Roman villa's remains to see light of day 60 years after being discovered

Many of the 240 artefacts have not been seen since they went on display following the excavation at Lullingstone Roman Villa around 60 years ago.

Digs were done on the site in Kent between the late 1940s until 1961 and objects found show how the affluent Romans who occupied the villa lived, worked, worshipped and relaxed.  

The skeleton of a 24-year-old man who died in the 4th century

Highlights include a collection of grave artefacts discovered in a mausoleum containing the bodies of a man and woman who were both in their mid-20s and lived in the 4th century AD.

Buried with them were 30 gaming counters, possibly used for a game similar to backgammon and placed with the bodies for entertainment during the journey to the afterlife.

Other features include a sound and light show which illuminates the ruined villa from above.

The lights help pick out rooms from the bath suite to the triclinium, or dining room, as well as the mosaic floor laid during the 4th Century.

The bath complex in the newly refitted exhibition hall

English Heritage chairman, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, said: 'Major improvements made to the building during the past year by English Heritage at a cost of £1.3 million have enabled many fragile and unique artefacts to go on permanent display at the site for the first time since they were excavated.'

The site in Eynsford, near Sevenoaks, is said to be one of the most important and complete Roman villas in Britain and contains some of the best evidence of the transition from pagan beliefs to the adoption of Christianity in Britain.

Curator Jo Gray holds a mid-4th Century bronze axle cap depicting a lion

A house-church is located above a cult room still containing a niche with a painted scene of water nymphs for pagan worship, illustrating that the villa's occupants came to embrace Christianity, possibly while still worshipping other gods.

Lullingstone Roman Villa was a prosperous working farm, occupied for more than 300 years, which went through four stages of development before being abandoned in the early 5th Century.

A mosaic depicting 'The Rape of Europa'

It was known that a Roman site existed at Lullingstone during the 19th Century but its precise location was not pinpointed until 1939 and excavations did not begin until after the Second World War in 1949.

It is thought that there are still undiscovered structures.

The excavations were led by Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Wells Meates, Ernest Greenfield and Edwyn Birchenough, supported by a large team of volunteers, some of whom returned to Lullingstone every summer to uncover more of the villa.

In recognition of its importance, the site was taken into state guardianship in the 1950s and a building erected before it re-opened to the public in 1963.