A late Roman building discovered during excavations at St Mary's Rectory in 1967 (ECC661). The building was built on the site of an earlier structure (MCC1642) but was placed on a different alignment to it. The boundaries of the building were only recovered on the west side but it was clearly extensive and may well have been associated with some of the tessellated pavements and walls etc. found elsewhere in the rectory garden (see ECC2090, ECC2095, ECC2016). If these remains did belong to this building then it is likely to have been one of the relatively large and wealthy houses built in the town in the late second and early third century. It seems likely that the building occupied 'the entire southern end' of the Insula.
The wall foundations were solidly built of mortar and mortaria chips. Nearly all traces of the walls had been robbed out above floor level, but where it remained the wall was built exactly the same as the foundations but with a face of dressed ashlar blocks. Floors were either cobbled or tessellated and traces of red and cream painted wall plaster were recovered. Later phases of internal partition walling were also observed.
The demolition debris found overlying the buildings floors included yellow clay (possibly from wattle and daub walls) and roofing tiles. Continued occupation of the site was evidenced by domestic refuse including fourth century pottery and a large rubbish pit dug through one of the floors which also contained fourth century pottery.<1>