Location
 Located in Kent
 Cantiaci/Cantii tribe
 Near Watling Street and Stane Street
 London
 Canterbury
 Chichester
Pre-Roman occupation
 Wattle and daub
 Believed to have been a farming settlement
 Like this until c. 80AD
 Suggests the farmer was being Romanised during the
early stages of their rule
First building
 80-90AD
 Flint and mortar walls
 Likely that help from the Empire was called upon due
to probable lack of expertise in stone building in
Britain
 Basic rectangular structure
 Thatched roof
Circular Temple
 Second Century AD construction
 Small, only fifteen feet internal diameter
 Red and yellow tessellated floor
 Evidence for ritual fires
 No altar or cult statue/devotions found
 Dismantled in c.300AD to allow for the building of a
larger structure
Baths
 Late second century addition
 No apodyterium, would change in the frigidarium
 Plunge pool included, but became shallower over time
 Water taken from a twelve-feet deep well
 No trace of hypocaust system remains
Cult Rooms
 Two rooms added in the second century
 One room had its walls painted in red, yellow and
green, of which many examples existed in Roman Gaul
and Britain
 The Deep Room was dedicated to the water goddess
and extravagantly decorated
 Back wall covered in fresco of three Water Nymphs
 Walls in corridor, too, were painted, showing that this
section of the second century villa was very important
Who owned it?
 Very wealthy
 Abandoned in c. 200 AD
 “Two marble busts from the 2nd century found in the
cellar perhaps depict the owners or residents of the
villa, which may have been the designated country
retreat of the provincial governors. There is some
evidence that the busts are those of Pertinax, governor
of Britannia in 185-186, and his father”
Third Century
 Re-occupied in c.280 AD
 Kitchen modified to be a tannery, with two pits dug
into the chalk
 Stairway to the Deep Room blocked
 Room with heating system built atop the old staircase
 Granary also constructed
Fourth Century
Temple-Mausoleum
 Constructed c. 300 AD
 Designed for burial of young man and woman
 Focused around a cult statue with pillars surrounding
it
Mosaic floors
 Laid down between c. 330 AD and Christianity
 In the apse area which was newly built with a reception
room and a dining room
 Dining room mosaic depicts the abduction of Europa
by Jupiter
 Reception room mosaic depicts Bellerophon riding
Pegasus killing the Chimeara
Mosaics
Christian Chapel
 Owner seemingly embraced Christianity when it was
introduced, as the rooms were built between c. 360370 AD
 Pillared portico painted on wall
 Between pillars were depictions of praying Christians
 c. 400 AD, the buildings were destroyed in a
devastating fire
Thank You