Roman Villa
Location
Garden
Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer (Seine-Maritime) Roman Villa
Keywords
- mosaics (visual works)AAT:300015342
- porticoesAAT:300004145
- hypocaustsAAT:300004277
- exedrae (interior spaces)AAT:300004014
- triclinia (rooms)AAT:300004359
Garden Description
Following the fortuitous discovery of mosaics in 1820, the site of a large Roman villa was excavated from 1821 to 1830 by M. Solicoffre, then from 1840 to 1848 by P. J. Féret, and again in 1876 by Abbé Loth. The ruins were then abandoned, and our knowledge of them comes entirely from the very uneven documentation of these early explorations. From our perspective, however, what is noteworthy about this literature is not its inadequacy by modern standards but the considerable interest it shows in plants and gardens.
The residential part shows a certain degree of luxury with painted plaster, marble plates, stuccos, and numerous heated rooms. The pars urbana was quadrilateral and was unearthed on more than 60 by 45 meters. In the center was a court [A] of about 25 meters square that was perhaps developed as a garden. In 1843, it was noted that this court was "not yet excavated." It is not clear whether or not it ever was. Around it were arranged a series of rooms. One large room [HH] (12 x 5 m) with a semicircular apse opened off the southeast corner of the court and must have been a reception room. The central space of the court was apparently bordered on the north, west, and south sides by porticos of unequal width. The bases of the columns and two shafts were found. To the east was found a large area (22.5 x 4.5 m) entirely covered in mosaic. To the north of the villa was a rectangular space [O] that could have been a courtyard or garden. It was bounded on the north by a gallery nearly 25 meters long and heated by hypocausts for its entire length. Semicircular apses extended from the east end and from the north side. Further constructions not excavated extended to the northeast.
Eighty meters to the west, below the villa and parallel to its west side was a belvedere-promenade. This structure (3.1 x 47.6 m) extended in a north-south direction with apses at each end. On the east side was a large room (11.49 x 5.92 m) terminated by an apse on the east and opening onto the promenade and the view to the west. The levels marked on the map of the site imply that this room was 1.48 meters above the promenade, but such a difference is hard to believe. According to Féret, the promenade was paved with mosaic; according to W. Martin, with brick. The semicircular part of the room was ornamented with a "delicious mosaic" of fruits and grapes. The wall of this apse survived up to a height of 10 to 15 centimeters and preserved the traces of a beautiful mosaic (now lost) "in enamel cubes," that is, smalti. About 1.4 meters west of the apse, in the centerline of this room, was found a masonry mass (1.71 x 1.86 m) considered by some as the base for a statue and by others as the support for a masonry table. Féret called this room an excedra; W. Martin interpreted it as a summer triclinium enjoying a great view of the sea.
The excavators also note at about 55 meters northeast of the promenade a small, square structure that could have been a little temple or shrine. They mention also two springs, one of which had a square basin and was still in use in 1876 by the inhabitants. The waters of the spring on the plateau were channeled by pipes of elm, some of which were discovered: "the trunk of an elm, 1.80 meters long, with its bark still on and hollowed out in the middle by a drill, carried water to feed the baths." It was found in place along with several others and was then deposited in the museum of antiquities in Rouen.
Maps
None Available
Plans
Images
None Available
Dates
Unspecified
Bibliography
- P.J. Féret, Lettre adressée à M. de Caumont sur les fouilles pratiquées à Sainte-Marguerite sur Mer près Dieppe in Bulletin Monumental 9, 1843, p. 92-97.
- Ch.W. Martin, Note sur les fouilles exécutées en 1876 sur l'emplacement de la station romaine de Ste-Marguerite-sur-Mer (Seine inférieure), in Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, 1861, p. 319-326. (worldcat)
- abbé J. Loth, Fouilles de Ste-Marguerite-sur-Mer, in Bulletin de la Commission des antiquités de la Seine-Inférieure, Rouen, 1870, p. 68-75. (worldcat)
- <! -- In the process of being finalized: J.P. Darmon, Recueil "Erin Mckay" emckay2@towson.eduise II, 5???, 1994 (ou 5 ???), n°:894-902, p.111-114; ???, in CAG Seine-maritime; 76, 20???, p. 497-500 (with detailed bibliography). -->