The Bucklersbury Pavement

The pavement has been relaid in the Museum of London. It forms the centrepiece of the reconstruction of a wealthy dining room, or triclinium.

Houses in the 4th century

By the 4th century - 200 years after the period recreated in the High Street Londinium exhibition - most of the population will have been from families that had lived in Britannia for generations. Many of the houses were stone-built, but most of the furnishings were now produced locally rather than transported from other parts of the Roman Empire.

In the reconstruction, the majority of the pottery vessels laid out on the two tables are of types that would have been made in Oxford or in Farnham (Surrey). The black dishes would have come from as far away as Dorset, but the lead-alloy plates and jugs are thought to have been manufactured in London itself. Glass, on the other hand, was still mainly imported.

The pavement itself

A few days after its discovery in 1869, the multi-coloured mosaic floor began to be lifted from the site in sections, for display in the Guildhall Library and Museum. In 1976 it was relaid in the new Museum of London.

The mosaic has survived almost intact and measures some 6 by 3.6 metres. The few missing sections have been restored. It is in two sections: one square, the other semi-circular so as to fit into an apse or semi-circular end to the room. In the square portion, an interlaced guilloche ring borders a central stylized flower. Outside this are two interlocking squares of guilloche, and the whole area is bordered by a further guilloche frame. Stylized floral motifs and acanthus buds are placed in each corner. Between the two main areas of decoration lies a band with a scroll motif of leaves and a central floral pelta. A guilloche border surrounds the apsidal or semi-circular end, enclosing a semi-circle of shaded scale pattern and also a scallop shell. The design, which consists of red, white, yellow, black and green tesserae is surrounded by a plain red border.

At the time of discovery, there were the remains of a stone-built wall around the semi-circular end of the floor and channels beneath for underfloor (hypocaust) heating. Box-flue tiles were found embedded in the walls, and would have carried the hot gases through from floor to ceiling. A series of tiles laid in herringbone fashion higher in one wall indicated the position of a window, and this has been reproduced in the reconstruction.

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