Bignor Roman Villa is a large Roman courtyard villa which has been excavated and put on public display on the Bignor estate in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. It is well known for its high quality

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

floors, which are some of the most complete and intricate in the country.

Location

The villa is situated just north of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...

close to Stane Street, about nine miles northeast of

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

(the Roman city of ''

Noviomagus Reginorum Noviomagus Reginorum was Chichester's Roman heart, very little of which survives above ground. It lay in the land of the friendly Atrebates and is in the early medieval-founded English county of West Sussex. On the English Channel, Chichester ...

'') and the nearby and much larger

Fishbourne Roman Palace Fishbourne Roman Palace (or Fishbourne Villa) is located in the village of Fishbourne, Chichester in West Sussex. The palace is the largest Roman residence north of the Alps. and has an unusually early date of 75 CE, around thirty years af ...

.Bignor Roman Villa
16 March 2005 It is on the south-facing slope of a ridge of

greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

which provided better conditions for agriculture than the nearby

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

; this fact and its proximity to Roman Chichester meant that the owners were able to become wealthy from farming.

History and structure

The existence of a

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

farmstead on the site by the end of the 1st century is indicated by finds, but the earliest structural remains are of a simple timber farm structure dating to around 190 AD.The Heritage Trail (Bignor Villa)
, retrieved 21 May 2012 A four-roomed stone building was built in the middle of the 3rd century AD, and this was extended between c.240 and 290 AD by the addition of a few new rooms, a

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

, and a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

that faced east towards Stane Street. This building became the western wing when north and south wings were added at the turn of the fourth century. In its final form, the villa consisted of some sixty-five rooms surrounding a courtyard, with a number of outlying farm buildings. The latest phase of building involved additions to the north wing between c.300 and 350 AD, and it is here that most of the fine mosaics are located. The later history of the villa is not well known, but it appears to have gradually declined in status, rather than suffering a catastrophic fate, such as the fire that destroyed most of Fishbourne Palace.

Discovery and excavations

George Tupper, a farmer, discovered the villa in 1811 when his plough hit a large stone.Bignor Roman Villa: The Discovery
30 May 2009 It was almost entirely excavated by

John Hawkins John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

who lived at nearby Bignor Park, and the

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, Samuel Lysons. Opened to the public in 1814, it rapidly became a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

, with nearly a thousand entries in the visitors' book in the first nine months. By 1815 the remains of a substantial villa had been uncovered and protective buildings had been erected over several of the mosaics. In 1818 Samuel Lysons read his third and final paper on the villa to the Society of Antiquaries. He had already published a series of engravings of the villa with the help of Richard Smirke and Charles Stothard. These engravings together with his three papers and his and his brother's correspondence with Hawkins form the only record of the original excavations. Excavations ceased in 1819 after Samuel Lysons' death. No further work was undertaken on the site until 1925 when

S. E. Winbolt Samuel Edward Winbolt (1868–1944) was a British classics and history teacher, author and amateur archaeologist. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he subsequently returned as a master in classics an ...

did some minor work. Between 1956 and 1962

Sheppard Frere Sheppard Sunderland Frere, CBE, FSA, FBA (23 August 1916 – 26 February 2015) was a British historian and archaeologist who studied the Roman Empire. He was a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Biography The son of Noel Gray Frere, of the ...

re-excavated parts of the villa in the first attempt to determine its chronology. Since then Thomas Tupper, the direct descendant of the discoverer, whose family still owns the site, has undertaken further excavations: with

Margaret Rule Dr Margaret Helen Rule, (27 September 1928 – 9 April 2015) was a British archaeologist. She is most notable for her involvement with the project that excavated and raised the Tudor warship ''Mary Rose'' in 1982. Early life Rule, née Marti ...

in the 1970s, and David Rudling in the 1980s.

Mosaics

The rooms on display today are mostly located at the west end of the north wing, including a summer and winter ( underfloor heated) dining room. The bathhouse is to the southeast. The rooms contain some of the best Roman

s to be found in Great Britain, both in terms of preservation, artistic merit and detailing. The Greek-key-patterned northern corridor extends for some 79 ft (24m) making it the longest in Britain.

Notes

References

*Fred Aldsworth: ''Bignor Roman Villa Guide Book'' Bignor: Trustees of Bignor Roman Villa (undated, about 1986) *Trent, V. (2013). ''ISYP: An Introduction to Bignor Roman Villa ''. Accessed from ww.YouTube.com/watch?v=iZEsFgecNW0

External links

Official websiteBignor Roman Villa
Roman Britain {{authority control History of West Sussex Roman villas in West Sussex Museums in West Sussex Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Historic house museums in West Sussex Chichester District 200s establishments in the Roman Empire 3rd-century establishments in Roman Britain 400s disestablishments in the Roman Empire 5th-century disestablishments in Roman Britain 1811 archaeological discoveries Villa rustica