Rockbourne Roman Villa

Remains of the largest known Roman villa in the area located on the edge of the New Forest National Park.

Rockbourne is near Fordingbridge in a picturesque and peaceful part of Hampshire close to the New Forest. The Roman villa once stood in the centre of a large farming estate, and is the largest known villa in the area. Its history spans the period from the Iron Age to the 5th century AD.

The villa includes bath houses, living quarters, farm buildings and workshops. You can see the best mosaics, part of the underfloor heating system and the outline of the villa's forty rooms.

Rockbourne Roman villa was discovered in 1942, when oyster shells and tiles were found as a ferret was being dug out of a rabbit warren. Mr A T Morley Hewitt recognised the significance of the finds and dug a trial excavation, coming straight down onto a mosaic floor. As it was wartime, Morley Hewitt bought the land, and large scale digging didn’t start until 1956. Thereafter, summer excavations took place until 1978 and further work accompanied the relaying of mosaics in 1982.