Roman Crafts Weekend

How Roman Britain Made Things, Demonstrated at Chedworth

Chedworth's mosaics have drawn visitors since a gamekeeper stumbled on the site by chance in 1864, uncovering one of the largest Roman villas found in Britain. This weekend the focus shifts from the finished floors to the hands that made everything in the villa, with working artisans set up across the site.

Watch mosaic-makers talk through the materials and design choices behind Roman tesserae work, and how modern mosaicists still use the same principles. Elsewhere, craftspeople shape bone into hairpins and jewellery in period styles, dye wool and fabric using plant-based methods the Romans relied on, and demonstrate hand spinning. There's also a chance to handle genuine artefacts recovered from the site and hear from the people who study them.

Bring cash if you want anything from the craft stalls, there's no phone signal on site and no card machines.

Watching wool being spun a few feet from a genuine Roman find makes the villa feel like a working household again rather than a ruin behind rope barriers.

Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026 · Chedworth Roman Villa, Yanworth, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL54 3LJ · 11am–4pm