Villa Rustica (Gorhambury)
At Gorhambury ( St Albans , England ) the remains of an important Roman villa have been excavated. The villa flourished especially in the second and third centuries AD. It was an estate whose agricultural products certainly supplied the neighboring town. The villa is only about one kilometer west of the Roman city of Verulamium . Apparently a wealthy family from that city resided here.
prehistory
The first remains of the settlement date from the Neolithic Age. In the area of the later villa stood a rectangular hut, which dates back to the fourth millennium BC. Dated. Two urns date from the Bronze Age. There are no remains of settlement, however, there were remains of a palisade that may date back to this time.
Villa in the first century
The actual villa was built around 20 AD, when Britain was not yet Roman. Trenches were dug, which formed two rectangles and thus apparently fenced off the residential and utility buildings of the complex. Various wooden structures stood within these defined areas. The western fencing probably housed mainly residential buildings, the eastern fencing more useful buildings. Among these useful structures is a type of basilica with three naves, the earliest structure of its type in Britain. The wooden structures were rebuilt and expanded several times. The high number of Celtic coin finds suggests wealthy owners. In 43 AD, Britain was conquered by the Romans, but hardly any changes in its use can be determined. The regime change seems to have taken place without any dramatic changes. At some point in the first century the buildings burned down. This may be related to the Boudicca uprising in 61-62. In nearby Verulamium, large parts of the city burned down at the same time. The villa was still inhabited, but the buildings of the following years are not very well preserved.
Second to fourth centuries
Around 100 AD the mansion of the complex was replaced by a stone building. At first it was a simple rectangular building with two or three rooms. However, a short time later this building was given a portico and corner projections . In a third expansion phase, various additional rooms were added. In the south in particular, an apse was built next to a large room with a cellar. During the excavations, the cellar was found full of rubble, including fragments of mosaics, wall paintings and stucco. The stucco and wall paintings are of extremely high quality and prove the wealth of the villa owners. Particularly noteworthy is the find of figural stucco work, which is so far unique in Roman Britain. A massive granary (6.4 × 5.8 meters), which was made of stone, also dates from this period. A bath was built about 40 meters east of the villa. It was a simple rectangular building that was about 11.5 × 7 meters in size. Around 175 AD the manor house was completely rebuilt. The trench that separated the two enclosures of the villa complex was filled in. In addition to the old mansion, another, larger mansion was built on the west side. It is strange that the new mansion was not built on the site of the old one, but the old one may have continued to be inhabited until the new one was completed. The new building had a portico with two corner projections on the west / front side. There was another portico on the east side. At least two rooms had mosaics. There was a three-room bathroom in the south. Further buildings were erected within the enclosure. There was a bathhouse in the far west. There was a barn next to it. The villa was in operation until the fourth century, but the main house was likely to have been vacated by 300. The construction of new storage buildings shows, however, that an agricultural operation continued until around 400, then the facility was completely abandoned. In the Middle Ages there was a farm here for a short time.
During the excavations, the remains of numerous broken window glass were found. A particularly large number of cattle were found among the animal bones. Eel bones were also found, which were certainly caught in local waters. Some bones come from herrings and mackerel , fish that have probably come from further afield via trade.
Excavations
The villa was partially excavated from 1956 to 1961. Systematic excavations then took place again from 1972 to 1982, whereby the villa was explicitly selected because it was not built over in a modern way and the aim of the excavations was to systematically examine an entire villa complex with all auxiliary buildings. The villa is one of the few Roman manors that have been fully investigated.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Neal, Excavation , 9.
- ^ Neal, Excavation , 9-10.
- ↑ Neal, Excavation , 37.
- ↑ Neal, Excavation , 37.
- ^ Neal, Excavation , 57-60.
- ↑ A. Locker, in: Neal, Excavation , 205-212.
literature
- David S. Neal, Angela Wardle, Jonathan Hunn: Excavation of the Iron Age, Roman and Medieval Settlement at Gothambury, St Albans. English Heritage, London 1990, ISBN 1-85074-250-2 ( digitized ).