London - All he set out to do was brighten up an old barn so he and his ten-year-old son could play ping pong in it.
But Luke Irwin shed new light on ancient history too when workmen laying electricity cables unearthed one of Britain’s largest Roman villas in his back garden.
The site is so huge it stretches partly under the rug designer’s Georgian farmhouse.
And experts have hailed the ‘extraordinarily well-preserved’ find in Tisbury, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, as ‘unparalleled in recent years’ in its historical significance.
But any further excavation under the house was put in doubt on Sunday after Irwin insisted that archaeologists won’t be able to touch his Grade II listed home because it is protected by English Heritage.
The first sign of the villa’s existence came when workmen struck an orange, cream and green mosaic measuring 27x16 square feet.
Irwin, 48, felt a ‘frisson of excitement’ and was reminded of seeing the ruins of Pompeii when he was a seven-year-old boy. He immediately called in the experts.
An exploratory dig by Historic England, Salisbury Museum and the council’s archaeological department revealed the mosaic was part of the floor of a vast ancient home.
Nearly the size of a football pitch, the stone and timber property had three storeys in parts and at least 25 rooms on the ground floor alone. An eight-day dig revealed oyster shells, indicating how rich the family were, as well as coins and brooches.
Evidence of plastered walls, a hypercaust, or underfloor heating system, plunge pool and bath house were also found. And experts identified a child’s coffin which had been unwittingly used by Irwin as a planter for geraniums.
The villa, built sometime between 175AD and 220AD, and repeatedly remodelled up to the mid 4th century AD, would have belonged to a powerful man, probably a Romano-British aristocrat who managed grain production on his estate.
Dr David Roberts, who led the investigations for Historic England, said that by the time the villa was built, Wiltshire was producing large amounts of cereal crops which were used to feed the Roman army. He said: “This is not a subtle country house – this is showy. It dominates the landscape, and it is visible from the nearby Roman road. It is clearly a family making their mark.”
Dr Roberts added: “The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1 500 years, is unparalleled in recent years.” The villa is being compared to the grand Roman villa at Chedworth, Gloucestershire, in size and wealth, which was discovered in 1864.
Irwin, who bought his farmhouse and five acres of surrounding land in 2012 and whose wife, Alice, is the Duchess of Cornwall’s niece, said: “You look out at an empty field from your front door, and yet 1 500 years ago there was the biggest house, possibly, in all of Britain.”
The mosaic was first discovered in February last year after Irwin, who also has a daughter, decided his barn would make a perfect ping pong hall for him and son Otis.
Archaeologists are now trying to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for a full excavation but they can’t legally enforce the demolition of Irwin’s home.
On Sunday a spokesman for the family said: “The house is Grade II listed so as it is a protected English Heritage home it would not be an option to further excavate.”
Daily Mail
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