I spent a mere few weeks in the editorial department of the Driffield Times, when Winston Halstead, proprietor for many years of The Yorkshire Ridings, was editor.

The fact that that period was the last and only time spent in any editorial department is by the by. After a working life spent in the production of newspapers and magazines, the urge to “report” came to the fore.

Among the mass of papers and photographs that I had accumulated were some pictures that I took of the Roman remains.

Purely by coincidence, and I swear the two events came about quite separately, the Hull and East Riding Archaeological Museum reopened its doors on Saturday, October 4, 1997, and my article was printed in 'Around The Wolds' for November/December 1997.

So, what were the Roman remains at Rudston?

One day in April 1933, Henry Robson unearthed some fragments of stone while ploughing a field, south of the road between Rudston and Kilham. Map. On investigation, they were discovered to be part of a tessellated pavement of Roman origin. Eighteen inches below the surface, further tiles were located, which were found to be part of three mosaic pavements.

After further investigation, part of a central heating system - called a hypocaust - was found. This structure carried hot air under the floors of Roman dwellings.

Subsequent work uncovered the foundations of the buildings themselves, and among them was a workshop, with neat piles of mosaics.

The workshop area of the Roman villa at Rudston.

Two of the pavements were found to be in remarkably good condition. The smallest of the three, which became known as the Fish Pavement, was badly damaged by the plough. The remains showed it was similar to the others.

“Tessellated” means “mosaic,” and that is precisely how the pavements were made. Small pieces of stone were cut into cubes and laid together to form patterns and pictures. Chalk provided the white stones, blues and greys came from the nearby beaches at Bridlington, while reds and oranges were from tiles made on the site. Other colours, browns and yellows, would have been brought from other parts of the countryside.

Detail of the Venus pavement, showing long-tailed birds pecking at fruit.

Over 150 square feet in area, the first pavement is supposed to have been in a room about 20 by 16 feet. The centre of the design shows Venus wearing two armlets and holding an apple in her right hand. She has just dropped her mirror at the appearance of a “merman” carrying a five-pronged fork. In the corners of this pavement are long-tailed birds, pecking at fruit, while along the sides are animal designs, including a stag, a leopard, a lion and a bull. The bull has an inscription which reads “Taurus Homicida” (this is translated as “Man-Slaying Bull.”).

Part of the Venus pavement showing “man-slaying bull.”

A centre design of circle, semi-circles and quarter circles has four spaces in which huntsmen appear. One of these disappeared due to the plough.

The second pavement is of purely geometric design, a square of 12 feet with blue stripes on a white background. There is a central panel of red, white and blue. This pavement is very similar to the one found at Harpham in 1904.

A general view of the second pavement showing its geometric pattern.

At some time in the early sixties, if my memory is correct, the Driffield Times carried a feature about the Roman villa. It was at this time that the pavements were being removed from Rudston to go on display in Hull. Mr. John Bartlett, then Director of Hull Museums, painted several coats of plastic on top of the mosaics. Sacking was then placed over that, and this covered with more plastic coating.

The pavements were then lifted in sections and then were reassembled, guided by drawings by Mr. David Neil, at that time an illustrator with the Ministry of Works.