Tuesday 18 February 2020

Collecting another Roman Villa ....... Brading in the Isle of Wight

You can never get enough Roman Villas in my opinion.

And so I was pleased when Angela Buckley, shared some pictures of the mosaic floor of the Roman Villa at Brading in the Isle of Wight.

Angela is a historian who has written some excellent books on Victorian crime, along with a regular blog.*

The villa at Brading is not one I have visited, and if you can’t get there, then other people’s pictures are the next best thing, along with the offical guide  from the museum of the villa.**

“The museum preserves the West Range, built around AD300, which is the last and grandest of three buildings on the site. 

The foundations of two earlier North and South Ranges are now outlined in chalk outside. 

The South Range was erected around AD 100, not long after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43 and was followed by the completion of the grander North Range around AD 200.

Since its re-discovery the villa and surrounding land have been excavated many times. Using artefacts and archaeological reports, the museum will take you on a tour from prehistory up to the modern day.

Why choose the site at Brading?
For those living here, this location was a perfect choice. 

It enabled these freedom to communicate with and travel to local Island settlements, mainland Britain and cross the Channel to Gaul (France).

Fertile arable lands around the Villa complex allowed good crops of grain to be grown. Sheep and cattle could fertilise the land between seasons and springs nearby gave a good water supply.

The West Range
By the early fourth century this high status house was completed. 

As a winged corridor villa, common in southern Britain, it provided separate private living accommodation for the owner and their family together with space for entertaining guests. 

Like modern homes today the West Range had many changes and adaptions to the living space. This included removing and moving internal walls and adding new mosaics."

So that is it ……… another bit of Roman history to add to my collection, leaving me just to thank Angela for letting me use her pictures, and to say that the Villa has its own facebook site.

How neat is that?


Location; The Isle of Wight

Pictures; mosaic floor, from Brading Roman Villa, 2020, courtesy of Angela Buckley


*Victorian Supersleuth, https://victorian-supersleuth.com/?fbclid=IwAR3p-ieeN8snFOBL7QM9ULFtuIs00KAoB5f5DgU_MpMdK0ZFrVM9SGaR1tk

***Brading Roman Villa, https://bradingromanvilla.org.uk/discover/#introducing-the-villa

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