Coberley, Gloucestershire
First screened 3 February 2008

What they found

'If that is a plunge pool, I'll eat my shoe'

The site at Coberley was a complex structure, which taxed the interpretative abilities of the archaeologists. John Gater, in particular, had difficulties relating his 'geophys' survey findings to the actual remains in the ground. One feature that he identified as a possible range of buildings was revealed to be bedrock when it was investigated by the diggers. Another that he identified as a 'sunken feature', rather rashly referring to it as some sort of 'plunge pool', invited the comment from Tony: 'If that is a plunge pool, I'll eat my shoe.' The shoe is still safely on Tony's foot.

One of the difficulties with the geophysics was that the archaeology was very shallow – too shallow for good resistance survey results, according to John. (Indeed, it was the shallowness of the archaeology that had originally led to the mosaics being exposed by ploughing.) Another difficulty was that there had been several phases of building, demolition and rebuilding on the site, and it was hard to separate them.

The villa revealed
Gradually, though, as the trenches went in, the archaeologists were able to dismiss the possibility that this might have been a temple or some other complex and reveal the main phases of a Roman villa over several centuries of development.

Coins and other finds discovered before Time Team's arrival had already shown that there was activity on this site throughout the Roman occupation of Britain. The earliest coin dated from the reign of Claudius at the time of the Conquest, while the most recent dated from the end of AD 402. Time Team found pottery and other artefacts that also covered the whole of this period. A large quantity of terracotta finds dating to the first century AD indicated the probable presence of an early villa structure here, although the structure itself wasn't located. And large double ditches surrounding the villa and going around the site, which were originally thought to be trackways, were dated to before the end of the second century dated by the pottery in the infill.

The mosaics
The most exciting part of the dig was undoubtedly the excavation of the mosaics. As well as the one uncovered by ploughing, the room next door also contained a fine mosaic featuring a large cantharus or wine mixing jar associated with the god Bacchus. It was, according to Roman mosaics specialist Anthony Beeson, 'the finest [cantharus mosaic] I've ever seen'.

On closer inspection, meanwhile, the central panel of the original mosaic appeared to have been removed deliberately and then replaced with stone. It may have been Christians destroying a pagan icon during the later Roman era, according to Anthony Beeson.

Other features uncovered by the excavations included an apse at the end of one wing of the villa. Decorated plaster showing a black candelabrum and other parts of a panelled scheme also gave an indication of how finely decorated the villa would have been in its pomp.

What the villa looked like
By the end of the third day, the Team was able to give a fairly detailed impression of what the villa would have looked like. The core of the building, a central bar with a mosaic and a portico, was built in the late second century AD, perhaps on top of an earlier villa. Then a short southern wing and a long northern wing were added, probably in the fourth century.

Approaching the villa, a visitor would have been met with grand apses on either side of the main entrance. It would have been a multi-coloured building with decorations around the roof. Inside there were centrally heated rooms, at least one with painted panels and an integrated candelabrum design. At the rear a colonnaded portico overlooked the river valley.

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