By Harold Brakspear, F.S.A. 



245 



work being of a very fine-grained hard straight-splitting limestone 

 varying from a light cream colour to almost pure white, 1 the dark 

 portions were of a blue-black fine-grained lias and dark grey and 

 chocolate coloured Pennant stone, the red was of hard fine-grained 

 tile, the yellow (which was very sparingly used), of an oolite from 

 the tipper brash beds. The borders of these rooms were of large 

 tesserae in nearly all cases of the cream-coloured limestone. 



The inferior parts of the villa had floors of large tesserae of 

 Pennant stone and a common buff oolite. 



All the materials used were procurable within a comparatively 

 few miles of the site. 



The tesserae were laid on a thick bed of concrete formed of a 

 rough mortar having a considerable admixture of broken bricks. 

 This was supported above the hypocausts by large rough slabs of 

 local stone from the fissile beds of the great oolite. Where there 

 were no hypocausts the ground had been made up to a considerable 

 depth with broken stones, gravel, and tufa. 



The general plan shows the buildings that have been discovered 

 during the recent excavations, together with those found in 1881, 

 in their respective positions. 



Each chamber is numbered on the plan and will be described 

 in order. 



Chamber I., I., L, formed the passage round the central court, 

 which was 80 feet wide from east to west. The passages were 

 9 feet wide, but all evidence of a wall next the court, if any ever 

 existed, had entirely disappeared. 



The pavement was formed of white, blue, and red tesserae with a 

 cream-coloured border, and although not an uncommon design is 



1 This material makes very regular and durable tesserae, and in addition to 

 the cream colour and white a few were found of a very light grey or pinkish 

 shade, probably produced by the heating of the stone. It appears to be 

 precisely the same stone as is used in the pavements of Cirencester and 

 Silcbester. The authorities of the Jermyn St. Museum say that it may be 

 derived either from the white lias (Rhcetic) beds, or more likely from the 

 white limestone of the great oolite. This is the material which is spoken of 

 as " Palombino marble," by some of the earlier writers. Cf. Wilts Arch. 

 Mag., xxvi., 409. — (E.H.G.) 



