Ramsbury and Littlecote Roman Villa – 2,000 years of wealth and conflict
- Paul Timlett
- 7 days ago
- 14 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
We live in difficult times when for most ordinary people the cost of living is a concern. But for some life has always borne fruit and they occupy a world where they are untroubled by worries about paying bills, and where money is seemingly no object. This walk graphically displays how the other half lived and still live today. But it also showed how war and conflict leaves its indelible mark, whilst at the same time providing an oasis of peace and tranquillity.
Once again, I have borrowed a route from Louise Powell of Circular Wiltshire Walks on whose route I based this particular walk, albeit with a variation or two.
My regular walking buddy and neighbour Stu and I parked in the High Street in Ramsbury. As ever Louise had helpfully provided a What3Words reference ///swerving.spared.uplifting But Ramsbury is a bustling little town (or is it a large village?) so if you see a space at the side of the road grab it. We parked on the road at the little triangle in front of The Bell (more of that later). The main street was full of parked cars and you may want to consider where you leave yours as most of the traffic seemed to consist of large tractors.
We headed west along the High Street with a view to visiting Holy Cross church. Several Porsches were dotted along the High Street parked on the pavement and fully blocking the way for anyone unfortunate enough to be in a wheelchair or pushing a push chair, and forcing pedestrians to walk in the road. A cursory glance at the Historic England website shows that a significant number of the buildings along the road are listed. Many were houses undergoing some degree of renovation or other. Not a poor man's game but I guess it stops them crumbling into a state of disrepair!
We soon came to Holy Cross church and paused at the magnificent lychgate. This is a particularly fine example with benches on both sides. The word “lych” comes from the Saxon word for corpse and the lychgate was where the pallbearers would wait for the priest to emerge from the church to perform the first part of the burial rites. It marks the transition from the secular world to the consecrated space of the churchyard.
The churchyard seemed to be popular with dog walkers as we encountered several. Entering the church I half hoped that we might find Andrew Rumsey there. As the Bishop of Ramsbury this is his office. He has long followed Hidden Wiltshire so hopefully he will read this! But his patch is substantial so I’m not sure how much time he gets to spend here. By coincidence, as I type this, I’ve just been chatting with him on Instagram as we appear to share a love of vintage tractors. And he confessed that he’d been in my village trying to find one of the redundant churches there – St Mary’s Maddington.
Despite his physical absence Andrew’s presence was dotted around the church – a photograph here, his name on the list of Bishops there. We were curious as to why this village in East Wiltshire had a Bishop and such a large church. In fact before the current building a Saxon cathedral stood on this site. The current building dates to the 13th century. Ramsbury is located close to the Roman road from London to Bath and as we will see later was an important location in Roman Britain. According to a history board in the church the settlement of Ramsbury may have been founded in the Saxon period by Hraefn who built a fortified settlement (a burgh) here. "Hraefn’s Burgh" became Ramsbury in modern English. Between 909 and 1058 the Bishop whose diocese included Wiltshire and Berkshire, resided in Ramsbury. By the time of Domesday Ramsbury was a thriving community with 10 corn mills. The forge, which was located further along the High Street, was thriving even earlier - between the 7th and 8th centuries.
We didn’t have much time to explore the church as we had a long walk ahead of us, but there is much to see. I particularly liked the magnificent Gothic organ which is painted a striking powder blue colour. In the chancel is an extravagant memorial to Sir William Jones, attorney-general to Charles II. Dating to 1682 he is seen reclining against a marble bench resplendent in his periwig and clutching a scroll, lest we forget how important he was. Jones bought the manor of Ramsbury and had the Manor House that lies to the west of the village built for him – clearly a man of very substantial wealth.
From the church we continued down the High Street where a cement lorry was blocking the road as it delivered to another substantial renovation project. Here we passed the site of where the Saxon forge once stood. At the right hand bend in the road we took the lane to the left passing more beautiful old houses en-route to the mill and the ford over the River Kennet, passing thatched cottages as we went.
I think there must be a local by-law that says it is compulsory to own a dog in Ramsbury! Along this stretch, and indeed for the whole walk, we saw a few people out walking - not one of them without a dog. And regular readers of my blogs will know how much I love dogs! (I don’t like dogs - or more precisely irresponsible owners.) But to be fair to the owners in Ramsbury not once we did see any of the tell-tale signs normally left by dog owners. People seem to take pride in their environment here and all of them were carrying bags.
Once across the river with its views of willow trees and water meadows we simply followed the bridleway with the river and the lake in the grounds of Ramsbury Manor House to our right, at times close by and at others a distance away. The further we got from the village the more peaceful it became. But to our right were the constant reminders that all the surrounding land was in the hands of one or two large estates, the “Private” signs dotted every hundred metres or so.
But we were enticed by the prosect of something on the map in Gothic script suggesting that we might see the remains of an old chapel by the right of way. Eventually we reached a bridge across the river to our right at the junction of several paths, the bridge leading into another private estate. Here we met a lady and her son out walking their dog. We chatted for a while and she said she had never seen so many dog walkers along the path so maybe they knew I was coming!
