3-066-148 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Excavations at the Roman Villa, Brading, Isle of Wight: Well-House, Hypocaust, and Basilica, 1881. 'among the rooms recently cleared is one of considerable interest. It has been warmed by a hypocaust, of which indications remain...It contains fifty-four pillars of tiles, arranged upon a floor of rough cobble stones. A large tile is placed upon the floor, to carry the others, which are 8 inches square, and 1 inch thick, with mortar joints of equal thickness. These pillars are 2 feet 6 inches in height, and each consists of about thirteen tiles. On the east side of the wall are two flue tiles, in situ, each 16 inches in length. They are joined together, thus making a flue of 32 inches, leading to the upper portion of the room; and there is another on the north side. On the west side, and in the southern corner, is a neatly-turned arch of large flat tiles, but with wide mortar joints; at the mouth of this arch a large stone of massive masonry was found placed across it. This arch represents the furnace, or prefurnium...Adjoining this portion of the buildings are large chambers, or, rather, foundations of walls, with indications of piers of columns, which appear to belong to a large court or basilica'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.