ECCLES
Kent, England.
The site of the
Roman villa lies on the E bank of the river Medway, ca.
8 km S of the Roman town of Rochester (Durobrivae)
and 6.4 km N of the reputed settlement at Maidstone.
Excavations were begun in 1962.
A system of ditches, probably for irrigation, indicates
the first occupation ending ca. A.D . 55, with the building
of a small granary and other buildings which, in A.D. 65,
were superseded and/or incorporated in the construction
of the first baths and dwelling, containing several rooms
with tessellated and mosaic floors. After the burning
of these baths, ca. A.D. 120, a new bath house and extensions to the dwelling were built, and continued in use
until ca. A.D. 180; a third and more extensive bath suite
was then erected, and the house once more remodeled by
the addition of a rear corridor and new tessellations, as
well as a new wing with a channeled hypocaust. A final
reconstruction took place after ca. A.D. 290, when the
rear corridor was converted into a suite of rooms with
hypocaust.
The size of the villa (so far, 135 rooms of various
periods are known) and its early foundation suggest the
possibility of some official connection between its owners
and the Roman provincial government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. P. Detsicas, “Excavations at Eccles,
1962,”
Archaeologia Cantiana 78 (1963) 125-41, and
following volumes.
A. P. DETSICAS
