Editing Lullingstone Roman Villa (section)

===Destruction and rediscovery===
Sometime early in the 5th century, a fire destroyed the building, and it was abandoned and forgotten until its excavation in the 20th century.<ref name=":0"/>

The first discovery of the site was made in 1750, when workers fencing a deer park dug post holes through a mosaic floor.<ref name=EH>[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/lullingstone-roman-villa/history-and-research/history/ "History of Lullingstone Roman Villa,"] English Heritage, accessed 15 June 2012.</ref> While the discovery and some additional evidence was noted, no further excavation took place.<ref name=EH/>
[[File:Exterior of Lullingston Roman Villa.jpg|thumb|Exterior building of the Lullingstone Roman Villa built in the 20th century.]]
It wasn't until 1939 that the ruins of the villa were rediscovered by E. Greensfield and E. Birchenough when they noticed evidence of Roman walls and mosaic fragments beneath a blown-down tree.<ref name=":33" /> In the mid-20th century (1949–1961) the site was finally excavated by multiple teams of [[archaeologists]]. Until this first excavation, the villa and the rest of the Lullingstone ruins had remained untouched since its destruction. The ruins themselves were preserved under a specially designed cover in the 1960s, when the villa was taken over by [[English Heritage]], who opened the ruins to the public. The building began to leak late in the 20th century and required a major £1.8m renovation and display project in 2006 to 2008 so artefacts from the Lullingstone site could be safely displayed within it.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Maev|last= Kennedy|url= https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/jul/24/heritage.museums |title= New light thrown on Roman villa remains |date=24 July 2008|access-date= 24 July 2008|location= London|work= The Guardian}}</ref>

In his excavation reports, Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. Meates covers the initial excavation of the site, including the discovery of the boundaries of the villa, coin and pottery evidence, and various rooms that were discovered.<ref name=":33" /> In the two earliest reports, Meates creates a rough timeline of the Lullingstone Villa ranging from the 1st century AD until the Post-Roman periods, including its purposes, room construction, abandonment, and its final destruction.<ref name=":33" /> In addition to the timeline and room descriptions, there are also detailed reports of the evidence found, such as pottery, coins, and soil and clay levels which indicate the time periods in which the villa is being observed.<ref name=":33" />