Time Team

S08E09 The Inter-City Villa - Basildon, Berkshire

While working on Brunel's Great Western Railway line, about 50 miles from London, laborers stumbled upon mosaic floors that hinted at a Roman villa. Unfortunately, the mosaics were discarded, and the site was largely overlooked. However, recent aerial photographs revealed cropmarks that outline the villa and other features. Geophysical readings also indicate strong signals, but the excavators have yet to uncover any structures below ground. They are joined by Bernard Thomason from English Heritage, mosaic specialist David Neal, Tim Allen from the Oxford Archaeological Unit, and Jillian Greenaway from Reading Museum. Chris Owen oversees the painstaking reconstruction of a mosaic using thousands of tiny tesserae.