Roman villa of Littlecote

The settlement began life as a small short-lived military establishment guarding a road crossing of the River Kennet. It later became a small fortlet to protect the river Kennet route for water-borne transport. From 70 AD the road was still used and the site passed to local ownership with circular huts and in 120 a Roman-style rectangular timber building replaced them (the West Range). In 170 this was replaced by a large two-storeyed winged stone corridor villa with integral bath suite. In the 3rd century the surrounding towns and countryside prospered, reflected in major changes to the villa. In 190 a larger kitchen was added to the rear of the west range, and in 220 the central room was…

At its height, the villa had around sixty rooms, two thermal bath suites, many mosaic floors and several heated hypocausts. The large courtyard villa enclosed an area of about , making it one of the largest in Britain. Many of the buildings were two storeys high and included five tall towers. The villa had a number of detached workshops and barns. The separate building with the triconch-form mosaics attached to a large courtyard building is interpreted as a religious cult centre, associated with the pagan revival under Julian the Apostate (361–363). The triconch building is very unusual and similar buildings only exist in North Africa and only much later in the sixth-century Byzantine…