Roman Burial Site

ROMAN CEMETERY

AT STRETTON GRANDISON

Finds from the Roman cemetery revealed beneath farmland at Stretton Grandison are helping to produce a detailed picture of life in this part of Herefordshire almost 2,000 years ago.

A roman auxiliary fort was identified in 1969 on aerial photographs. It is situated on the south bank of the river Frome to the east of the Roman road which led south from the crossing of the river Frome to the Romano-British settlement at Dymock.

The remains from the Roman cemetery were unearthed in the summer of 2007 when Border Archaeology excavated a series of engineering pits in the frome valley on behalf of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as part of the Ledbury Trunk Main archaeological mitigation strategy.

According to the pottery evidence the main period of cemetery use spanned the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. Evidence of much earlier occupation also came to light. Pieces of worked wood preserved in waterlogged deposits at a depth of up to 3m have been dated to 3930 to 3870 BC and appear to be the remnants of prehistoric alder hurdles used by Neolithic people as fish traps or fencing or possibly as part of a trackway over marshy ground.

There was a burial and commendation of human remains in September 2010 with a short service in latin and anglo saxon.  Details can be found inside the church in our history brochure.  We have now marked this grave with a commemorative stone.