Pip had fun finding common place names and seeing their Roman counterpart, Gloucester was Glevum but London had kept its Roman heritage.
Tombstone Carving.
Domestic bowls and flagons.
Locks and bolts.
Pottery fragments including some Samian pottery from Gaul.
Animal bones.
Roman Cobbler.
The museum grounds are also home to a full time archaeological dig which involves students from the University of Central Lancashire. We were given a tour of the site and also had the opportunity to chat with one of the professors in charge of the dig:
That little black splodge in the middle of the sieve is in fact a Roman barley grain!
All samples are placed in this "washing machine." The silt and clay soil sinks to the bottom and the finds are caught in a very fine sieve.
Samples hung out to dry.
Fragments of animal bone and a Roman nail.
We concluded our trip with a visit to the church next door:
A prayer tree, Pip and I placed a leaf for Daddy :-)
We made it to the car just before the heavens opened!
A successful day :-)
12 comments:
I will show this to Miriam. We just read "Augustine Came to Kent." That was after the Romans had left, but it talks about all the Roman ruins the first missionaries found. A very good book. Have you ever read "Eagle of the Ninth"? I loved that one. You are so lucky to have Roman ruins around. When I was still in Bonn, I took my little brother Ulf and did a tour of the Roman Bonn. Bonn has many, many visible Roman ruins. Cologne has even more. Next time we are in Europe, we do have to look at some artifacts from before 1600! I love the archeological finds. At one point, I wanted to study archeology.
Have you ever been to the Roman baths in Bath? Those were quite impressive when we went.
The church looked quite old. Do you know when it was built?
What a fantastic day! I didn't know this museum even existed :)
How amazing to actually spend time on a real dig. I am going to show Dave because I think we need to follow in your foot steps and have a day here.
We were in Bath and Wells just after B was diagnosed with the type one when he was four, we managed the Cathedral but not the baths.
Dave reckons part of the church is Norman.
Yes it is definitely worth a visit and there is a nice pub in the village as well as a pottery barn and cafe X
What a beautiful photo of you and Pip! Looks like a very interesting day, especially the archaeological dig.
Yes it was a really good day and has sparked loads of questions and rabbit trails from Pip!
I only have a hazy memory of the cathedral, but I do remember the baths distinctly. I also remember how cold Bath was! Very windy.
It does look like it could be Norman.
this is just so exciting! how fun is it to study the romans and have the artifacts right there!?!
what a beautiful church!! and how special to add to the prayer tree xoxoxo
Hi Eva, this is Dave writing. Some sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Wilfrid%27s_Church,_Ribchester) suggest that the parts of the church date from the 13th Century, but I had a nice chat to one of active parishioners about the church and he told me that the tower is built on Roman ruins. Although that may only be heresay, given that the site is so full of Roman ruins, I would have thought it is highly likely.
Oh wow, it looks so interesting there and reminds me of Vindolanda in Northumberland too!!! Love it!
Lovely to see all your beautiful smiley faces too!xx
Hi Dave,
That sounded so interesting that I tried to find something out myself, especially because I read with Miriam in a book that many British churches were built on or from Roman ruins. I did find something about a Roman fort and the Ribchester Church here. So maybe the parishioner was right. Sometimes I wish stones could talk.
That looks like the perfect place to add to your learning about Romans! Love the picture of Dave and Pip :)
Post a Comment