Villa rustica (Frocester)

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The Villa Rustica von Frocester was a Roman manor ( villa rustica ) near Frocester , a parish in the county of Gloucestershire , in the west of England . The villa is about ten kilometers south of Glevum ( Gloucester ) and 15 kilometers west of the ancient Corinium Dobunnorum , the modern Cirencester .

The villa was excavated between 1961 and 1969. After these investigations, a first building was built around 275 AD and was fenced off. Even at this stage, the villa had massive foundations, which indicate that the building had a second floor. In the first phase, the building was about 32 × 10 meters. There was a large central room and three smaller rooms on the short sides. One of them was very narrow and may have served as a staircase. Shortly after 275 AD, the facade of the villa was given a portico with two corner projections . A number of smaller rooms have been added to the rear. On the north side there were four pillared bases, which perhaps indicate a kind of open veranda. The portico was equipped with a mosaic . In the course of time there were other minor modifications. A bath was built in the north of the villa around AD 360. Various rooms in the villa had wall paintings. The front of the villa opened onto a large, partly walled courtyard. A driveway was found here during the excavations. There were beds for flowers and other plants on both sides of the driveway. Coins indicate that the villa was in use until the fifth century. The villa was rich in small finds, including a glass vessel decorated with figures.

There is evidence that the villa was used in the Middle Ages.

literature

  • Henry Stewart Gracie: Frocester Court Roman Villa . In: Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club. 34 (3), 1964, pp. 127-132.
  • Henry Stewart Gracie: Frocester Court Roman Villa: First Report 1961-67: Building A . In: Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. 89, pp. 15-86 (1970). (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  • Henry Stewart Gracie, Eddie G. Price: Frocester Court Roman Villa: Second Report 1968-77: the courtyard . In: Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. 97: 9-64 (1979). (PDF; 1.9 MB)
  • Eddie G. Price: Frocester Court Roman villa: Third Report 1980: the well . In: Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. 101: 49-76 (1983). (PDF; 679 kB)
  • Eddie G. Price: Frocester - A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents and Successors. Volume 1: The Sites. Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group, Stonehouse, 2000, ISBN 0-9537918-1-5 . (PDF; 11.1 MB)
  • Eddie G. Price: Frocester - A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents and Successors. Volume 2: The Finds. Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group, Stonehouse, 2000, ISBN 0-9537918-2-3 . (PDF; 7.6 MB)
  • Eddie G. Price: Frocester - A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents and Successors. Volume 3: Excavations 1995-2009. Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group, Stonehouse, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9537918-5-9 .
  • Eddie G. Price: Frocester - A Romano-British Settlement, its Antecedents and Successors. Volume 4: The Village. Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group, Stonehouse, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9537918-4-2 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 22.2 "  N , 2 ° 18 ′ 45.8"  W.