Villa Rustica (Ilchester Mead)

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The Villa Rustica of Ilchester Mead was a Roman farm ( villa rustica ) , of approximately one kilometer southwest of the present town of Ilchester in the county of Somerset in southwest England , the alleged ancient Lindinis , lay in an area long considered La Chastelle was called .

The villa was close to the " Fosse Way ", an important Roman road . Large parts of the villa were excavated in 1955, 1960 and between 1967 and 1972.

The complex consisted of three buildings, which were grouped around an open courtyard in the north, west and south. Three construction phases could be identified in each case. Above all, the northern wing of the manor was only excavated selectively. The general floor plan is therefore known, but it is likely that not all walls were included in the investigation.

The oldest phase of the villa dates back to the 2nd century AD. A Caracalla coin was found , but above all Terra Sigillata , which dates to this time. Little can be said about the appearance of the buildings at this stage, but at least some rooms were decorated with wall paintings. Some of these were very simple and showed black lines on a white background.

The second phase dates to the end of the 3rd century. A large number of the rooms were decorated with mosaics now and in the years that followed, but only two of them are better preserved, including a mosaic depicting dolphins. Mostly, however, only loose mosaic stones were found. The northern building was apparently the main residential building with a portico and numerous rooms with mosaics. The remains of one of the two better preserved mosaics were also found here. It was once about 4.87 x 5.40 meters. The remains can be reconstructed into four groups of two interlocking squares with a round medallion in the middle. A coin from Emperor Valentinian I (364–375) was found under the mosaic . The mosaic therefore dates under or after this emperor. It was restored at some point and probably carried out by a workshop in Lindinis called the Lindinis Group . A bathroom was installed in the western building. The rooms were still decorated with wall paintings. In the western building in particular, there were over 1000 fragments of painted wall paintings, which, however, could no longer be reconstructed into wall schemes. The walls seem to have been decorated with fields above a base. There were remains of a window made of Roman glass . A better preserved mosaic was also found here. It shows semicircles with dolphins and probably once had a round medallion in the middle, which is now largely destroyed. The work is described as not particularly good. A well-preserved vessel was buried in the ground in the southern building. Within a radius of about one meter there were more than fifty coins that may have come from the vessel and represent a hoard . The coins date from AD 259 to AD 273.

The third phase dates to the end of the 4th century. Another stone building was erected in front of the northern building, which partially cuts into the existing building. It was built of well-hewn stone and had a screed floor ( opus signinum ) . The walls weren't painted. In other parts of the villa there are signs of a new use of the rooms. There were mainly hearths and numerous animal bones. The villa was inhabited until the 5th century.

Three burials were found during the excavations, including the burial of a child in a lead coffin. The burials were free of gifts. 177 coins were found, most of them from the second half of the 4th century. Other small finds are bronze and iron tools, jewelry and especially ceramics. A little more than 2000 animal bones come mostly from horses, cattle and sheep. The bones obtained often come from parts of the body that do not provide much meat. This indicates that animals were slaughtered in the villa and the "better" cuts of meat were sold.

literature

  • Leonard C. Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa (= Ilchester and District Occasional Papers. No. 31). Toucan Press, Peter Port 1982, ISBN 0-85694-248-0 .
  • Stephen R. Cosh, David S. Neal: Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume 2: South-West Britain. Illuminata Publishers for the Society of Antiquaries of London, London 2005, ISBN 0-9547916-1-4 , pp. 227-231.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa . 1982, p. 21.
  2. ^ Cosh, Neal: Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume 2, 2005, p. 228.
  3. ^ Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa . 1982, p. 25.
  4. ^ Cosh, Neal: Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume 2, 2005, pp. 229-230
  5. ^ Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa . 1982, pp. 17, 31.
  6. ^ Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa . 1982, p. 13.
  7. ^ Hayward: Ilchester Mead Roman villa . 1982, pp. 27-31.

Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 50.9 "  N , 2 ° 41 ′ 47.6"  W.