19/08/2008 07:00:00

An 1,800-year-old Roman villa - deemed the largest and best preserved Roman villa yet discovered in Britain - is now being excavated on the Isle of Wright.

The building, which is shaped like a church and as big as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, may have belonged to Allectus, who in AD293 murdered his predecessor Carausius, a Roman army commander who had declared himself Emperor of Britain.

Its discovery has been compared, in scale, to the Bignor Roman Villa, near Pulborough, and the hall of Fishbourne Roman Palace, near Chichester, both in West Sussex.

The villa's remains were discovered at the site of another Roman villa in Brading - the remains of which had disappeared from sight until 1879, when a few local men stumbled across them by chance. The Victorians also explored this part of the site in the 1880s, but believed the remains of the newly-discovered villa to be those of a barn.

The building's elaborate decorations are unique to villas uncovered in Britain. The residential portion of the building had under-floor heating and walls plastered and painted with mock marble patterns, while the communal end is thought to have been used for meetings and legal matters.

Sir Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University and head of the excavation, told the Telegraph, "It's a very impressive building, absolutely magnificent. It could have been seen for miles around."

The remains of the villa, which are currently three feet under ground, are extremely well-preserved; its standing structure, masonry and roof tiles have all survived.

A team of 30 archaeologists from both Europe and America are now involved in the Villa's excavation. However, the site will soon have to be covered up due to concerns over the affects of winter weather on its more delicate findings.