VILLAS Bignor, Sussex
WE OFTEN THINK of Romans as red-frocked military men, spreading civilisation at gladius-point. And when they’re not subjugating Barbarian tribes, we imagine robed citizens living it up in towns and cities: bathing, feasting or egging on gladiators. We rarely think about the domestic lives of Britannia’s rural Romans.
Roman appetites transformed British agriculture, giving us fruits like plums, cherries and tastier varieties of apple. They introduced vegetables like peas, asparagus and onions, and vineyards boomed. Romans also brought rabbits to Britain, which promptly escaped from captivity and bred like…
‘ Villa’ is a Latin word for farm. Roman colonists built these residential complexes in Britain’s breadbasket lowlands, where they lived with an entourage of slaves. The largest estates were often owned by officials or indigenous chieftains allied with the new regime. These opulent abodes had baths, hypocausts (underfloor heating) and tesserae-tiled floors.
Some of Britannia’s swankiest villas can be found in modern-day Sussex, where Romano-British farmers cultivated the fertile land at the foot of the South Downs. They include Fishbourne Palace outside the town of Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester) and Bignor, close to the Roman road of Stane Street. Bignor boasts some of the finest floor mosaics in Britain, depicting gods, gladiators and mythic figures. The owners of this large villa left behind a gold ring, unearthed during 19th century excavations. You can walk in their sandal steps by following Stane Street over the downs towards Chichester.
WALK THE VILLAS: Turn to Walk 4 for a nine-mile route to Bignor Villa, along a stretch of Stane Street. And you can download another villa walk at Chedworth in the Cotswolds at www.lfto.com/bonusroutes