The Brantingham Geometric Mosaics
#SUBHEADING#The Brantingham Geometric Mosaics#SUBHEADINGEND# The Roman villa at Brantingham, 3km northwest of Brough in East Yorkshire, was first discovered in 1941 when two geometric mosaics were found in a stone quarry known as the 'Cockle Pits'. They were recorded and then reburied. What followed is one of the biggest mysteries in Yorkshire archaeology. #SUBHEADING#One of our mosaics is missing!#SUBHEADINGEND# In 1948, members of staff from Hull Museums returned to the site. It had been decided to lift the mosaics and bring them to Hull for display in the Archaeology Museum. So they set to work to prepare them for transportation to the city. All seemed to be going smoothly, the mosaics were successfully lifted and all was set for their journey. But on the eve of their departure the larger of the two, rather unimaginatively called 'The First Geometric Mosaic', was stolen! It has never been recovered. The smaller 'Second Geometric Mosaic' was however safely installed in the museum. #SUBHEADING#What we have lost#SUBHEADINGEND# From drawings made at the time of discovery it is possible to reconstruct the design of the First Geometric Mosaic. It measured about 3.55 x 2.05m and had at its centre a motif resembling an open umbrella picked out in different-coloured tesserae all surrounded by a crow-stepped pattern and another circle, this time of guilloche. On either side of the central panel were two smaller squares, one with a chess-board motif in red and white and the other bearing an endless knot. #SUBHEADING#One's better than nothing!#SUBHEADINGEND# The Second Geometric Mosaic was thankfully left behind and can be seen in the Roman Gallery of the Hull and East Riding Museum. It measured 2.74m square and features a very unusual 'running pelta' pattern in the centre framed by triangles placed end-to-end as a border. Around the outside is a wider border of over-lapping scales - giving the mosaic its alternative name of 'The Scales Mosaic'. #SUBHEADING#Stepping into the past#SUBHEADINGEND# The Scales Mosaic wasn't lifted in one piece, like the Venus Mosaic from Rudston or the Tyche Mosaic which was found at Brantingham in 1971. Instead it was dismantled, after it had been carefully drawn, and the tesserae sorted into bags. They were then re-set in concrete as separate slabs. One of these slabs has been used a part of the walkway in the Roman Gallery at the Hull and East Riding Museum - so if you visit you can actually walk on the same floor that the inhabitants of the villa at Brantingham did nearly 1700 years ago.
The Brantingham Geometric Mosaics
The Roman villa at Brantingham, 3km northwest of Brough in East Yorkshire, was first discovered in 1941 when two geometric mosaics were found in a stone quarry known as the 'Cockle Pits'. They were recorded and then reburied. What followed is one of the biggest mysteries in Yorkshire archaeology.
The Brantingham Tyche Mosaic
The so-called 'Tyche Mosaic' was discovered in 1961at the site of a large villa near Brantingham, about 3km northwest of Brough in East Yorkshire.The mosaic features a distinctive figure at the centre wearing a crown and surrounded by a nimbus or halo. Some experts believe this figure is a 'Tyche' (pronounced tie-key), a personification of a province or tribe, and this has given the mosaic its name.
The Leopards Panel
The so-called 'Leopards Panel' was found in 1971 at the 4th century Roman villa at Rudston, East Yorkshire. It formed the floor of a threshold into the room of the Charioteer Mosaic and may have been placed under an archway. Like its neighbour it dates to between about 325 and 350 AD.
The Horkstow Mosaic
The Horkstow Mosaic is one of the largest and most interesting mosaics ever found in Britain. It was uncovered in 1797 by labourers making a kitchen garden at Horkstow Hall in Lincolnshire and would have graced a large hall at a very wealthy and sophisticated 4th century Roman villa.
The Rudston Aquatic Mosaic
The Aquatic Mosaic paved the 'apodytherium' or changing room of the bath-house at the Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It was discovered in 1933 together with the Venus Mosaic and the Swastika Mosaic.
The Rudston Charioteer Mosaic
The Charioteer Mosaic is one of the most striking and unusual mosaics to have been found so far in Roman Britain. Named after the central figure standing on a 'quadriga' or four-horse chariot, it paved a large room at a 4th century AD villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It is thought to have been laid between about 325 and 350 AD.
The Rudston Swastika Mosaic
This remarkably complete mosaic is known as the Swastika or Geometric Mosaic and was found in 1933 at the Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. It came from the central room of the same house as the Venus and Aquatic Mosaics which are also displayed at the Hull and East Riding Museum. The mosaic measures 2.75m square and dates to the later 3rd century AD, the same date as the Venus Mosaic.
The Rudston Venus mosaic
The Venus Mosaic came from the largest room in the first house built at a Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire. The intact mosaic with its oblong side-panels would have measured 4.67m x 3.2m. It dates to the later 3rd century AD.
The Story of the Horkstow Mosaic
This famous mosaic was found in 1797 by labourers preparing a kitchen garden at Horkstow Hall, Lincolnshire. Unfortunately they destroyed large areas of it before realising the importance of what they had unearthed - a mosaic floor belonging to great hall of a large and wealthy villa.
The Story of the Rudston Mosaics
The Roman villa near Rudston, East Yorkshire, first came to light in 1838 when walls, roofing tiles, wall plaster and the remains of a mosaic floor were found by farm workers. Unfortunately most of the pavement was destroyed by the same workers - they dug it up in the hope of finding treasure!
Everything you always wanted to know about mosaics
Everything you always wanted to know about mosaics and had no one to ask. Read this narrative to find out more about mosaics, how they were made, what they were made of, how they chose their designs and who made them.
Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic
Rock and Roll! - Or How to Lift a Mosaic. This narrative will show you how mosaics are lifted out of the ground so they can be displayed in museums for all to see.
