Under Another Sky (37 page)

• Page 214
epigraph: from Haverfield.
• Page 218
‘the barbarians beyond the Rhine’: Zosimus, 6.5 2–3.
• Page 219
the Scots and the Picts arrived in their coracles – Gildas, 19 ff.
• Page 219
‘a modest man, who alone of the Romans had by chance survived’: ibid., 25.
• Pages 219–220
country sinking into barbarism’; the last remnant of ‘Roman ideas’: Collingwood and Myres, p.324.
• Page 220
the lines from ‘The Ruin’ are taken from Michael Alexander’s translation.
• Page 221
The discovery of the Mildenhall Treasure: Hobbs, 2008, pp.376–420. This passage draws deeply on Hobbs’s patient detective work, described in a fascinating article in
The Antiquaries Journal
.
• Page 223
‘leapt up from my chair’: Dahl, p.5.
• Page 224
piled high with apples, oranges, pears and nuts: Hobbs, 2008, p.410.
• Page 225
a not infrequently expressed suspicion in archaeological circles: Ashbee.
• Page 225
John Everett Millais,
The Romans Leaving Britain
:
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4026906
(a reduced version of the original, which is in a
private collection);
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/millais/drawings/33.html
(a sketch towards the painting).
• Page 227
‘nothing much to regret & a great deal to rejoice in’: Hill, 2007, p.129.
• Page 227
nineteen designs relating to Roman Britain: Robertson, p.62.
• Page 228
‘sunk in ignorance, heathen superstition and slavery’: ibid, p.334.
• Page 230
‘fair field full of folk’: the quote is from William Langland’s poem
Piers Plowman
.

The essential resource for visiting the places mentioned in the book is R. J. A Wilson’s
A Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain
, which at the time of writing was out of print, but available from second-hand sellers, including Amazon and Abe. For Scotland, Lawrence Keppie’s
The Legacy of Rome: Scotland’s Roman Remains
is similarly indispensable.

Many Roman remains are in the care of the national heritage organisations. Details of entry to sites can be found on the relevant websites: for English Heritage
www.english-heritage.org.uk
; for Cadw (Wales)
cadw.wales.gov.uk
; for Historic Scotland
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
. Membership brings free entry to sites in their care, and is strongly recommended if several visits are planned. There are reciprocal arrangements between the national organisations, meaning you should have to join only one – check online for details.

Depending on how many museums you visit in a year, membership of the Art Fund may be worthwhile – it gives free entry to over 200 museums and galleries in Britain:
www.artfund.org
.

If you are within reach of London, a first port of call must be the British Museum (free) –
www.britishmuseum.org
– whose Roman Britain gallery contains some of the most significant artefacts from the period.

Please check opening dates and times for all sites and museums before setting out. They are liable to change, and some visiting regimes are eccentric; for example, not all local-authority-run museums open on a Sunday.

As described, there are no Roman remains to see at Deal, though it is a pleasant place (with a lovely Henrican clover-leaf castle, in the
care of English Heritage). Nearby Richborough, however, is spectacular (entry charge, free for English Heritage members).

Fishbourne Roman Palace (entry charge) on the outskirts of Chichester, in Sussex, is one of the most important Roman sites in Britain:
sussexpast.co.uk
. If you are in the area, it’s good to combine with a visit to Bignor Roman Villa (see
Chapter Eleven
).

In Colchester, not to be missed are the walls and, particularly, the Balkerne Gate, near the Mercury Theatre. Colchester Castle Museum (entry charge) has a superb collection of Roman finds from the town, and is itself constructed on the base of the Claudian temple. Additional guided tours of the Roman ‘vaults’ are also available:
www.cimuseums.org.uk
. The following site,
www.visitcolchester.com/Roman-Colchester.aspx
, has plenty of information and links.

Colchester town hall, with its statue of Boudica, is on the high street, while the preserved remains of the theatre can be seen any time on Maidenburgh Street, visible through the window of a building on the left if approaching from the high street. At the corner of Maidenburgh Street and St Helen’s Lane is St Helen’s Chapel, built on the line of the theatre. It is sometimes unlocked:
orthodoxcolchester.org.uk
.

