Chedworth Roman Villa is one of the largest Roman villas in Britain and was rediscovered by the Victorians over 150 years ago. Now in the care of the National Trust it’s a really impressive site allowing you access to the mosaic floors so typical of Roman buildings, as well as the bathhouse rooms.
The best part of the villa has to be the mosaics which are viewed from walk-ways in the conservation building. And there will be more to come as the villa is in the middle of a five year project to excavate more areas of the site.
Built in 120 AD the identity of its owners isn’t known but it was extended throughout the years, becoming a truly massive site by about 360-380 AD.
The villa seems to have been left abandoned after the Romans left Britain in 410 AD and found again by a gamekeeper in 1864. That year a lot of the villa was excavated with some mosaics left in the open, but others reburied and the outline of the villa was built by adding nearby stones on top of the originals. Some of the items excavated in this time can be seen in the museum, based in the Victorian hunting lodge built over the 1864 excavations’ rubbish heap.
As one of Britain’s largest remaining Roman villa it’s worth a visit and is also set in some quite lovely countryside.
You can find more of my photos here.
Louise Jayne's Blog 