Eccles Roman Villa

At Eccles in Kent were excavated between 1962 and 1976 the remains of a huge Roman Villa with palatial dimensions. In the second century AD, the villa was almost 112 m long. The villa was abandoned in the Fourth century.

The villa lies on the east side of the Medway Valley. Roman remains were already known from the Nineteenth century on. There are remains of a pre-Roman, Iron Age settlement. Parts of cemeteries were excavated too.

The earliest Roman villa dates from about 65 BC and consisted of a long row of at least 12 of rooms and a porticus. Five of these rooms might once contains floors with mosaics. In front of the house was a long pool.[1] The building was of high status, as stone buildings are otherwise not so common at this early age in Roman Britain. Next to it was built a huge bath house. In several rooms were found fragments of mosaics, most of them in a bad state of preservation. One of them shows most likely two gladiators.[2]

The main villa was enlarged over the second and third centuries. Many rooms had tessellated floors,[3] remains of well paintings were found.[4]

It has been suggested that this villa was the residence of Adminius.[5]

The results of the excavations were published in several short reports. A final excavation report is so far not yet published.