Margam park Roman villa find could be ‘Port Talbot’s Pompeii’

Archaeologists have discovered the largest Roman villa ever found in Wales in a “staggering discovery” that they say has the potential to be the “Pompeii of Talbot Harbour”.

“My eyes almost popped out of my skull,” project leader Dr Alex Langlands said after ground-penetrating radar revealed the “huge structure” at Margam Country Park.

The location in a historic deer park is important as the land has not been plowed or built on; This means that the ruins of the villa (less than a meter below the surface) appear to be well preserved.

Participants from Swansea University, Neath Port Talbot council and Margam Abbey Church said the discovery offered “unique insights into the national story of Wales”.

The team’s findings were shared exclusively with BBC News ahead of the announcement.

Geophysical surveys of the park, a popular visitor attraction in south Wales, were commissioned as part of a wider project involving school children and local people to learn more about the heritage of the area.

Scanning devices helped map potential archaeological features hidden underground.

The team struck gold by discovering the footprint of a 572 square meter Roman villa surrounded by walls.

Langlands, co-director of Swansea University’s Center for Heritage Research and Education, described the building as a “truly impressive and prestigious” building; it was probably intricately decorated with statues and mosaic floors.

“We have what looks like a corridor villa with two wings and a veranda at the front,” he explained.

“It is about 43 m (141 ft) long and appears to have six main chambers [to the front] It has two corridors leading to eight rooms in the back.

“There is almost certainly a significant number of local dignitaries who feel at home here,” he added.

“This would be a pretty busy place – the center of a big farmland and lots of people coming and going.”

As a freestanding structure, it is the largest yet undiscovered villa in Wales.

Most of the known Roman remains in Wales come from military camps and castles; Magnificent properties like this are less common.

Langlands said the discovery would force experts to “rewrite the way we think about South Wales in the Romano-British period”.

“This part of Wales was a sort of frontier country, not the frontier of empire; in fact there were buildings here as sophisticated and high status as those in the agricultural heart of southern England.”

It also showed that Margam, “a place that may even have given its name to the historic region of Glamorgan”, was “one of the most important centers of power in Wales”.

Christian Bird, of Welsh firm TerraDat, which carried out the research, said the images were “extremely clear, describing and mapping the villa structure, surrounding ditches and the wider plan of the site in 3D”.

These include a building with a corridor of 354 m2 located in the southeast of the villa. The team believes it was some kind of barn or meeting hall.

The exact location of the villa is being kept secret for now out of fear that it could be targeted by others. rogue metal detectors.

Langlands said conservation of the site would be a top priority before further research work was undertaken and funding sought for future excavations.

He playfully suggested it had the potential to become the “Pompeii of Talbot Harbour”. ancient roman city It was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

“Many archaeologists are injured by the connections to Pompeii, but I think this is partly justified because of the levels of preservation there,” he said.

“We can see that first of all in the survey data, but we also know that this has been a deer park for hundreds of years; it hasn’t been subjected to this type of farming activity.” [that has damaged many other villa sites].

“There’s a really exciting prospect that we actually have surviving archaeological evidence and therefore have the potential to tell a lot about what life was like in the first, second, third, fourth and perhaps even into the 5th century.”

Further details of the team’s findings will be shared at a public day at Margam Abbey Church on January 17.

Margaret Jones, a retired teacher from Port Talbot with a keen interest in local history, booked a ticket and said she couldn’t wait to find out more.

“I’m still a little shocked at the thought that this place where I played, where my children and grandchildren play, this incredible house is right under our feet,” he said.

“Out of this world.”

He added that Port Talbot had experienced “a lot of disappointments” in recent years. Huge job losses at local steel millbut “this will put us on the map… and we will be proud”.

Harriet Eaton, who runs the Young Archaeologists Club in her role as Heritage Education Officer at Neath Port Talbot council, said the discovery was “incredible” and “something we could never have imagined”.

“It would be great if there was a community excavation here, [offering people] “This connects to the history unfolding beneath us,” he said.

Margam Country Park is owned and operated by the local council and was already an important historical site, with an Iron Age hill fort, the ruins of a 12th-century abbey and an impressive Victorian castle just to name a few of its attractions.

But according to park manager Michael Wynne, the villa find has helped fill “a huge gap in our knowledge” about what happened at Margam during Roman times.

“It’s a truly unusual find this far west and of such a significant size; it will really add to our knowledge of Wales and local history,” he said, meaning “more visitors to Margam Park, Neath Port Talbot and Wales generally.”

“It’s really good news.”