174 THE ROMAX VILLA AT FIFEHEAD NEVILLE. 



And a somewhat minute exploration during 20 years in the same 

 neighbourhood proved that such dwellings ranged in size from 

 the country mansion to the mere cottage or hut, the latter of 

 course without the tessellated floors, but showing its character 

 by its materials and the invariable warmed floor. 



External Features of the Villa. 

 This then was probably the home of a Romano-British 

 " Squire." In extent and capacity it was a village under one 

 roof, for we must divest ourselves of all our inveterate notions of 

 a metropolis or country town within reach for supplies. The 

 house and estate were self-contained and self-supporting. If 

 fully excavated, we should probably find it arranged, as nearly 

 all considerable villas were, on the classical plan of three wings 

 round a hollow square — the Villa Urbana, or dwelling-house 

 proper of the owner and his family, the Villa Rustica, or 

 servants' quarters, and the Villa Fiuctuaria, or farm- wing, 

 comprising granaries, stables, forge, carpenter's shop, and so 

 forth. As to main construction, the masonry seems to have 

 been carried only a few courses up to receive heavy wooden 

 plates which carried the "half-timbered" upper structure of 

 beams and plaster. The roof timbers must have been very 

 substantial to carry the heavy stone roofing slabs, of which such 

 a great number remain on this and other sites. Their common 

 absence from the area of the farm-wing indicates a thatch of 

 reed, an abundant material in the undrained marsh land and 

 wetter climate of 15 or 16 centuries ago. An arcade, or con- 

 tinuous porch, usually ran around the courtyard, varying from a 

 rough lean-to in the humbler to a pillared cloister in the better 

 houses, and doors from this opened into corridors giving access 

 to the rooms. The house, no doubt, was of two stories, the 

 upper being reached by oulside stairs with open loggia-like 

 landings. The small windows were set high up and glazed with 

 thick glass, translucent rather than transparent. The outer, as 

 well as the inner walls, seem to have been coloured, commonly 

 red and white. A drawing in Mr. Oswald Crawfurd's " Portugal 



