Villa rustica (Fullerton)
The villa rustica of Fullerton is a Roman manor ( villa rustica ) on the parish of Fullerton in the English county of Hampshire . Andover is the closest city. In ancient times , the villa was about ten kilometers northwest of the Roman city of Venta Belgarum , today's Winchester .
The villa was discovered around 1895 while plowing. In 1904 it was examined and several mosaics were found, some of which were lifted and exhibited in Fullerton Manor . From there it was brought to the Museum of the Iron Age in Anodover in 2007. The villa was systematically excavated in 1964/65. Further excavations in 2000 and 2001 discovered a second building to the west of the main building. The actual villa is oriented approximately to the north-south. There was a portico on the east side and another on the west side of the building. The front was also equipped with two corner projections . There was a bath in the south. The central part of the building had three larger rooms, each separated by a corridor that connected the front and rear of the villa. Most of the rooms were probably once decorated with mosaics. Seven of them are partially preserved and are rather simple. They are geometric patterns in dark stones on a light background. Only the mosaic in the central room of the villa is more elaborate and shows the naked armed figure of a man in the middle, perhaps Mars . Around it there were various figures in eight hexagons, only four have survived in their entirety, two only partially. At the corners of the mosaic there were busts, perhaps representing the seasons. The mosaics probably date to the beginning of the 4th century AD. The villa appears to have been abandoned around 350 AD.
literature
- David S. Neal, Stephen R. Cosh: Roman Mosaics of Britain, Volume III, South-East Britain , Part I, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-85431-289-4 , pp. 172-176.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 31 " N , 1 ° 27 ′ 54.8" W.