Chedworth Roman Villa, Roman villa ruins in Chedworth, United Kingdom
Chedworth Roman Villa is an excavated Roman villa complex in Chedworth, United Kingdom, with living quarters arranged around an inner courtyard. The rooms show different floor patterns made from colored stones, fragments of wall plaster in red and yellow, and column remains that make the original layout clear.
The complex was built in the 2nd century AD as a country house for a wealthy Romano-British family. The occupants expanded the building over several generations and left it only in the 5th century, after Roman administration had already collapsed.
The name derives from the River Coln, whose source rises on the site and was captured in a basin that the occupants used daily. Visitors today can still see this spring contained in a stone basin in the northern section of the complex.
The ruins sit in a shallow valley between wooded slopes and are reached by footpaths from the village. The site has gentle gradients, and most floor patterns are sheltered from rain by protective roofs.
A gamekeeper named Thomas Margetts stumbled on the first floor patterns in 1864 while searching for his escaped ferret. This chance event led to the uncovering of one of the best-preserved Roman villa sites in Britain.
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