Brantingham Roman villa

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Brantingham Roman villa was a Roman villa, the site of which is a scheduled ancient monument. near Brantingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire.[1]

The villa site was discovered in 1941 at Cockle Pits stone quarry when two geometric mosaics were uncovered. Excavations in 1961 discovered the remains of the villa building, including a large room with a mosaic floor measuring 37 feet by 25 feet and a corridor which led to four other rooms.[2] In 1983 a further series of excavations encountered Iron Age ditched enclosures on the site followed by a series of rectangular buildings on the site dating from the 2nd century to the 4th century AD.[1]

Mosaics

Two mosaics were discovered in 1941, recorded and reburied. In 1948 they were excavated and were due to be moved to the Hull and East Riding Museum. After they had been prepared for removal, the larger of the two mosaics was stolen and has never been recovered. A local rumour suggested that it had been loaded onto a military plane bound for America the next day.[3] Both of the 1941 mosaics were decorated with geometric patterns; the stolen one measured 12 feet x 7 feet.[4]

Location

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 National Heritage List 1014736: Romano-British villa at Cockle Pits, near Brantingham (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
  2. Joan Liversidge; D. J. Smith; I. M. Stead (1973). "Brantingham Roman Villa: Discoveries in 1962". Britannia 4: 84-106. 
  3. "Recording Roman mosaics: Brantingham". The Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics. http://www.asprom.org/publications/recording.html. Retrieved 8 November 2020. 
  4. "The Brantingham Geometric Mosaics". Hull Museums Collections. http://museumcollections.hullcc.gov.uk/collections/storydetail.php?irn=410&master=449. Retrieved 8 November 2020.