The Llantwit Major Roman Villa was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

L-shaped courtyard villa located at what is now Caermead, immediately north of the town of

Llantwit Major Llantwit Major ( cy, Llanilltud Fawr) is a town and community in Wales on the Bristol Channel coast. It is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the third largest population (13,366 in 2001) after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowb ...

in the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

county of South Glamorgan. The villa was first discovered in 1887 and was fully excavated in 1938-9 and 1948.CAERMEAD ROMAN SITE;LLANTWIT MAJOR ROMAN VILLA
Coflein There was another excavation in 1971.
The site may have been occupied in the late

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. The first stone structure was erected in the 2nd century. The site developed slowly and, it has been suggested, was even abandoned for a while during the 3rd century. By the 4th century, there was an L-shaped villa with fine

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, a large aisled building possibly for farm workers and a number of smaller agricultural structures almost enclosing a central courtyard. Part of the site was used as a cemetery in the

early medieval period The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They ...

. The excavations of 1971 uncovered two burials which had been dug through the tesselated pavement of rooms 8/9. Another contorted skeleton was recovered from the corridor. No evidence has been found to support the suggestion that the villa was somehow associated with Saint Illtud who founded the church at Llantwit Major in the 6th century.

References

External links

Llantwit Major Roman villa on Roman BritainReconstruction of Llantwit Major Roman villa on Gathering the Jewels
{{coord, 51.4192, -3.4989, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Archaeological sites in the Vale of Glamorgan Roman villas in Wales 2nd-century establishments in Roman Britain 4th-century disestablishments in Roman Britain Llantwit Major