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XX.—On a Roman villa in Spoonley Wood, Gloucestershire; and on Romano-British houses generally

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2012

J. Henry Middleton
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Extract

This recently discovered Roman villa stands at the foot of a hill, in a very beautiful situation, in one of the valleys of the Cotswold hills, about three miles from Winchcombe, in Spoonley Wood.

This elevated and yet sheltered district, with its rich soil and fine timber, appears to have been a favourite place of residence for wealthy Romans.

Remains of several other houses of Roman date have been found within a short distance of Spoonley, and no doubt many others still remain hidden below the soil.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , 1890 , pp. 651 - 668
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1890

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References

page 651 note a Much of the skilful protection of the remains is due to the Rev. W. Bazeley, Hon Sec. of the Bristol and Gloucester Archaeological Society, who has given much time and trouble to the superintendence of the excavations.

page 653 note a See also Vitruvius, VII. i. § 5. Pliny's remarks about the use of testae tunsae (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 54), are copied from Vitruvius, as is nearly all that Pliny wrote about architectural matters.

page 654 note a See Vitruvius, VI. iii. § 5.

page 656 note a See Pliny, , Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 19Google Scholar.

page 657 note a The most minutely delicate mosaics in Rome are those of buildings dating from the reign of Augustas, as, for example, the Regia and the temple of Castor in the Forum, and in the so-called House of Livia on the Palatine hill.

page 660 note a Vitruvius uses the word “testudinata” for roofing generally not necessarily implying a curved vault. Cf. VI. iii. § 2.

page 660 note b Drawings of this valuable mosaic were published by the French Archaeological Society at Constantine, under the title Les Mosaiques d'Oued Atmenia. In other cases, such as in reliefs, when houses are represented, we nearly always see the same system of having the large well-lighted rooms on an upper floor.

page 661 note a Vol. XLIX., p. 391 seq.

page 662 note a The use of the screw (cochlea) was known to the Romans, though during medieval times it seems to have been forgotten.

page 662 note b Justinian's church of St. Sophia at Constantinople had pierced marble windows filled in with pieces of coloured glass: some which exist are of cast, not blown glass, of a deep sapphire blue; each piece is about 9 × 7 inches.

page 662 note c Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 162Google Scholar.

page 662 note d Ep. ii. 17.

page 662 note e See Haudebourt, , La Laurentine Maison de Pline, Paris, 1838Google Scholar.

page 664 note a In the fourteenth century the evils of coal smoke were beginning to be felt, so that the citizens of London petitioned the king to prohibit the import of “sea-coal,” on the reasonable ground that its smoke sullied the purity of the snow-white houses of London.

A few years later an Italian, who visited England on an embassy to the Court, wrote down in his notes that some of the English were so poor that they used “black stones ” instead of wood for fuel.

page 664 note b The Roman method of facing concrete walls with triangular bricks is described in Archaeologia, Vel. LI. P. 41 seq.

page 665 note a II. X. §20.

page 667 note a In Italy pipes of clay or even of stone were frequently used for the water supply: Vitruvius calls these tubuli, and uses the word fistulae for lead pipes; see Vitr. VIII. vi.

page 667 note b The whole of this lining was stripped off and sold by the Corporation of Bath for old lead; a quite inexcusable act of vandalism.

page 667 note c See Vitruvius, VIII. vi. § 4.

page 668 note a There is a special interest in these Romano-British mouldings owing to their great likeness to many of the mouldings used in England by the Norman builders of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A direct classical influence is clearly to be seen in many of these.

page 668 note b See above the materials of which the Spoonley mosaics are made.