It became a Christian home between 350-425AD (reception rooms with mosaic floors created; Christian chapel built over cellar; baths out of use; granary also; villa possibly used only as a place of worship). The villa was destroyed by fire about 425AD. Some of the stone was plundered from the site during the medieval period.

The Lullingstone Villa remains were fully discovered in 1939. Excavations began in 1949. The site was opened to the public in 1963. The villa is probably best known for: a) its evidence of Christian worship, b) its spectacular mosaics depicting Europa and the Bull, and Pegasus attacking the Chimaera, and c) the wall painting of water nymphs in the cellar.

A Christian Painting

Visitors are usually surprised by the swastikas in the mosaic patterns, but in Roman times they were regarded as good luck symbols. 7.1 and 7.2 recently visited Lullingstone as part of their Latin course. The villa is an hour’s coach journey from school. The pupils spent 1½ hours at the site learning about it from their teachers and the audio commentary provided by English Heritage. Each pupil had a work-booklet containing a range of questions based on observation. The children had been given the necessary background information in class the day before the visit. Unusually there were no other tourists on the site at that time, so we had it entirely to ourselves. All agreed that it was a very enjoyable visit.