The Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group was founded in 2018 after the local community became concerned about a proposed rendering plant at Villa Farm, Folly Lane, Norton Disney that would have destroyed the setting of a Roman Villa and harmed the local historic environment.

As individuals we decided to turn our shared passion and interest of history and archaeology into an official archaeology group and challenge the developers narrative about the wider site. Since then we have researched and mapped the local archaeology. We were so successful that one of the principal reasons for the rendering plant plans being rejected in 2020 was down to all the new information we discovered about the site. 

We also made a successful application to Historic England in 2020 to expand the boundaries of the scheduled ancient monument surrounding the Roman Villa, as well as carrying out out three large geophysical surveys and a two day excavation in 2021. We have also created a viewing and interpretation point for the Roman Villa at Hill Holt Wood as apart of the legacy of three years of research. 

In September 2022 we conducted our largest activity to date, a two week community excavation. The “Norton Disney Big Community Dig“. Working in partnership with Allen Archaeology, a well respected commercial archaeology company we excavated a large Iron Age enclosure feature. Over 20 volunteers took part, many with no previous experience of field archaeology. In addition we held a community open day of the dig site as part of National Heritage Open Week. 

The results of this excavation are available from this website.

Naturally ambitions grow and plans for 2023 culminated in another excavation on a different site locally, suspected to be Roman based on coin finds, crop marks and an earlier geophysical survey we commissioned. This site did indeed turn out to be a Roman but at the end of the “dig” we discovered the now famous dodecahedron.

2024 saw us return to the same site to further explore the context of the archaeology where the dodecahedron was found. The reports from our 2023 and 2024 excavations have been submitted to Lincolnshire Historic Environment Records. We will publish them in due course when our investigations of the wider site are completed.

The group does engage with other local community groups by giving talks to explain the local archaeology. Over 2024 and 2025 so far 16 local groups have had presentations. We have also over the years written articles and held site open days. 

2025 so far has been a busy year as we conduct geophysical surveys and more research into the context of that dodecahedron find. It is hoped that this extra information will aid us in where we excavate later this year.

The group also commissioned in 2025 a pottery expert to look at Roman pottery from the 1930s excavation of the Roman villa in the hope it could offer new insights. You can read that report as it’s available on our website. It did indeed offer new knowledge and understanding.

The group is small. around 50 members. We fund our work through grants and donations. We are also extremely grateful to local landowners who have given us permission to excavate on their land. Without their support none of our work would be possible.