As we chatted on the bridge we looked for the chapel. It soon became clear that it was several hundred metres away across the fields to the north at Axford Farm, so inaccessible to members of the public. The Historic England entry states that the Medieval farmhouse we could see had been built onto the 13th century chapel. The woman then went on to tell us that this beautiful farm was the home of Stefan Perrson, the owner of H&M. We knew that he was having a mansion built for him in the area so she explained that this was his temporary home whilst the mansion was being built! She looked at our route on my map and said we would be passing the new house fairly soon and that we couldn’t miss it.
There were three rights of way heading west in front us at this point and our route was to take us uphill on the left hand fork. The footpath ascended diagonally across the gentle slope and the views to the north gradually opened up such that we had a magnificent view not only of Axford Farm below but also further to the east we had a glimpse of Ramsbury Manor House. I can’t think why on earth Perrson would want to leave this idyllic spot especially for the place that we were shortly to see!
Later on we were to find out that Ramsbury Manor was last owned by the legendary property developer Harry Hyams. When he bought the estate in 1965 it was said to be the most expensive house in England. At his death in 2015 the estate passed to a charitable trust and the house has been unoccupied ever since. Hyams left it and his collection of art and cars to the nation as he had no family. As I understand it work is taking place to open it to the public. From what we could see of the parkland surrounding the house it is beautiful so I do hope the public will be given access, as we were once able to do centuries ago. I knew that Hyams was a property developer (he built Centre Point in London) but it was only whilst researching this blog that I found out that he was also in advertising in London before that. My father was born in the same year as Hyams (1928) and spent his whole working life in the London advertising industry. I’m sure I remember him telling me that he knew Hyams. A small world. My father did not own a large estate I hasten to add!
Soon we reached another junction of paths where we turned sharp left heading upwards across a field almost back in the direction towards Ramsbury. We passed through a wooden kissing gate over what remains of a bank and ditch marked as a Park Pale on the map - a structure built to keep deer in a hunting estate. The path is funnelled between two hedge rows soon emerging next to some ugly site fencing. And there across the field to our right was the Perrson’s new house. Now the lady we had been chatting to earlier said she liked the new building. I’ll say no more than if I were Mr Perrson I’d stay in the house in the valley below! I’m old enough to remember the TV series Dallas. And that was my first thought when I saw this.
The path got increasingly narrow and overgrown until we reached another junction where a byway joined our path from the left heading straight towards the house, Park Farm. The site fencing blocked the public right of way and a Wiltshire Council sign said that a temporary diversion was in place for safety reasons whilst building works continued. This temporary diversion expires on 28 August 2025. As Stu and I stood in front of the notice with its map (watched warily by a beautiful hare on the drive) and trying to figure out the diversion against our Ordnance Survey maps, a Range Rover appeared on the drive. The car slowed and the driver and his passenger glared at us. So we glared back! This was Mr Perrson and his wife presumably come to inspect progress on their new house.
The diversion turned out to be obvious as we were chanelled between two rows of site fencing which delivered us onto the drive before the gatehouse. I completely understand the need to separate site traffic and members of the public but from what I could see this wasn’t the road that site traffic was using. It’s going to be interesting to see whether an application is made to permanently divert the right of way from Park Farm and to keep prying eyes away from the new mansion. I’m told that local people are regular visitors to the site to see what is going on at the top of the hill. I doubt its owners will put up with that for long.
A little further along the drive we met two Ramsbury Estate workers installing some fence wire to prevent sheep from straying from the parkland onto the drive and onwards to who knows where. Since Stu and I both volunteer at a nature reserve near our homes where we spend a lot of time fencing and installing gates, we had much to talk about with the estate workers. But we didn’t want to detain the guys for long as they had work to do and “the boss” was about. It was at this point that it dawned on us that the Perrsons own Ramsbury Estate! The modern day successor to Sir William Jones. I’m sure everyone else knew this but Stu and I didn’t. They now own most of the countryside that we could see around us including the brewery, the distillery, The Bell pub and thousands of acres of farmland. And much of the village if what someone else told us was true. I also read something that suggested he owns the Littlecote Estate where we would later see the Roman Villa and which was our ultimate destination. However, I can find no further evidence for that. But almost the entire eight mile walk was spent on Ramsbury Estate land. You can see why Persson has built the house up here – master of all that he surveys. And the views are certainly magnificent.
But as the estate guys were to tell us, where we stood was also the location of RAF Ramsbury, a key airfield during the Second World War. As we continued our walk we came to realise just how big RAF Ramsbury was.
The public right of way follows what is a private road leading up the hill to the house. At the bottom of the hill where the road bends right, there is a footpath on the left leading into Burnt Wood. The woodland has been subjected to some pretty brutal tree felling and in places trees had fallen across the path or the path has become indistinct. But we managed to follow it, a huge solar farm visible through the trees to our right. We passed a small memorial deep in the wood commemorating the centenary of the formation of the RAF, the first of three RAF memorials we were to see. Eventually the path exited the wood at a wide concrete road next to which was another memorial.
