The Kitchen Witches roam around a Roman Villa by Ness

Kitchen Witch
May 12
4 min read

Last August, the Kitchen Witches had a day attending the Wight Raven Camp on the Dorset/Hampshire border. On the way, we spotted a sign that said ‘Rockbourne Roman Villa’, and we decided to make a note of it for a Kitchen Witch Jolly.

Fast forward to this April and we took a small break in Dorset to do some exploring, so naturally, Rockbourne was on the list.

It was a nice sunny day, so we set off after our breakfast, to the Villa. We didn’t know what to expect but knew that there were remains of a Villa and an on-site museum.

The Villa is different from the one we visited in Fishbourne, near Chichester in West Sussex in that it is outside and exposed to the elements. This explains why the site is only open from April to September and during those months, it can be viewed on Friday’s through to Sunday. The area is covered over during the winter months to protect it from the harsh winter elements. The Villa and its museum are looked after by the Hampshire Cultural Trust and its many volunteers.

The discovery of Rockbourne Roman Villa was an interesting one. In 1942, a farmer and his dog were in the corner of one of the fields. The dog was there digging out a ferret and as he dug away, the farmer spotted in the earth, a large amount of oyster shells, together with some small mosaic tiles. The farmer was intrigued and enlisted the knowledge of a local antiquarian who went by the name of Morley Hewitt. Morley recognised the importance of the find, and upon purchasing the field, then began what became a 30-year period of excavation.

The Villa is immense in size – it is the largest known in the area and the history of the finds, span from the Iron Age to the 5th century AD.

You can find all the information on the Hampshire Cultural website, but upon our arrival, we were informed by the lady at the front desk that local historian and archaeologist David Freeman was at the site that day and he would be more than happy to share his knowledge if we needed any help.

We stepped out into the site area and the field was laid out with lines of gravel to mark the walls, and to the left we spotted the hypocaust and a bit further on, the mosaic floor. We stood looking and trying to piece it all together and pondering and we must have looked a bit lost because David started walking towards us.

David was there volunteering for the day with his wife, who was sitting on a bench in the sunshine, weaving on a loom.

In his hand, he held a large cardboard square with a map of the villa attached to it. He then spent some considerable time explaining the site, and the discoveries made – including a huge hoard of coins. What started out as an Iron Age round house went on to be the 1st phase of a Roman Villa. There were multiple stages of work done over a period of time and there were discoveries of several bathing areas and an extensive dining area. One of the things which differentiated from other hypocausts was that instead of brick stacks, the stacks were made from rounded roof tiles.

David stood chatting to us about the site as well as Iron Age works in the surrounding areas – it was fascinating!

Rachel, Heather and I then went off exploring the site, with David’s map for reference. It was lovely to walk around visualising life in the Villa – the hustle and bustle of the markets, children playing, the scents of cooking, the animals wandering around, the trading etc., thinking about what life must’ve been like.

After our wandering, we returned the map to David who had joined his wife Ann on the bench in the garden. She was still sitting weaving on a loom. She had various methods of weaving in front of her on the table and invited us to have a go. Rachel was still chatting to David, so Heather and I each took a weaving method to try. The one Heather tried on the loom looked interesting, but I felt I’d need some time to get the hang of it, so I opted for the cardboard disc with lengths of yarn attached. This looked easy! and I’ve since discovered that it is very similar to kumihimo braiding.

This method makes a coloured braided cord and although used today to make friendship bracelets, in times gone by, and even today, weaving was used for clothing, for decorating swords and armour.

The weaving was quite addictive, and Heather and I quickly made several of the cords between us. Thoughts turned to cords for magical purposes – pendulum cords, witch ladders, cord magic and casting cords for divination. It is quite meditative to sit weaving – putting intent and magic into each strand.