Crofton Roman Villa is the only Roman villa which is open to the public in Greater London. The villa is located in Orpington in the south east suburbs, and was occupied from about AD 140 to AD 400. It was the centre of an agricultural estate of about 500 acres (2 km²).

The site was discovered in 1926, when workmen preparing a driveway for some new council offices unearthed some Roman artifacts. Preliminary archaelogical investigations at that time established the existence of the villa, but the site was not fully investigated until 1988, when further work was carried out by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit. It is believed that the villa was altered several times and had twenty rooms at its largest. Remains of ten rooms survive, which are enclosed in a warehouse style protective building and may be viewed from a walkway. Two rooms retain remains of opus signinum (concrete) floors, and three have evidence of tessellated (tiled) floors. Elements of the hypocaust (under-floor central heating system) are also visible.

External link

Page on Bromley Council's site - opening times etc
A page with a history and plan of the villa