Newport Roman Villa

Story

Newport Roman Villa was a Romano-British farmhouse constructed in 280 AD. It is located near to Newport, Isle of Wight.Discovery and excavationNewport Roman Villa was unearthed in 1926 when garage foundations were laid by a nearby homeowner. The site was excavated and the ground plan of the villa house was uncovered.Thanks to public interest and the generosity of the developer, the site was preserved and protected by a cover building. It is now a scheduled ancient monument, giving it protected status.HistoryNewport Roman Villa was constructed in about 280 AD 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.