GLOUCESTER AND DISTRICT
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH GROUP 
Registered charity No.252290                                            Contact us:

~ FROCESTER - THE VILLAGE ~
A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents & Successors
by Eddie Price

This major monograph, the 4th in the research series, brings together the results of nearly 50yrs of field work and documentary research into the development and landscape of the present village of Frocester in Gloucestershire.

The results in this volume are detailed under fifteen main headings that include: history, people, church, village, law and order, wars, agriculture, communications, education, services and recreation. These are copiously illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings, and cover the time span from early mediaeval to the present day.

~ FROCESTER EXCAVATION ~

For many years, GADARG has been involved in archaeological research excavation at Frocester, 5 km south-west of Stroud. Since 1961, firstly under the direction of Capt. Gracie and then for over twenty five years under Eddie Price, (GADARG's President), a site of 3.5 ha. has been painstakingly and thoroughly investigated as part of a study of the landscape within the parish.

At forty seven years, it has been the longest running continuous excavation in Britain. The site's history covers four thousand years of occupation from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age to the late Roman period and beyond. This site is especially known for being that of the Frocester Court Roman Villa.

The 2007 season has now been completed and sadly it will be the last, for Eddie has decided to hang up his trowel and concentrate full time on reporting the last twelve year's work that he has done.

In the last but one weekend of the 2007 season, Eddie's diggers and committee members celebrated the closure by holding a small surprise champagne party on the site.

Newsletter 2005   Newsletter 2006   Newsletter 2007

~ THE FROCESTER REPORT ~

If you would like to read the detailed findings of the excavations carried out in the more than thirty years up to 1994, then this can be found in the Frocester Report. 

[Line sketch of Iron-Age hut][Line sketch of Roman villa]
FROCESTER, A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents & Successors. This fortieth anniversary, two volume, A4 softback monograph brings together the results of all aspects of research at Frocester (not just the main site) from 1961 to 1994, along with a summary of the more recent work. The set costs £35.

Volume 1, The Sites (ISBN Vol 1 0 9537918 1 5), 288 pages, 195 illustrations, details the evidence of early prehistoric occupation, the beginnings of an Iron-Age farmstead and its continuing development into the mid Roman period. Following the fourth century conversion into a gentleman's villa residence. Settlement continued into the sixth century and was followed by three periods of medieval field system. The phases of development, from prehistoric to modern, are copiously illustrated with excavation plans and photographs together with artist's reconstruction views.

Volume 2. The Finds, (ISBN Vol 2 0 9537918 2 3), 296 pages, 110 illustrations, describes and dates over 2,500 finds. The majority are illustrated with detailed line drawings. Finds include large assemblages of coins, metal work, pottery and other objects. A scattered cemetery group, as well as faunal and environmental evidence, is described and illustrated.

Volume 4. The Village, (ISBN Vol 4 978 0 953 791842), 270 pages, names index, 180+ photographs, 60+ plans. As detailed above, Eddie Price's detailed history of the Parish of Frocester from the post-Roman period to the present is now available.

Click below for the order form to print out.

Volume 3. Eddie's fieldwork carried out from 1995 hopefully will be available for publication by the end of the decade.