More information : TQ 7210 6061: Roman Building (R) (site of) (NAT) (1)
Centred TQ 7216 6054: Extensive villa at Eccles, TQ 722 605, on the east bank of the Medway, excavated by AP Detsicas from 1963-1976. It dates from circa AD 65 and was built on a palatial scale from the very beginning, consisting at first of a strip house of ten or more rooms (three tessellated) and a verandah. It was however accompanied by a large and sumptuous bath building with mosaics strongly reminiscent of Fishbourne (SU 80 SW 5). Certain features such as the circular laconium are thought to betray the influence of military architecture. The discovery of large-scale pottery manufacture in the immediate post-conquest period (TQ 76 SW 36) suggests the probability of industrial installations such as workshops, stores and wharves along the Medway and is taken by Detsicas to indicate ownership by a local philo-Roman magnate, although alternatively it is suggested to have been the home of a government official. The first house which may prove to have been far grander than present evidence suggests was replaced by another with marked civilian characteristics and a third followed on a more grandiose scale; these being merely the earliest phases in a long and complicated history. Between 150 and 290 AD the villa was given the added luxury of a cold plunge bath large enough to serve as a swimming pool. The final major reconstruction involved re-orientation of the house to face south west and it gave it the shape of a building consisting of a main range of rooms with two projecting wings enclosing an inner courtyard. From several points of view this is one of the most important villas in Britain. The pre-villa occupation of the site was not fully traced and the Romano British cemetery was not located. (2-18)
The length of the house at Eccles, which extended to circa 111.75 metres overall in the period circa 120 to 180 AD and circa 124 metres thereafter, is exceptional in Britain but not so on the continent (19). The villa begins as a striphouse with corridor, about the year 65. It has 12 rooms, 5 with mosaic pavements and probably a second storey. There are 3 bipartite suites. About 55 years later a projecting wing was added comprising 5 rooms. 60 years later another wing with new rooms was erected and a further wing with hypocaust added, both together comprising 7 rooms (20). (19-20)
Late Roman defixio from Eccles villa. (21)
Possible pottery lamps from ditch X at Eccles. (22)
Knife handle and 3rd century pottery found in 1974, immediately outside the north east area of the villa. (23)
TQ 722 606: Three British inscribed coins from Eccles Roman Villa. (24)
Mosaic from Roman Villa at Eccles. (25)
TQ 722 605: Corn Drier from Eccles Roman Villa. (26)
Additional bibliography. (27)
KE 6 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (28)
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