The concrete road was clearly part of what was the airfield and the memorial tells us that Ramsbury itself grew from a population of 1,500 before the war to 5,000 with the arrival of British and American service personnel. Photographs on the information board show aircraft operated by the American 437th Troop Carrier Group and soldiers of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101stAirborne Division (and the legendary “Easy Company”).
Far across the field to the north of us we could just make out two flags fluttering forlornly in the breeze. One was the American flag and the other the RAF flag. This is the centre of the airfield and the location of another memorial. If you continue along the concrete road and carry on where it becomes a tarmac road you will find a footpath past Darrell’s Farm to the left that takes you out to the memorial. This adds about a mile to the walk so we decided to drive back up and visit it later if we had time.
Passing the footpath we followed the road to a junction with another road where we turned left and followed the road round the bend to the right. After a couple of hundred metres there is a broad track on the right. This is a public right of way although it is not signed. It passes a house on the left behind which there are concrete buildings which were clearly part of the airfield. Just beyond the field and pedestrian gate in front of us we turned left, still on concrete roads and still on what was once the airfield. There we found this information board about Ramsbury Estate.
We now followed a long and tranquil stretch in a slight valley through Bottom Coppice, past Colonel’s Brake to the north and Lawn Coppice to the south, the route dotted with magnificent beech and oaks. As we ambled along we were accompanied by birdsong including Tree-creeper, Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Goldfinch and Wren amongst others.
We followed this track along the valley bottom for about two kilometres. Eventually, to our left, we could make out a wooden thatched house which appeared to be on the Littlecote Estate.
Turning left at a junction of tracks we headed towards this building into the grounds of the estate and soon to our right we could see the Grade I Listed 16th century Elizabethan Littlecote House. The original house was built in the 13th century and through marriage came into the possession of the Darrell family in 1415. Presumably hence Darrell’s Farm referenced earlier? Five and a half centuries later and the house was owned by Peter de Savary who sold it to Warner Holidays in 1996. It remains a hotel to this day.
Of more interest to us was the incredible Littlecote Roman Villa in the grounds of the estate. I’ve seen many photographs and videos about the villa but nothing prepared me for the exceptional state of preservation. When we arrived we were lucky enough to share the whole site with only one other person (and her dog)!
Each range of buildings has an information board in front of it setting out what can be seen at your feet. There are too many to share here but one of the boards sets out a brief timeline, and another shows an aerial view and artist’s impression. This was an extensive and important location for the Romans, the first buildings having been erected in the mid 2nd century AD on the site of an earlier structure. Its use evolved over time from its origin as a small military garrison to its religious use before it was abandoned. In those days the Kennet would have been much deeper and wider such that there were two quays at Littlecote from where goods were shipped in and out. The site was gradually abandoned after the Romans left Britain in c.410 AD and the building materials plundered.
But the real jewel at Littlecote is the extraordinary mosaic. It was extensively and carefully restored between 1976 and 1980 at great cost and covered by a roof in 2000 to protect it from the worst of the weather. For me though, the wonderful thing is that this important scheduled monument is open to all and at no cost. Isn’t this how it should be for many more of our ancient monuments?
After some time at Littlecote, during which we shared it with no more than half a dozen people, we found a way through the adjacent hedge to take us to the footpath leading back towards Ramsbury. The path follows a field edge alongside farmland where nature had partially been left to its own devices next to a field of arable.
The Kennet continued mostly unseen through the trees to our right, the only disturbance being the sound of traffic from the A4 away to the south. We passed the 18thcentury Littlecote West Lodge with its fascinating circular extension and conical roof. However, we were forced to hurry past as the garden was full of dogs who were getting ever more excitable due to the passing visitors.
Eventually we reached Springshill Cottage where we again met the guy who was with his mother and dog at the bridge by Axford Farm so many hours earlier. He was still walking the dog, we were still walking our walk. Here we joined the road where we turned right to cross the bridge over the Kennett and back into Ramsbury.
However, our day did not end here. It was now 4:00 pm and miraculously The Bell was open. So we went in for a much needed pint of Ramsbury Farmer’s Best which I have to admit was very good. It was at this point that we decided to drive back up to see the airfield monument by Darrell’s Farm. We parked on the wide grass verge by the farm entrance and followed the path along the field boundary round the edge of the farmyard then left onto a broad concrete road leading out to the monument. Once an airfield taxi way. The monument marks the centre of the airfield from where we could look up and down what was the main runway. In the late afternoon light with a gentle breeze causing the flags to flutter this felt like a remote and lonely place. We imagined what it must have been like all those years ago, especially on 6th June 1944 when the aircraft tasked with delivering the 82nd and 101stAirbourne Divisions to France departed.
We were blessed with a fine warm day for our walk. The main walk was just over 8 miles (12.9 kms) and we added another mile to walk to the airfield monument. In more adverse conditions I imagine the area around the airfield would be a bleak and cold place.
