Northfleet Roman villa (TQ 67 SW 38) was located beside the river Ebbsfleet between Springhead and the Thames.


Bath house associated with the "Northfleet Villa" site. The condition of the bath house, excavated by the Thameside Archaeological Group, is not known.(3-5)

From c. AD 150 a bath-house was constructed on the site that continued in use until the late 3rd / early 4th century.

During works associated with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from 1997 to 2001 the villa site was excavated.

The bath-house was constructed in two phases:

AD 150 - the bath-house comprised a cold room (frigidarium), a warm room (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium) and maybe a bath (although not all these rooms were constructed at exactly the same time, being extended to the west gradually). The suite occupied a block c. 20m x 4m though there was a 4.5m x 4m room projecting on the north side of the building for the caldarium. Slightly to the east a praefurnium or furnace room was constructed and the remnants of a flue and furnace were observed.

The caldarium was built of alternating courses of chalk block and tile, bonded with opus signinum and filled with a flint rubble core. Traces of square mortar bases suggested that it contained a hypocaust at this stage. Rooms to the west lacked evidence of a hypocaust and have been interpreted as the cooler rooms of the suite. A series of gullies to the north of the building may have been part of the water supply and drainage system although this is speculative.

In phase 5 of the villa site (AD 200-250/60) a new suite of rooms was added to the west end of the bath-house and a new bath and furnace inserted at the east end. Evidence of red painted plaster was found on internal walls and the floor was tiled. Water flowed from the bath into a lead pipe. The hot room was extended eastwards and a new flue inserted. A new bath was also added to the east end of the suite.

In the later Roman period (AD 250/260 - 380) a new bath-house was constructed in the eastern range of the villa but the old bath-house remained in use. Oak charcoal, used as fuel, gave a radiocarbon date of AD 220-390. The bath-house was completely abandoned after c. AD 380. (1)

Stratified coal from excavation on Romano-British site.(2)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Monograph). SKE31245.

<2> Ansell, R. J. and Smith, A. H.V., 1985, Coal from the Romano-British site at Northfleet (Article in serial). SWX7724.

<3> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet, Kent: ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evaluation: Volume 1 Report (Unpublished document). SKE12220.

<4> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet Kent, ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evalaution: Volume 2 Appendices (Unpublished document). SKE12221.

<5> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet, Kent: ARC EFT 97: Archaeological Evaluation: Volume 3 Figures and Plates (Unpublished document). SKE12222.

<6> Oxford Archaeology, 2003, Ebbsfleet Valley Detailed Mitigation Works, Northfleet, Kent: Interim Statement (Unpublished document). SKE12256.

<7> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 2001, Channel Tunnel Rail Link Ebbsfleet Sports Ground, Northfleet, ARC ESG00, Phase 2 Evaluation Archaeological Works Fieldwork Report Final (Unpublished document). SKE12227.