A Roman Mausoleum and Associated Marble Sarcophagus and Burials from Welwyn, Hertfordshire

In December 1976 the construction of a new private road and car park at The Hall, Welwyn, exposed traces of Roman building material. These were observed by Tony Rook, who led the rescue team of the Welwyn Archaeological Society on the site. Initial excavation during the Christmas break was limited to the removal of the hardcore already on the new road and the plotting of the feature so exposed. Later, excavation was permitted throughout 1977 in two bays of the proposed car park. The corner of a very large robber-trench was investigated, and, with the information from the road, supplemented with trial-trenching, the plan of a mausoleum and its enclosure ditch was recovered. One length of the enclosure ditch contained inhumation burials of Roman date. A report on the skeletons by C. B. Denston is appended.