Roman villa at Chedworth. One of the largest in Britain, it is located in an intensely-Romanized region near important Roman towns of Gloucester and Cirencester, where such buildings are more common than in the rest of the country, this being a rich agricultural area even today, and the ideal setting for the traditional Roman style of farming. It is unusual in that it faces east and stands in a sheltered, but shady, position overlooking the River Coln. The apsidal shrine with a spring-fed pool in the northwest angle of the villa complex may have dictated the siting^[1]. The ranges of rooms are arranged around a courtyard, with a luxuriously heated and furnished west wing, a south wing where the discovery of numerous coins has suggested a use for issuing payments (Adams 2003); the modestly-equipped west and south wings do not open directly into the peristyle and seem to have been habitations of lower status. The phases of building range from the early second century to the fourth century, with the early fourth century construction transforming an unpretentious workaday structure into an elite dwelling, completely enclosing the courtyard, which offered increased security, and adding porticos round the perimeter to create a peristyle. A triclinium or dining room with a fine mosaic floor was also added. Unusually, a feature of the fourth-century building project was a dry-heat sauna that was added to the complex, which already was provided with the usual Roman bath. The floors of at least eleven rooms were decorated with fine mosaics, of which five, of varying quality, remain. Later structural changes punched holes in the mosaics. The Roman Empire contained many kinds of villas. ... Chedworth is a village in Gloucestershire, best known as the location of a Roman villa administered since 1924 by the National Trust. ... Gloucester (pronounced ) is a city and district in south-west England, close to the Welsh border. ... Map sources for Cirencester at grid reference SP023020 Cirencester is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles (150 km) west northwest of London. ... The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England. ... This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ... In Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. ... In Roman Era dwellings (particularly those of the wealthy), triclinia were standard issue. ... A sauna on Lake Vättern, in Karlsborg Municipality, Sweden. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ...

Foundations of a Romano-Celtic temple of mid-second century date have been excavated about 800 meters south-east of the villa complex, on a hillside near the Coln River. The temple was square in plan, surrounded by a portico which featured stone capitals to its pillars, a luxurious, thoroughly Romanized feature. An Iron Age votive pit producing human remains and the bones of a red deer show that the site had been sacred since pre-Roman times. A stone relief of a hunter with a dog and stag was one of the most notable finds from the site. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

The villa was accidentally discovered in 1864. The former owner, Lord Eldon, built a small picturesque museum near the site to house recovered objects. It has been administered since 1924 by the National Trust. The title of Earl of Eldon was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1821. ... The standard of the National Trust The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as The National Trust, is a British preservation organization. ...

Notes

1. ^ It was the find site of a crudely carved figure of Lenus Mars, incised [L]en(o) M[arti] (Adams 2003).

Location

The Roman villa is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference grid reference SP053135 Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ...

External links

• The National Trust
• Thr Roman Villa National Trust page
• Chedworth Roman Villa Information and photos of Chedworth Roman Villa
• Roman Villa - Cotswold page
• Roman Villa - Archaeology Information Centre page
• Heritage Trail page
• (Anistoriton) Geoff Adams, 2003. "The Romanization of Britain: The Role of Villa Owners in the Romanization of the Native Religion in Britain: Chedworth Roman Villa" Bibliography.