Isle of Wight (3): Newport Roman Villa

Well, I wonder if you can guess what this reconstructed item might be!

It was one of the first things I noticed as I entered the building that contains a large part of the Newport Roman villa on the Isle of Wight. I was immediately reminded of the eel 'hives' (or traps) that were used in the Fens in East Anglia long after the Roman era, but this object has nothing to do with eels.

Unlike Brading Roman villa which can easily be seen from the top of Brading Down, this villa nestles in an urban street and has a tucked-away (or tucked-in) feel about it. 

I was surprised to find how many villas had been discovered on the island. There is, apparently, very little, if anything, to see at most of them, which is a shame as it would be good to be able to compare the aisled farmhouse type with the cottage house or winged-corridor layout.

What a useful map, showing the locations. I wonder if it is significant that the one at Gurnard (8) was not built on chalk.

As at Brading, there was a beautiful recreated Roman garden. It was pretty cold when we were there, but it must be a lovely spot in warm weather. You can see more masonry walls to the left.

There was a helpful diagram of the gardens.

The picture below shows David reading about the walls in the area adjacent to the Roman garden. 

Back inside you can see the extensive remains of a bath suite.

It was designed with domes made of tufa (like pumice), floors of mosaic and underfloor hypocaust heating. A mirror had been carefully positioned in the trench to allow visitors to see a lead pipe. You can see how the space has been interpreted for visitors by the additions of a loom, pair of shoes and a broom.

Fresco designs had been recreated on the walls.

And this was the scene roughly 90 years ago...

I think this dog was one of my favourite finds ...

... though I also have a soft spot for the oil lamp.

And finally, in case you had not guessed, the object in my first photo above is a reconstruction of a Roman beehive. Thanks to the Roman writer, Varro, who refers to Merula's knowledge of bees, we can catch a glimpse of the Roman attitude towards these special insects:

'Bees are not of a solitary nature, as eagles are, but are like human beings. Even if jackdaws in this respect are the same, still it is not the same case; for in one there is a fellowship in toil and in building which does not obtain in the other; in the one case there is reason and skill — it is from these that men learn to toil, to build, to store up food.'

My favourite Latin texts about bees, however, come in the Georgics by Virgil. 

In my next post we will consider a couple of literary links on the island.

Isle of Wight (2): Brading Roman Villa

I mentioned in my last post that I would be adding a few photos of our expeditions to a couple of the Roman villas on the island. The first villa we visited was Brading, and what a wonderful place it was.

A lot of information has been gathered about the Roman era on the Isle of Wight. The island was known as Vectis to the Romans. 

As we walked towards the entrance, my eye was diverted by this beautiful re-creation of a Roman garden. The board in the photo below shows the layout. It was early in the season (in fact we were told that the 'season', i.e. the holiday season, would not begin until Easter Saturday), but there were still bright tints and touches of colour, as you can probably see.

I couldn't help noticing the wild Violets, too. They seemed much larger than the ones we usually encounter here in Suffolk. Some were veering towards pink in tone. 

The staff at the villa are very wildlife-aware, and we walked around the building that houses the mosaics to see Medusa's wildlife meadow. I suspect the sign was made with school parties in mind, but I feel a wildlife garden should appeal to all.

Sadly, we were too early (since this was a long winter) for butterflies, but we did spot the rather impressive creature in the photo below! 

Much of the villa itself is under cover in a building that nestles beneath the heights of Brading Down, where we had a picnic lunch one day.

Once inside, we visited the cafe, which was very good: the chocolate tiffin was excellent!

By this time we were itching to see the mosaics and other Roman remains. And what fantastic mosaics they were.

A good reconstruction can be very helpful; but, of course, not all reconstructions are good. I was particularly taken with the juxtaposition of the Roman tile-layer (below) and the modern excavator (two below). To see these men side by side, as they were in the display, seemed to me, in one of those rare moments of inspiration, to represent not only the era of Roman occupation on the island but also the arc of history and the sheer thrill of archaeology itself. This strange sense of distance and connection is why I was so intrigued by my first childhood visit to Lullingstone Roman villa in Kent, and why I went on to study (and teach) classical civilisation.   

When I was looking through my photos on my return and trying to remember the contexts, I came across this excellent blog about the Brading mosaics. We have Orpheus in the scene below, with a monkey and what may be the representation of a Chough (though it looks more like a Moorhen to me, but with red legs!).

Which bird do you think this was meant to be, I wonder?

Birds were not only represented in mosaic, but also in fresco, as you can see below.

Having mentioned the art of reconstruction, I want in passing to mention the skill of producing helpful labels. Presumably the use of the first person in the one below, just one of a number on site, is to make you feel welcomed into the world of Roman Britain by your (imaginary) Roman guide.

I particularly liked the fox in the mosaic!

And I can't resist adding in this photo of a real urban fox we saw some miles away in Ryde. It is a very poor quality shot, I'm afraid, thanks to the need to be quick, the poor light levels and the reflection from the windscreen, but it has a certain spark!

The Roman diet included shellfish of various kinds. We found some wonderful shells on the island, and I suspect many of the ones on display in the villa had been gathered (in Roman times) from local shorelines.

One of my best memories from that early trip to Lullingstone Roman villa was a tile with pawprints. A cat or dog had walked over it before the clay had set. The tile in the photo below from Brading has not only a pawprint (though it is not easy to see in the picture), but also a studded sandal mark and a human footprint. This kind of tile would have capped a floor of hypocaust.

And here are some remains of the underfloor hypocaust heating system at Brading.

I was going to add Newport Roman Villa into this post; but, on reflection, I think it can have a post of its own. So that will come next.