An "elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved" Roman villa has been discovered by chance by a home owner laying electriccables in his garden.

The villa was found after rug designer Luke Irwin unearthed a high-quality Roman mosaic at his Wiltshire farmhouse while laying cables so that his children could play table tennis in an old barn.

He called in archaeological experts and an eight-day dig by Historic England and Salisbury Museum revealed the home of a wealthy family living in luxury in what could be one of the largest such villas in the country.

The dig also turned up coins, brooches, bones of animals including a suckling pig, wild animals which had been hunted and a Roman well, while the experts identified a Roman child's coffin which had been holding geraniums by Mr Irwin's kitchen.

The villa - which is being compared to the Roman home at Chedworth, Gloucestershire, in size and wealth - was built sometime between 175 AD and 220 AD and was repeatedly remodelled up to the mid 4th century AD.

To read the complete article, see:
One of UK's largest ever Roman villas over 1,400 years old discovered by homeowner laying cables (www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/one-uks-largest-ever-roman-7773926)