Faverdale, Darlington

The discovery in 2004 of a Roman period settlement during archaeological investigations by Pre-Construct Archaeology was highly unexpected given the paucity of remains of this date in the Darlington area. Around the late first century AD an unenclosed farmstead was established at the site and the quantity of South Gaulish samian from this period indicates that from its earliest inception Faverdale was a settlement of some standing. A remarkable discovery was that of a small stone two-room building, furnished with a hypocaust system and decorated with painted wall plaster, set within a substantial rectilinear ditched enclosure constructed in the second century AD. This book details the fascinating evidence for social and cultural change within a remarkably short space of time after the occupation of the northern frontier zone by the Roman military.