Newport Roman Villa was a Romano-British farmhouse constructed in 280 AD. It is located near to Newport, Isle of Wight.

Newport Roman Villa was constructed with local stone including flint, chalk, limestone and greensand with the walls remaining almost at their original height. The building was roofed with massive slabs of Bembridge limestone which needed large roof timbers to support them. Many of these roof slabs had a distinctive shape, pierced with a single hole to take a nail, were found on the site. It is likely the building was the centre of a wealthy estate.

The discovery of fragments of window glass on the site shows that the building had some glazed windows, and remains of painted wall plaster during excavation show that at least some of the rooms had brightly coloured interior walls.

It features a well-preserved Roman bath suite with hypocaust underfloor heating. The furnace for heating the bath suite was outside the back wall of the villa at the end of the bath wing, and a slave would have been responsible for providing it with fuel. The hot air from the furnace passed through an arch at the base of the villa's back wall and circulated under the raised floors of the three rooms.

It remains unknown when life at the villa ended. During excavation, the skull of a woman in her early thirties was found in the corner of one of the rooms. It has been suggested that she was killed during a raid in an abandoned building. However it is also viewed that the abandonment of the island's villas by the middle of the fourth century could be due to economic hardship rather than the threat of attacks by Anglo-saxon raiders.

The villa has since been reconstructed based on archaeological evidence featuring a Roman kitchen and Roman garden. It is now open to the public usually from around April to October.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 280 AD
Category: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in United Kingdom

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Safora Kz (13 months ago)
Visited here on our way to Carisbrooke Castle and I definitely recommend it. I don't know how busy it gets during peak season but when we went it was pretty much empty so we literally had the place to explore to ourselves.
Deniz Newman (14 months ago)
Lovely little museum built over an excavation site with mosaics inc. Roman bath. Within walking distance of Newport centre on the Isle of Wight. No parking on site. Fun little activity sheets for children to spot specific things around the site. Has an activity room where they sometimes have clay or peg puppets that children can make. 2-3 Picnic benches outside in the small garden. And toilet facilities, though I have not been in to check the cleanliness. Has a small gift shop on the way out. No cafè. Realistically maximum time needed to spend in there is about 30-45 minutes, that is if you have no children taking part in the extra activities.
Melanie Pickering (14 months ago)
Well worth a visit to this attraction. For a small site, there's quite a lot to see. It doesn't, however, take too long to go round. I was there about 45 minutes I think, although I was on my own which always makes things quicker.
Paul Hallgarth (2 years ago)
This fascinating place is situated on the outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight. The remains offer a most interesting insight into Roman history and are in a remarkable state of preservation. Some of the floors still contain remnants of mosaics and there are well written labels giving interesting information about each section of the villa.
Leif Marriner (2 years ago)
Went to an activity day, had lots of fun. Check on opening dates and times. Just a short walk from the bus station. Very compact but very interesting.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Doune Castle

Doune Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century, then probably damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, before being rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420), the son of King Robert II of Scots, and Regent of Scotland from 1388 until his death. Duke Robert"s stronghold has survived relatively unchanged and complete, and the whole castle was traditionally thought of as the result of a single period of construction at this time. The castle passed to the crown in 1425, when Albany"s son was executed, and was used as a royal hunting lodge and dower house.

In the later 16th century, Doune became the property of the Earls of Moray. The castle saw military action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Glencairn"s rising in the mid-17th century, and during the Jacobite risings of the late 17th century and 18th century.