The four characterisation criteria apply to mansiones as follows:
- Period (currency): Restricted. The mansio building tradition seems to have lasted for between 250 and 300 years, from about the 2nd quarter of the 2nd century until the late 4th century, with a peak in building around the middle of the second. There is as yet no evidence that mansiones remained in use after the Roman period.
- Rarity: Very rare. Approximately 13 mansiones have so-far been recorded in England. There are apparently no significant regional variations in their distribution, but the majority of known examples occur within Romano-British small towns.
- Diversity (form): Medium. Many variations in size, form and plan occur within the class. The most significant of these variables is plan: some mansiones are courtyard structures while others consist of irregular groups of buildings; some comprise a single structure while others are made up of a complex of buildings. No clear regional or chronological variations in morphology are apparent on current evidence.
- Period (representativity): Low. Mansiones are just one of many classes of Roman monument known in England. Those examples having a courtyard layout are, however, highly typical of Roman urban buildings, both in England and the Western Empire as a whole.
Assigning scores to these criteria according to the system set out in the Monuments Evaluation Manual, mansiones yield a Class Importance Value of 25. This lies about one third of the way up the range of possible values (max.= 64).