Roman villa at North Leigh
At North Leigh in England ( Oxfordshire ) the remains of an important Roman villa have been excavated. Especially in the fourth century AD, the building was almost palatial in size and was one of the largest villas in Roman Britain .
The villa was located about a kilometer south of " Akeman Street ", an important Roman road that connected Verulamium ( St Albans ) with Corinium Dobunnorum ( Cirencester ). At the place of the villa there was already a farmhouse in Celtic times, the modest remains of which could be observed. Around 100 AD the Roman villa consisted of two buildings, perhaps the actual villa and a more economically used building.
In the fourth century the building was greatly expanded and richly decorated. The villa now consisted of three long parts of the building grouped around an open courtyard. Towards the front there was a long, well-roofed corridor with a gate. At that time the villa had more than 60 rooms, including a bathroom, a kitchen wing and a reception hall. This lobby was decorated with a large mosaic that can still be seen on site today. Other mosaics have been removed. A total of 16 mosaics were discovered in the 19th century. Some rooms had hypocausts .
The remains were described as early as 1783. The first excavations took place between 1813 and 1816. Further excavations took place shortly before the First World War and then in the 1970s. With the help of aerial photographs, further buildings could be observed, especially in the south. The villa can now be visited.
literature
- Stephen R. Cosh, David S. Neal: Roman Mosaics of Britain, Volume IV, Western Britain , The Society of Antiquaries of London, London 2010, ISBN 978-0-85431-294-8 , pp. 244-257.
Web links
- Roman Villa at North Leigh on English-heritage.org.uk
- Roman Villa at North Leigh on Pastscape.org.uk
Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 14.8 " N , 1 ° 25 ′ 51.4" W.