Roman mosaics in Dorchester

These photos, taken at Dorset County Museum are shown by kind permission and may not be reproduced elsewhere.

The Durngate Street mosaic is a large geometric pavement. It has extensive use of interwoven guilloche. In the corners of the central area there are urns which have snakes and foliage in or around them (see details below). The mosaic also has the highly unusual feature of a signature or trademark. It takes the form of a motif inserted into one of the triangles inside the main circle. Use the small picture here to help you find it, and see the detailed photo below.

The signature or trademark on the Durngate Street mosaic. Roman mosaicists and designers tended to be uncredited and so remain anonymous.

One of the urns with snakes, with a detail of the snake's head below.

Detail of a serpent's head (right) and knot motifs in guilloche (below).

introduction sea god mosaic sea god mosaic (2) Durngate Street mosaic Olga Road mosaic the Roman townhouse, Dorchester back to list (mosaics in the south of England)