST4530
OSMap: LR182
Type: Roman Villa
Roads
2½ miles south-west of road:
SSE (8) to LINDINIS (Ilchester, Somerset)
NW (12) to ISCALIS (nr. Bawdrip, Somerset)

There are two Latin inscriptions on stone recorded in the R.I.B. for Pitney, both tombstones, both found in the villa courtyard in 1828, one of a teenager now in the Blake Museum, Bridgewater (vide RIB 183 infra), and another fragmentary memorial, now lost, which reads PATER... PATRI... SANC... or "[...] the father [...] of the father [...] holy [...]" (RIB 182).

Tombstone of a Young Teenage Girl
... VIXE SINE VLLA ... TRIGINTA ANNOS ... QVAE CAPI ... NONO
"[...] lived without a [blemish] for thirteen years [...] she¹ who was taken [...] by Nonus."
(RIB 183; tombstone)
  1. The relative pronoun quae here appears in the nominative case, singular in number, female in gender.

There are other villa estates in the area at High Ham (ST4229), Low Ham (ST4328) and Bradley Spring (ST4931), and another villa to the south near Ilchester (ST5123). There are also several substantial Roman buildings; Curry Rivel (ST4024), two at Somerton (ST4729 & ST4929), Stanchester (ST4818), Highbrooks (ST5025), Catsgore (ST5026), Hurcot (ST5129), Lyte's Carey (ST5227) and Bull Lawn Lane (ST5329).

See: The Roman Inscriptions of Britain by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright (Oxford 1965).
All English translations, including any inherent mistakes, are my own.

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