Chedworth Roman Villa is the largest Roman ruin within UK. It was built in the 4th century and it had a lot of additions and the very impressive Roman technology.
The Villa was discovered 150 years ago by a Victorian gamekeeper. As it is so far from us, is unlikely that we’ll have a chance to visit it again during the celebrations that are organized this year.
In the background there is the Victorian Museum, built in the middle of the site.
We’ve taken the guided tour and it was so interesting to learn so much about the Romans and their usual activities, the society and their technology. The extend of the Villa reminded me of a school trip I’ve made a little over 20 years ago to another important Roman site Adamclisi, only a few miles from the town I group up in, Constanta.
The pillars are dressed every winter, to prevent the rocks to be damaged by the rain&freezing.
This tree has an interesting story. In fact there are 2 different trees, one is native and one is American. The Victorians were interested to experiment with all sorts of things, including trees.
The walls are Victorian, made from the stones they found on site, in the same location as the original walls were built. The roof is designed to add protection.
The water feature was a religious site. The extend of the construction was unusual.
These 2 cambers were adjoining the bath house. One camber was used to store wood and the other one was used to burn the wood to heat up the bath house, though underfloor heating.
The house doesn’t look that spectacular, but it is a state of the art conservation area. The temperature and humidity is controlled by a computer and conservationists are looking over the readings every week to see if everything is in place. The floors are hanged up from the roof.
Inside the house there is the almost 2000 years old mosaic that has to be preserved.There is more mosaic outside but it had to be covered under tarmac for protection. In the future they hope to be able to build a similar structure over. Then they can remove the tarmac and expose the mosaic.