Work is in progress to develop the remains of the amphitheatre as a site for visitors. Latest developments on this and Colchester’s archaeology in general can be found at
www.thecolchesterarchaeologist.co.uk
.

The Roman town at Caistor St Edmund (free) is in the care of Norfolk Archaeological Trust:
www.norfarchtrust.org.uk/Caistor.html
. More information about Roman Caistor, and news about the latest archaeology, can be found at
caistorromanproject.com
.

Norwich Castle Museum (entry charge) has an excellent Iron Age and Roman collection, including part of the extraordinary Snettisham hoard of gold torques:
www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
. The remainder is in the Roman Britain gallery of the British Museum (free). While you are in Norwich, do not fail to visit the cathedral with its spellbinding cloister:
www.cathedral.org.uk
. You can give the Iceni Village a miss.

The first port of call for an investigation of Roman London is the Museum of London (free), at the Barbican. The galleries, with their excellent collection, set the scene; the map of Roman London, available to buy in the shop, is ideal for anyone wishing to set forth into the streets. The museum arranges tours of sites otherwise closed to the public, such as the fort gateway near London Wall car park, and the Lower Thames Street baths. It has also produced a Londinium app to guide users around Roman London:
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
. There are downloadable maps and leaflets at
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Collections-Research/Research/Your-Research/Londinium/Today/
.

The British Museum’s Roman Britain gallery holds important material relating to Roman London, including Fabius Alpinus Classicianus’s tombstone.

Only fragments of the Roman city wall (often medieval above the foundations) remain. A tract of it can be seen in London Wall car park, bay 52, near to the Museum of London. Alphage Gardens, near the Barbican, is cared for by the Corporation of London. It is a pleasant place to stop, sit, and admire the wall. A decent length is visible on Noble Street, and there is a chunk right next to Tower Bridge tube. A walk can be made of the entire circuit, guided by the Museum of London map. Imagination is necessary.

The remains of the Roman amphitheatre may be seen in the Guildhall Museum and Art Gallery (free):
www.guildhallartgallery.cityoflondon.gov.uk
. Don’t forget to look at the tiles in the courtyard that mark out the line of its perimeter.

The Bank of England Museum (free) has a Roman mosaic by the ticket desk, and the other mosaic in the basement can be visited by arrangement:
www.bankofengland.co.uk
.

A fragment of the basilica of the Roman bastion can be seen in the basement of Nicholson & Griffin hairdresser’s at 90 Leadenhall, during opening hours on request:
www.nicholsonandgriffin.com
.

The Mithraeum and the London Stone were, at the time of writing, awaiting their new London home, and not on public view.

Silchester is an atmospheric place to visit (free), and a stroll around the town walls is especially pleasant. Don’t miss the amphitheatre. In addition, each year the excavators from the University of Reading hold an open day. For information, news and a blog on the site and current archaeology, go to
www.silchester.rdg.ac.uk
.

Most of the finds from Silchester, including the bronze figure of Harpocrates and the eagle that inspired Rosemary Sutcliff, are in Reading Museum (free).

Wroxeter Roman City is in the care of English Heritage (entry charge; free for members), and has a small on-site museum. Do walk down to the village church, whose gate is supported on Roman pillars and whose font is a Roman column. It has a lovely Tudor tomb. There is also Roman masonry built into the walls.

More finds are at the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (free), housed in two seventeenth-century buildings:
www.shrewsburymuseums.com
.

Y Gaer: detailed directions and description of the site (free) can be found in Wilson’s
Guide to the Roman Remains in Britain
. The Brecknock Museum in Brecon, which houses the Maiden’s Stone and other Roman inscriptions and finds, was sadly closed to the public as this book went to press.

Caerleon: there is much to see (and for free) here: the remains of the Roman barracks, perhaps the most spectacular amphitheatre in Britain, and the baths complex. They are jointly managed by the National Museum of Wales and Cadw:
www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/roman/ruins
.

The National Roman Legion Museum based here (free) has an excellent collection:
www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/roman
.

