Villa Rustica (Scampton)
The Villa Rustica of Scampton was a Roman manor ( villa rustica ) near Scampton , a parish in the West Lindsey District in Lincolnshire , in east England .
In ancient times, the villa was about eight kilometers north of Lindum Colonia , later Lincoln . The city had been the capital of the newly established Roman province of Flavia Caesariensis since the end of the third century AD . The villa was on a hill with a good view of the Trent valley . It was about 2.5 kilometers from " Ermine Street ", which was an important Roman road.
The mansion was discovered while quarrying in 1795 and was excavated by Reverend Cayley Illingworth. A large mosaic from the villa was published as a drawing by William Fowler in 1800. After the excavation, the mosaic was provided with a protective roof, but in the following years it fell victim to souvenir hunters who repeatedly cut out parts of the mosaic. In the cold winter of 1815/1816 the remaining remains were destroyed by frost. At least 13 other rooms in the villa were furnished with a monochrome opus tessellatum .
The actual villa consisted of a courtyard around which buildings were grouped on all four sides. The main building was in the east and was oriented north-south. It had a portico to the west , which was decorated with the magnificent more than 15 meters long mosaic, which mainly showed geometric patterns. There was another building in the south, while the buildings in the west and north of the courtyard were rather simple and some of them were poorly excavated. The mosaic and probably much of the villa date to the first half of the fourth century.
literature
- David S. Neal, Stephen R. Cosh: Roman Mosaics of Britain. Volume I: Northern Britain, incorporating the Midlands and East Anglia. The Society of Antiquaries of London, London 2002, ISBN 0-953-78452-5 , pp. 190-192.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 17 ′ 40.7 " N , 0 ° 34 ′ 5.8" W.