The Lopen Roman Mosaic is 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 ...

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 ...

, probably from 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 ...

, in the village of

Lopen Lopen is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England, situated west of Yeovil. The village has a population of 260 people. History The name of the village means ''Lufa's pen or fold''. A Roman mosaic, probably ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It was discovered in 2001 by George Caton, who was operating a mechanical digger and noticed small cubes of coloured stone, which turned out to be part of the floor of an eight-roomed

and is the largest Roman mosaic so far discovered in Britain. Photogrammetry by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

was followed by excavation led by the

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

archaeologist. They exposed and documented the mosaic in three weeks. It was then covered with sand and soil to preserve it. The work was recognised with the award of the Tarmac Finders Award (for non professionals) at the British Archaeological Awards in 2002. The stones used for the mosaic are

Blue Lias The Blue Lias is a geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassi ...

from the surrounding hills. The fragments which were discovered in the surrounding soil were used to create a new mosaic, including a picture of a dolphin, using methods which would have been available in Roman times. It is now displayed in

All Saints Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania *All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aust ...

. A further mosaic was found in an adjoining room, which probably extended beyond the area excavated, which was about 4.5 metres square. The main mosaic is almost 7 metres square and has a complicated geometrical design, including some stylized figurative elements such as leaves, cups and dolphins. It was probably laid by a putative specialist workshop based at

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, known as the "Saltire school" for their fondness for

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltator ...

s in designs, which is seen here. The walls of these rooms were probably also painted on plaster, but no traces survive here. The suite probably functioned as a dining room

References

External links

Lopen village website
{{coord, 50.9222, N, 2.8159, W, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Somerset Roman villas in Somerset Roman mosaics 2001 archaeological discoveries