The Bignor Villa

Abstract

The villa at Bignor, West Sussex (SU 987147), is one of the largest and best-known in the province of Britain. First discovered in 1811 during ploughing, it was excavated by Samuel Lysons in annual campaigns until 1818. The plans and mosaics received sumptuous publication; but because of potential expense imposed by the recent Copyright Act which required deposition in various Libraries of 11 copies of any work containing letterpress, no accompanying text was printed. Instead, two papers were published in Archaeologia. These are somewhat summary in description and they contain measurements which are inconsistent both mutually and when compared with the plans. Recent work has added to the plan several walls which Lysons did not find, and has also shown that the well-known plan itself is inaccurate in showing the north and south sides of the courtyard as parallel (FIG. I). In fact they diverge. After cover-buildings had been erected over the principal mosaics and the rest reburied, matters rested for over a century. In 1925 S. E. Winbolt re-excavated and repaired the cold bath (in Room 55), which had been left open without a cover-building; and in 1929 the Venus mosaic (Room 3), whose condition had been deteriorating, was professionally relaid.