Lullingstone Roman Villa

Going to see Roman villas is something I enjoy a lot. I feel like it’s a part of my heritage and I’ve always been fascinated by the Romans after a school trip when I was 7 or 8. Lullingstone Roman Villa is part of English Heritage and it’s located just outside London. The entry fee is £7.00 and free for members, there is a car park nearby.

Lullingstone is rare because there is evidence of a Christian church inside the house. There are important wall-paintings too as they show evidence of early Christianity in Britain. Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire until it was adopted as a religion by the Emperor Constantine in AD 313. The owners of Lullingstone may not have adopted Christianity until it was officially accepted.

The painting looks remarkable and it’s amazing that it’s still with us after more than 1,600 years.

The mosaic was made before the church and it’s an allegory of the triumph of good over evil.

It’s possible that pagan worship continued in the cult room below the church. One of the possibilities is that some members of the house would prefer the old ways and not everybody turned to Christianity.

This skeleton belonged to a 24 year old man who died in the 4th century. Near him was a woman of similar age. The coffins had a lot of decorations, so it means they were important and they had the same social status as the owner of the villa.

Ceramic tiles with animal and human footprints that were made when the tiles were drying. There were lots of animals at Lullingstone judging by the footprints in the tiles: kittens, oxen, sheep and dogs.

I enjoyed our visit to Lullingstone Roman Villa. On the upper floor there was a cookbook with Roman recipes. I saw the well-known milk fed snails. Two of those recipes are vegetarian and I’m going to make a Roman cake pretty soon. At the moment I’m busy with baking along the GBBO, so the Roman cake has to wait for a month or so.