A luxurious villa dating from the Roman Empire was hidden beneath a field in England

A silver spoon, jewellery, fine tableware and a carved ring setting depicting the goddess Victoria suggest that the estate’s owners were wealthy and held a high social standing.

The existence of the villa had been known previously, but two months of excavations have revealed its true scale for the first time. It turned out that the building had been extended on several occasions, and its inhabitants maintained the lifestyle typical of the Roman elite even on the distant western fringes of the empire.

Details

The villa is situated between the villages of Halberton and Sampford-Peverell in the English county of Devon. The excavations were carried out by specialists from the University of Exeter and Cotswold Archaeology, with the assistance of students and local volunteers.

Originally, the house was a relatively modest rectangular building. Over time, the owners added extra rooms to the north and south sides, remodelled the entrance and extended the service quarters.

Behind the main building, archaeologists discovered walls and a ditch for draining rainwater. It is likely that kitchens or storerooms were located here. Traces of a wooden staircase suggest that part of the villa may have had a second storey.

Two further stone structures were discovered nearby. One turned out to be a bath complex, whilst the other may have served as a granary, workshop or utility room. A large number of animal bones and worked fragments of deer antlers were found inside it.

A mosaic made up of thousands of stones

The main find was a multicoloured mosaic, which probably adorned a dining room or reception room. It may have been laid in the 4th century AD.

The floor, covering an area of around 12 square metres, consisted of thousands of small stone cubes – tesserae. Each one measured approximately 12 millimetres. The craftsmen used red, white and dark blue-grey elements.

At the centre of the composition is a round medallion featuring a stylised flower. Its eight elongated petals partially overlap one another. Surrounding this are interlaced squares and a pattern of twisted lines resembling a rope.

Larger, coarser pieces of light-coloured limestone were used along the edges of the room. These sections were probably intended to withstand heavier wear and tear.

The mosaic is not entirely preserved: some of the elements were dislodged by agricultural work and ended up in the upper layers of the soil. Experts are carefully lifting the surviving fragments to preserve them and subsequently display them at the Museum of Middle Devonian Life in Tiverton.

Archaeologists describe it as the westernmost coloured mosaic found on the site of a Roman villa in Britain.

Private baths and painted walls

A separate bathing complex proved to be an unexpected discovery. At least two large basins were found there, which archaeologists believe to be immersion baths.

Their walls were constructed from opus signinum — a water-resistant Roman mortar containing crushed pottery. This material was used in the construction of pools, reservoirs and baths. Fragments of painted plaster have also been preserved in the building.

A private bath complex required significant expenditure on construction, water and maintenance. Together with the mosaic, it became one of the main indications of the villa owners’ high social standing.

Ornaments and fine tableware

Among the objects found, one that stands out is an intaglio – a small carved inlay of blue glass depicting Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. It was originally set in a ring, which the owner could use to make a seal impression on wax.

A thin bracelet made of a copper alloy lay on the surface of the mosaic. In one of the rooms, archaeologists discovered an elegant silver spoon.

Also found were a cup dating from the late 3rd or 4th century, a huge vessel for storing food, and a fragment of expensive red-lacquered pottery with a spout in the shape of a lion’s head. A piece of flint was probably used as a palette or mortar for mixing paints or cosmetics.

Taken individually, these objects do not allow us to identify the owners. But together with the mosaic and the baths, they show that the villa’s inhabitants were wealthy and well acquainted with Roman customs.

Why this is important

Luxurious Roman villas are rarely found in the south-west of England. Most such estates were situated in the more densely populated and affluent regions of Roman Britain.

The discovery in Devon shows that Roman culture extended much further west than the number of known sites might suggest. The local elite used imported tableware, wore Roman-style jewellery, entertained guests in a room with a mosaic floor and used their own bathhouses.

The excavations will help us understand how the inhabitants of remote British regions adopted Roman customs and blended them with their local way of life.

Background

Traces of the complex were first spotted by metal detectorist John Hill in 2004. Later, local archaeological societies found Roman coins, pottery, roof tiles and individual mosaic fragments in the field.

Geophysical surveys confirmed the presence of buildings and enclosures beneath the ground. Small-scale excavations revealed part of the mosaic floor, but the full layout of the villa remained unknown.

The current work is being carried out as part of the SHARE project — Saving Halberton’s Ancient Roman Environment. Its aim is to investigate and preserve the complex, which is threatened by further land development.

This is the first of three planned excavation seasons. In the coming years, archaeologists intend to study the farmstead surrounding the villa and neighbouring plots; therefore, the exact dimensions of the entire estate remain unknown for the time being.

Source

The excavations are being led by archaeologist Susan Greeny from the University of Exeter, in collaboration with specialists from Cotswold Archaeology. Sixty-five students, professional archaeologists and dozens of local volunteers took part in the work. Devon County Council, the Tiverton Archaeological Group and the Sampford-Peverell Society are also partners in the project.

The findings are presented in an official press release from the University of Exeter. A separate peer-reviewed academic article on the results of the excavations has not yet been published.