Lopen Roman Mosaic

The Villa Rustica from Lopen was a Roman villa ( villa rustica) on the outskirts of the village Lopen in the county of Somerset in the south west of England.

The villa was located near the " Fosse Way ", an important Roman road. The remains were discovered in 2001 during construction of a Hofzufahrt, with parts of a mosaic came to light. Two mosaics and adjoining rooms were excavated on the terrain Archaeology for Somerset County Council under the direction of Peter Bellamy and Alan Graham. Since it was an emergency excavation, only small parts of the villa have been excavated. The appearance of the entire Villa is therefore not known.

The building had a portico, which was partially decorated with a mosaic showing a meander pattern. From the portico, a door led into two large rooms that were decorated with a cohesive mosaic that was well preserved to a large extent and, with a length of ten meters to the largest of the Roman province of Britannia. The mosaic shows largely geometric patterns, although there are also pictures of a dolphin, a fish and kantharoi. The mosaics were filled again after the excavation. They date to the 4th century AD and are works of Corinischen school.