Ellie New 10JC
Was Chedworth a typical Roman Villa?
Villa is the Latin word for farm, and can also mean ‘a large country or suburban house’. They ranged from luxurious mansions to small working farms. Some villas, like Woodchester Roman Villa in Gloucestershire compare with eighteenth-century stately homes. They sported lavish mosaic floors, wall paintings, marble statuary, columns and balustrades. But few Romano-British villas were as posh as this. The majority were considerably smaller and included houses, like Sparsholt, farmhouses with outbuildings where owners could only afford one mosaic. A villa wasn’t just a building. The term villa includes all outbuildings, for example, baths, shrines and barns. Most villas were used as farms, however it has been suggested that Chedworth Villa had other uses, for example a pilgrimage site. Most villas were located in the south, in the ‘low-land zone’ of Britain. Most villas were situated with a maximum of a ten mile distance from the nearest town. Because typical villas were farms, they relied on roads and towns to transport and sell their produce at the towns market. In this question I will find out whether Chedworth was a typical Roman Villa, by comparing it to other villas in the area and around Britain.
Many villas were built around the second century AD. Chedworth villa is one of them. Chedworth villa was built in AD120 and lies in what had once been the advance zone of the frontier in a countryside, which was thickly dotted with 22 villa sites. This shows that this was an intensely farmed, yet prosperous piece of land. There was also a nearby stream, which was good for water, and keeping the land fertile. There were good communication and trade links along this frontier, because of the Fosse Way, and the two major towns, Corinium and Glevum. Another villa with a similar location is Bignor. It was located near Stane Street, for easy access to Londinium. North Leigh Villa was located near Akeman Street, which was another major route in Roman Britain. This makes Chedworth a typical villa as far as location goes. It was near a major communications route, and had easy access to towns. It was also near a stream, and was built on an intensely farmed piece of land. As H.H Scullard said of typical villas, “One factor was dominant in their choice of sites: their distance from the town. Villas were working farms, and, therefore had to be in contact with their markets, so that their viability depended on their access to roads and towns”.