While in the area, also think of visiting Caerwent, twelve miles away (mentioned in Chapter Eleven,
here
). The village is encircled by the Roman walls of the town of Isca Silurum (the capital of the Silures tribe). You can wander freely through the remains of its basilica and temple, and see an important Roman inscription in
the church porch. Carved Roman stone blocks are visible in the church walls.

Lydney Park Gardens, including the temple of Nodens, open to the public each spring (entry charge) to coincide with the flowering of the azaleas and rhododendrons. They also open on further selected days under the National Gardens Scheme. Highly recommended: it is an enchanting spot, and the family museum, with Roman finds from the temple site, is charming. Good cake, too. For details and future opening dates, go to
www.lydneyparkestate.co.uk
.

Maiden Castle: a walk up its windy heights is highly recommended. Hod Hill, nearby, is another Iron Age hill fort with Roman interventions and a beautiful view. Both can be visited at any reasonable time. (If you like an Iron Age hill fort, Hambledon Hill, opposite Hod Hill, is also lovely, with impressive earthworks, though nothing Roman.) Finds from Maiden Castle are housed in the Dorset County Museum (entry charge), Dorchester:
www.dorsetcountymuseum.org
.

A wander round the streets of Bath is always a pleasure: seek out Wood’s masterpieces, the Royal Crescent and Circus. As one of Britain’s most significant Roman sites, the Roman Baths are a must (entry charge). They have been recently refurbished:
www.roman-baths.co.uk
. After all that, tea in the elegant Pump Room above the Roman remains is recommended, and it would be churlish not to try a glass of the Bath water. It tastes so awful it must be doing you good.

For the full spa experience (entry charge), do visit the Thermae Baths Spa:
www.thermaebathspa.com
. Sessions of a minimum of two hours can be bought (no pre-booking, except for treatments and special packages).

Individual sites can be enjoyably visited along Hadrian’s Wall, but by far the most rewarding thing to do is to walk it end to end (about six days’ walking), or at least the bulk of it that lies between the train stations at Newcastle and Carlisle. Traditionally, walkers go east to west, following the direction of the first pilgrimage in 1849. We did
it the other way around. At the Newcastle end, the trail veers away from the route of the wall and takes you along the banks of the Tyne, meaning, if you do it our way, a dramatic descent into the city beneath the beautiful bridges.

The best information to help you plan a walk along all or part of the wall is found at
www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall
. One of its features is an interactive map of accommodation, which we used to book B&Bs in advance. B&Bs we enjoyed included Greencarts Farm (the campsite is also good) and Matfen High House. The website also has details of bag-handling services, in case you don’t want to carry your own all the way. The B&B owners usually recommended pubs where we could get some supper. Sometimes they even gave us a lift to them. The website also provides details of various circular walks if you have only a day.

The Great North Museum (free) at Newcastle has the most important collection of inscriptions and sculptures from the wall:
www.twmuseums.org.uk/great-north-museum.html
. Also in Newcastle is Segedunum Roman Fort, with its reconstruction of a bathhouse (entry charge):
www.twmuseums.org.uk/segedunum
. At the other end, Tullie House Museum (free) at Carlisle has recently refurbished its Roman gallery:
www.tulliehouse.co.uk
. Near the centre of the wall are the privately run archaeological site of Vindolanda, where the writing tablets were excavated, and the Roman Army Museum (entry charges):
www.vindolanda.com
.

Chesters Roman Fort and Museum is a lovely site (entry charge; free to English Heritage members). Look out for the phallus sculpted into one of the paving stones. The bathhouse near the river is well worth seeing, and the museum, built by local antiquary John Clayton in the nineteenth century, is charming.

Further west, Housesteads, near the centre of the wall, and in a dramatic spot, is perhaps the best-preserved fort hereabouts, and has those Roman toilets that so interested me when I was twelve (entry charge; free to English Heritage and National Trust members). It has a new museum on site. Further west again, Birdoswald Roman Fort (entry charge; free to English Heritage members) is worth seeing. There is much more, including the temple at Brocolitia, the fort of Great Chesters (not to be confused with Chesters), various milecastles, etc., which can be seen as you go.