Kings Weston Roman Villa is a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

Lawrence Weston Lawrence Weston is a post-war housing estate in northwest Bristol, England, between Henbury and Shirehampton. The estate is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is at the edge of the Severn flood plain, directly be ...

in the north-west of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

(). The villa was discovered during the construction of the Lawrence Weston housing estate in 1947. Two distinct buildings (Eastern and Western) were discovered. The Eastern building was fully excavated (in 1948–50), the other lies mostly below Long Cross road. Finds from the site are now held in the

Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...

. At Kings Weston Roman Villa visitors can see the only Roman bath suite in Bristol and two original 3rd-century mosaic floors as well as discover Roman central heating. The villa is open for public for special events and on open days. At other times visitors can collect a key from Blaise Castle or

History

George C. Boon and John Clevedon Brown conducted the excavations of the Eastern building. In 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 ...

, underlying the mosaic floor of one of the wings, they discovered the body of a man of approximately fifty years of age, tall. Injuries to the skull and shoulder suggested that he had died violently. Coins of the Valentinian and

Gratian Gratian (; la, Gratianus; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and w ...

periods led to a conclusion that the man may have died in a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

raid in the latter part of the fourth or early fifth century AD. Roman Villa Long Cross A

Two other bodies were found in the vicinity. Traces of decorated walls, mosaic floors,

underfloor heating Underfloor heating and cooling is a form of central heating and cooling that achieves indoor climate control for thermal comfort using hydronic or electrical heating elements embedded in a floor. Heating is achieved by conduction, radiation and ...

and bath suites were discovered. Based on the dating of coins and other evidence such as a foundation burial of a young pig, it was suggested that the site had been occupied since the third century AD. The layout of the building, dominated by a large hall, relatively common in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, led to the hypotheses by archaeologist J. T. Smith that this type of building was used by an extended family group rather than a nuclear family.

Notes

External links

Bristol Museums: Kings Weston Roman Villa

Detailed historic record for Kings Weston Roman Villa
{{authority control Roman villas in Gloucestershire Tourist attractions in Bristol Museums in Bristol Archaeological sites in Bristol Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Scheduled monuments in Bristol