Villa Rustica (Spoonley Wood)
The Villa Rustica in Spoonley Wood is a former Roman estate ( Villa rustica ) in the small forest Spoonley Wood , Sudeley in Winchcombe , in the county of Gloucestershire , southwest England .
The villa is located at the foot of a hill in a valley with two streams and about 15 kilometers north of Corinium Dobunnorum ( Cirencester ), the second largest ancient city in the Roman province of Britannia ( Britain ). In the fourth century it was the capital of the newly established province of Britannia .
The remains of Roman buildings were known before 1877. In 1882 a mosaic was found during construction , after which the villa was systematically excavated by Professor John Henry Middleton and Reverend William Bazeley.
The villa consisted of three wings that were arranged around a large courtyard. The wings have a portico to the courtyard on all three sides . The north wing had hardly any rooms that were decorated in any way and may have served as accommodation for slaves and servants. The central building in the east had a central room with an annex on the east side, to which practically the entire system was oriented. Many rooms were furnished with mosaics, which, however, were often no longer preserved. In the south wing there were various heated rooms and a bathroom. Only three mosaics were found in better condition during the excavations. Today they are lost or filled in, there is only a copy of one that can be seen on site today, but is mostly buried with a layer of earth. It is unclear how accurate this copy is. To the west, just outside the complex, there was a single building that probably served economic purposes. Finds in the villa include coins from the third and fourth centuries, a marble statue of Bacchus and a silver-plated bowl.
literature
- Helen E. O'Neil: Spoonley Wood Roman Villa, Gloucestershire, May 1952 , in: Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society , 71 (1952), pp. 162-166 PDF
- 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. 184-187.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 55 '46.8 " N , 1 ° 56' 9.2" W.