Abstract
A NEW Roman villa on the River Severn near Wollaston, between Lydney and Chepstow, of which the discovery and partial exploration is described in The Times of March 8, illustrates the perennial character of the human response to an enduring need. A fire-platform and lighthouse in alignment mark the channel through the Guskar Rocks guarding the creek, on which the villa is situated, in a manner which might stand in a modern sailing direction. Before the examination of the site the existence of the creek, which had silted up, was indicated only by a stream in a depression; but evidently it must have been, with Lydney harbour, a port of call of importance, probably in relation to the iron-workings of Ariconium (Weston-under-Penyard) to the north. In any event, the villa with its sea-frontage was not only the centre of a wide settlement, still unexplored, but it is remarkable also for the unusual amount of iron it has yielded among its relics. The earlier villa, upon which a second was superimposed, was erected about A.D. 130 in the reign of Hadrian. It stood about 250 yards from the shore. It was of considerable size and contained nine rooms and a corridor and had a bath system along the sea front. One hundred and seventy years later it was destroyed, possibly, it is thought, by an Irish raid. After a lapse of twenty years, the second, a smaller building, was erected. It contained only four rooms, but it also had a bath system. This villa lasted for about a century. The details of the buildings and the associated relics have provided a number of noteworthy features, and the further examination of the site, which depends, as usual, upon funds being raised, will undoubtedly well repay the expenditure of time and money.
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Roman Villa near Lydney. Nature 135, 425 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135425a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135425a0