The Roman Villa Brought Roman Innovation
To British Farming

Greetings, and welcome to Villa Tillia, the first Roman villa in the Verulamium territory. My family has built the success of this villa on using Roman innovation to get the best results from traditional British farming methods.

I am Gaius Tillius Agricola. This villa has been my home since I was five. My mother taught me to read from a copy of Virgil's Georgics. They are long poems about farming grain, cattle, even bees. You may say I have been a farmer all my life - the last thirteen years, at least.

The first farming I did, beyond my little vegetable garden, was learned from our British neighbors.(They were the only Britons who spoke to us at first.) They taught me the fine art of coppicing. You will see other forms of art in the house and bath house...but you must forgive me for racing ahead of myself.

Let us walk around the courtyard. If I tell you about the buildings, it will give you an idea of how a Roman villa works. I drew a map on an old tablet - rather crude, I'm afraid, but it might be useful.

A Proper Roman Villa!

My father was a retired soldier who always put safety first. He was determined that his home would be a 'Proper Roman Villa'(I wish I had a denarius for every time I heard those words), with a strong wall and gates.

When he bought this place, the kitchen was a thatched, round native hut, in that north corner. Mother wanted to keep it because she thought it was pretty. Father said it was a fire hazard and had to go. Now the kitchen is a round stone hut with a tiled roof. Mother said it was the meeting of two cultures. My father called it the price of peace!

If it looks a bit big for a kitchen, that's because it's a dairy as well. My sister's domain.

The main house, that made it look like a Roman villa, was built the first year we were here. The beech frame went up and was filled in with Wattle and Daub. We built three cubicula (sleeping rooms) and a large triclinium that was our living room as well as the dining room.

Father decided to put a hypocaust under it, to start as he meant to continue - pure Roman. We recently added a black and white mosaic floor. A touch of fashion for our sister.

My brother and sister got to help quite a lot, especially daubing the walls. I was too small so I worked on my garden, behind the house, instead. I'll show you that later, before we visit the bath house.

In the West corner of the wall, are the rabbit hutches. Rabbits are among the animals we Romans brought to Britain. They are great little diggers so keeping them out of my garden is a challenge.

The largest building in our Roman villa is what your scholars call an aisled barn, of sorts. It does a lot of jobs. At this end nearest the house is the office I share with Huw, my farm manager. He is an Ordovician, from what you would call Wales.

He says farming is easier here than on his land on the side of a mountain. When we argue British versus Roman farming methods, we forget that he is my slave and decide what is best for the land. We learn much from each other.

The rest of the building is divided between storage and cubicula for Huw and the other slaves. The storage area at the far end can be used to shelter animals in winter or the earliest spring lambs. Then the office turns into a tool-store.

That little roof-without-walls near the end of the barn is the forge. A Roman villa cannot be profitable if we pay some one else to do all our odd jobs. The forge was our first little manufacturing business.

Some Roman Ideas Puzzle Our Neighbors

The well may seem a strange thing to have when we are so close to the River Ver. It was another of Father's security measures. We also find it very convenient.

Before Roman villas appeared, the British dug pits to store grain and to collect offerings for some of their gods. They thought our Roman idea of deliberately digging deep enough to flood the hole was odd but interesting.

Because there has been peace in this part of Britannia for some time, the gates are only closed at night; to keep out wolves and thieves.

If you stand here and look out the gate, all the forest you see running up that hill belongs to the villa. The beech wood runs onto the land of our British neighbours, who taught me that a forest needs to be managed. Coppicing is the best forest management at the Roman villa.

On the other side is the granary - another sign of a Roman villa built by a Roman veteran. It is a smaller version of those you would find in an army fort. The walls are louvred to let plenty of air in, to keep the grain dry.

Our British neighbor used another, older method of storing grain. Some of the old men say that even the winters were drier in their youth so grain pits worked well. They make me wonder if the past improves with keeping, like good wine.

Romans don't trust the British weather - the floor is held up on those posts to let more air move around. It also makes it harder for the rats to get in and spoil what they don't eat. Ferox, our half wild-cat enjoys hunting under there and leaves the rabbits alone - most of the time.

Of course a fine granary needs crops to fill it. The best way to grow those crops started a debate over the merits of traditional British vs Roman crop rotation

The next building is a stable for the horses and other animals. In bad weather, we strip the sheep in there. We like to shelter the animals in the worst of the winter weather. It is also more convenient to keep the milking cows close by - and the goats, who need watching.

This vegetable garden was my very first responsibility when I was five. Being the youngest, I was desperate to prove I was not a baby and took great care planting and tending my garden. I still remember my pride when my first radishes went on the table.

Most of the things I planted that year were from seeds brought from Gaul. Many foods we were used to in Rome, were unknown here. I soon set up a little business on market days: Exotic foods from the Roman villa.

Beyond my garden is the bath house. It's not as big as those in the town but we will manage. Perhaps the ladies would like to join my sister, Tillia in the Triclinium. Tillia runs two of our most profitable businesses. She sells cheese and pottery in Verulamium.

Roman villas are important to our province. Some Roman methods and improved tools help us to produce more food from the land. It provides us with a useful income and feeds us, the Army that defends us and folk in the towns who have no land of their own.

I agree with the poets who say a Roman villa is the best place to live - and the best way to live.

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