Villa Rustica (Lopen)
The Villa Rustica from Lopen was a Roman estate ( Villa rustica ) on the outskirts of the village Lopen in the county of Somerset in southwest England .
The villa was close to the " Fosse Way ", an important Roman road . The remains were discovered in 2001 while a courtyard access was being built, and parts of a mosaic came to light. Two mosaics and adjoining rooms were then excavated by Terrain Archeology for Somerset County Council , led by Peter Bellamy and Alan Graham . Since it was an emergency excavation , only small parts of the villa have been excavated. The appearance of the entire villa is therefore not known.
The building had a portico , which was partly decorated with a mosaic showing a meander pattern . A door led from the portico into two large rooms, which were decorated with a connected mosaic, most of which was well preserved and with a length of ten meters is one of the largest in the Roman province of Britannia . The mosaic shows largely geometric patterns, although there are also pictures of a dolphin, a fish and Kantharoi . The mosaics were filled in again after the excavation. They date to the 4th century AD and are works of the Corinian school .
literature
- 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. 247-252.
Web links
- Lopen Roman Mosaic , plan of the villa
- Roman villa, Hinton Mill, Lopen
- Discovered during construction in Somerset: a large Roman mosaic
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 19.8 " N , 2 ° 48 ′ 57.1" W.