The Building

After the excavations by Price and Price were finished people were still coming to view the villa remains and mosaics. It was decided in the early 1900s to construct a cover building over the villa to protect it from the elements and allow some of the artefacts to go on display. A concrete and corrugated iron structure was built and the museum was open during the warmer spring and summer months to visitors.

In the 1990s, the villa suffered a catastrophic flood after storm water running off the surrounding land submerged the mosaics in thick muddy water. The mosaics were saved and considerable conservation work took place but English Heritage (now Historic England) condemned the Edwardian building as unfit to protect the remains.

The Oglander Roman Trust was set up to raise funds to build the new cover building and in 2004 it was finally opened to the public and included new display areas, shop and cafe.