My Inspiring Research Trip to Chedworth Roman Villa

Following an afternoon out at Chedworth Roman Villa this week, my head is still full of ancient Rome, and in particular of Roman mosaics.

I went to Chedworth Roman Villa as a research trip for the novel I’m currently writing, Death at the Village Knitting Circle. As all my novels are set in the present day, the relevance of the ancient Romans may not be obvious. However, the knitting circle meets in the education room of the new Roman museum in Little Pride – the setting for my Cotswold Curiosity Shop cosy mystery series.

At the start of the novel, the new Roman museum is about to open next door to the Alice Carroll’s Curiosity Shop. The museum will house the Roman mosaic discovered beneath a paddock there in the first in series, Death at the Old Curiosity Shop.

What I Learned at Chedworth Roman Villa

My fictional museum is much smaller than the vast site at Chedworth, with a single mosaic floor on display. However, my visit to Chedworth helped me to get in the right frame of mind to write my story. It also familiarised me with the proper terms of reference for Roman remains, and I learned useful details of other Roman interior design.

photo of the north side of the complex — Facing east across the coombe, with the northern part of the complex on the left

As seems usually to be the case with Roman villas, a substantial part of the walls of Chedworth Roman Villa have long since fallen down. Their destruction was probably accelerated after the retreat of the Romans by local Britons cannibalising the buildings for materials to build their own homes.

Fortunately, the little tiles, or tesserae, that made up the mosaic floors, must have been too small to be of any practical use to these raiders. Thankfully, this means that the many mosaic floors remained largely intact, protected by grass and soil as the sites fell into disuse.

mosaic floors at Chedworth Roman Villa — The complexity of the mosaics is extraordinary – I can’t imagine trying to make such sophisticated shapes and repeating patterns and getting them all to match up properly!

There’s also a fine nymphaeum, a kind of shrine to water gods. More prosaically, its spring now feeds the National Trust visitor centre’s toilets!

the nymphaeum — The shrine to the water gods is open to the elements but very well preserved

The water from the spring must also have fed the extensive baths, of which much are still intact.

photo of a Roman hot tub — A hot tub, Roman style! The stacks of tiles would have had a floor above them, and hot air from a furnace will have been circulated among them to provide underfloor heating.

It was stray tesserae that led to the discovery of Chedworth Roman Villa in Victorian times. A local gamekeeper, out hunting with his ferret, was intrigued by small coloured cubes scattered around a bumpy stretch of ground on the third Lord Eldon’s estate. I’m guessing they’d been disturbed by wild animals building warrens in the area, perhaps rabbits and badgers inadvertently bringing them to the surface. Eldon’s nephew James Ferrer, an archaeologist who had examined sites on Orkney, recognised what they were, and he went on to lead the excavation of the large villa complex.

artists impression of Chedworth Roman Villa — This artist’s impression shows how vast the site once was – the home to an important dignitary in the Roman Empire

Ferrer also had the foresight to build a museum to house any interesting finds, and to cover the exposed remains of the village with protective buildings.

the Victorian museum at Chedworth Roman villa — The Victorian museum also houses a hunting lodge – which struck me as a bit bizarre, but I suppose the unspoiled rural setting must have been fertile hunting ground

Interestingly, there’s still one mosaic there that you cannot see, because it was reburied to preserve it. Apparently, this is quite a common practice, as with the vast Orpheus Mosaic at nearby Woodchester, last uncovered in 1973, and reburied ever since.

frame showing artist' s impression of buried mosaic pavement — This clever set-up allows visitors to imagine the mosaic pavement buried beneath the grass path

Chedworth Roman Villa was acquired by the National Trust in 1924. Each time I visit, they have improved the visitor experience further. They are also continuing to excavate on site. As their guidebook says, “You’ll have to keep coming back to see what we’ve uncovered”. I, for one, will be very glad to do so.