Roman Villas

There is a 3rd century Romano-Celtic temple to the east of Titsey, and a Roman villa in Titsey park.
The Roman villa, discovered in 1847 and excavated by Granville Leveson Gower, is at the foot of a chalk hill close to a tributary of the Medway and it is thought that the presence of water was important in the choice of location for the villa. It is also speculated that it may have originally been a military outpost, which then became a domestic dwelling, complete with a large courtyard, tessellated pavement, a few small rooms and a large bathhouse. However, a second roman villa was pinpointed by resistively survey ('ground radar') in 1996 and the Titsey site is now thought to contain a rare combination of two winged villas facing each other across a stream. Roman coins and artefacts have been found at Tatsfield, including a small brass of a roman notary called Tetricus, and one slightly larger brass, much damaged, displaying the head of an emperor on one side with an image possibly of mars on the other. Pottery both roman (2nd-3rd centuries) and pre-Roman found at the Roman temple site near Titsey may suggest some kind of pagan religious continuity of use.