Richard Myerscough was called in to advise on the geology and the building stones used at the enigmatic Roman site at Eastfield near Scarborough. He is now part of a widely supported offshoot project investigating these features at other Roman Villas on the Wolds.

Richard admitted an embargo means he couldn’t say much about the sensitive Eastfield site.  No-one is sure what the building complex is. It doesn’t appear in the records, has peculiar circular walls, furnaces that have never been fired, no mosaics, uses the stone that outcrops on the site, and has inferior roof tiles.  Richard thinks one possibility is that it was a school for builders.

One spin-off of the Eastfield studies is the Villa Buildings Materials Project supported by various universities and museums. Richard has looked at the Harpham Roman Villa.  A lot is known about this site.  Even the Augustinian Society have excavated here in the past. Richard described how hedge walking and looking for reused stone in local buildings helps this research.

Wolds villas made use of chalk.  Richard explained how geological fault stresses can produce a particularly hard chalk and even convert chalk to marble.  Richard went on to explain how a study of fossils in the building materials of villas and churches can help identify where they come from.