Excavations in North Essex
Accessed 26 September 2025.
Adding content to these pages may redress some of the lack of information that originates in the village of Belchamp Walter itself. Village politics seems to play a big roll here!
11 May 2026 - The painting of the roman villa site at Hill Farm is now labled "Gestingthorpe Roman Villa - Benjamin Perkins"
Seeing Ashley at the evensong at Belchamp Walter on the 10th reminded me that I have not fully documented his books and some of the other references to BW. IE the painting of the wall paintings re the tomb of Sir John, George Washington Brownlow and the restoration of his paintings in the church.
17 June 2026 - Moved the Benjamin Perkins.
Ashley Cooper has a fantastic museum of local history and artifacts located at Hill Farm, Gestingthorpe.
Gestingthorpe Roman Villa
The community of Belchamp Walter has a rich history of settlement dating from and including Roman times.
Archaeological finds have been recorded in the area. The Roman Villa at Gestingthorpe is probably the most significant.
Earthworks, that have yet to be fully explored, have been identified near the church at Belchamp Walter
Belchamp Walter is situated on the other side of Belchamp Brook to the roman villa at Gestingthorpe.
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Goldington Hall - A Medieval Manor
With reference to "Exploring a Medieval Manor" – A Talk by Ashley Cooper
Below is the view looking East from above the house that I currently live. It shows the field excavated by
Ashley Cooper in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Some of Ashley Cooper's notes:
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With just one field walked, the results were difficult to interpret, but suggested the site was lightly used throughout most of the prehistoric period, with a short episode of localised more intensive use in the late Neolithic and early Bronze age. Small amounts of pottery hinted at some human presence, possibly related to the manorial site of Goldingham, to the east of the walked area up, to about 1400 AD.
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Thereafter the site appeared to have been used as fields, with very little post-medieval or modern material recovered, apart from a spread of roof tiles which may have come from Goldingham Hall itself.
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Richard Mann and the Roman tiles
When searching for Richard Mann, Belchamp Walter I came across the following:
Harold discovering the first roman roof tiles in 1948. Richard Mann’s grandfather Jack
was driving the tractor.
Benjamin Perkins
There seems to be some sensitivity regarding Benjamin's paintings.
The feeling I get is that it is not wanted that they "turn up on the Internet". By this I think Ashley means Social Media.
There is a Benjamin Perkins version of "Straw Plating" - George Washington Brownlow and another of the monks painting the wall paintings at Belchamp Walter church.
