Coberley, Gloucestershire
First screened 3 February 2008

Roman mosaics in Britain

More than 2,000 Roman mosaics have been discovered in Britain. Most of them are decorated with geometric patterns or motifs; about 200 contain figures (animals or people, often mythical) in the design. Of these 200, perhaps a third survive largely intact (or intact enough for the full mosaic to be recreated); a third exist only in fragments; and a third have been destroyed, recorded only in drawings, photographs, written descriptions or contemporary reports of their discovery. The quality of these records can vary from a few lines in an old newspaper article to comprehensive archaeological or antiquarian accounts, including detailed sketches, plans and measurements.

Skilled craftsmen
What has long been clear from even a cursory study of these mosaics, and the buildings in which they were once situated, is that they do not fit with the once-common view of Britannia as a rather backward Roman province on the edge of the empire. Rather, they suggest a thriving, wealthy region, some of whose inhabitants were able to fund the best domestic lifestyles that the empire had to offer.

Indeed, while many Romano-British mosaics are of indifferent quality, some of the villa mosaics of 3rd and 4th-century Roman Britain are comparable with the best among their Mediterranean counterparts. This suggests that during this period at least there was sufficient demand (and money) in Britannia to employ some of the most highly-skilled mosaic craftsmen in the empire.

Where the mosaics were laid
Although no Roman mosaics have been found in Scotland or the far north of England, they have been uncovered in places from Yorkshire, in the north, to the Isle of Wight, in the south, and from south Wales and Devon, in the west, to Essex and Kent, in the east. Most are found in the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Hampshire. There is also a small concentration of mosaics in the area of the Humber estuary. Where to see Roman mosaics in Britain.

When they were laid
Mosaics span virtually the entire period of the Roman occupation – and were possibly still being laid for a little while longer, into the 5th century AD, after the departure of the legions in 410. Most, however, date from two specific periods:

• AD 150-200, when there was a mini-boom in mosaic construction in the towns and cities of Roman Britain; and
• the late third and fourth centuries AD, when no country villa worth its salt could be considered complete without decorated mosaic floors in its major rooms.

'Rich and varied' designs
As well as simple geometric patterns and other motifs, many Romano-British mosaics are decorated with figures. According to Patricia Witts, an independent mosaics specialist and author of Mosaics in Roman Britain (Tempus, 2005), these comprise 'one of the richest and most varied collections of figured mosaics from the Roman world'. She says the British mosaics are notable in three respects:

• A high proportion – more than a third – show mythological characters, either alone or as part of a scene telling a story.
• A number of the mosaics include not just one mythological character or scene but several.
• Some of the mosaics feature very rare characters or scenes not found on mosaics elsewhere.

These designs were obviously meant to be decorative but they also told stories and were a vivid expression of their owners' religious and other beliefs and practices. For example, Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, was particularly popular among the Romano-British, often accompanied by Venus. And the Bacchic cantharus, or wine vessel, a particularly fine version of which decorated one of the mosaics excavated by Time Team at Coberley, was also extremely common, either in its own right or alongside the god in person.

Where to see Roman mosaics in Britain

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.

A full list of locations of Roman mosaics in Britain is available as part of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics website at www.asprom.org/mosaics. The following are among Time Team's favourites:

Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens
Salthill Road
Fishbourne
Chichester
Sussex PO19 3QR
Tel: 01243 785859
The remains of the north wing of the palace are enclosed within a cover building where there is the largest collection of in-situ mosaics in Britain, including the famous 'Cupid on a Dolphin' mosaic.

Corinium Museum
Park Street
Cirencester
Tel: 01285 655611
A welcoming and airy museum with one of the finest collections of antiquities from Roman Britain, including various mosaics and the famous Septimus Stone, featured on Time Team's Cirencester programme in the 2000 series, which records the restoration of a column to Jupiter by a governor called Septimus.

Bignor Roman Villa
Bignor
Pulborough
West Sussex RH20 1PH
Tel: 01798 869259
One of the less well-known Romano-British sites open to the public, the villa has a marvellous collection of mosaics. It is six miles north of Arundel, signposted from the A29 and the A285.

British Museum
The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
The British Museum has a number of fine Romano-British mosaics, including the early depiction of Christ found in the Hinton St Mary mosaic floor and the first- or second-century Leadenhall Street mosaic, featuring Bacchus on a tiger.

Find out more about Roman mosaics in Britain.

« What they found :Previous       Next: Q&A »