The Antonine Wall at Bearsden

Having constructed Hadrian’s Wall the Romans then moved north into what we now know as Northumberland and souther Scotland with a new frontier along the Antonine Wall. This second century acquisition was relatively soon abandoned, but still left a number of archaeological remains. This includes the evidence of stone buildings at Bearsden, north west of Glasgow.

This site is described on Wikipedia at Bearsden

 and in an article from The National at How archaeologists digging in a back garden near Glasgow found a historic fort

Footprints from the past

We begin on the coast of Angus in Scotland where human and animal footprints dating from the late Iron Age or early Roman period were discovered and recorded at Lunan Bay which lies between Montrose at the north and Arbroath at the south.

Live Sxience reported the discovery at In a 'race against time,' archaeologists uncovered Roman-era footprints from a Scottish beach before the tide washed them away

More on a High Imperial Theme

A couple of months ago, I posted a thread on recent discoveries on Roman Imperial history. Since then, I have come across more online material about discoveries and new interpretations of archaeological material relating to the period. I am therefore going to post another slightly longer thread. By doing, so, it means it each particular topic gets a post of its own, but they are linked in a sequence which hopefully illuminates something of the history of the period. 

As with the previous postings I will start on the northern frontier of Roman Britannia with the tribes to the north, and what is now Scotland, and then move southwards across the country before moving to discoveries in western and central Europe, and ending up once again on the cultural frontier between Rome and both Egypt and Persia in the Levant.

 I hope the journey proves interesting to my readers.

Arguably the earliest surviving European handgun?

Live Science has a report about the discovery in Brandenburg of fragments of what may be the earliest known European gunpowder propelled handgun. The suggested date is that it was used during the siege of a nearby in 1390, almost a decade before what was thought to be the earliest evidence for such a weapon.These early hand guns or hand cannons had an inconsiderate habit of exploding, as evidenced by the fragments found on the battlefield of Towton from 1461.

The bronze fragments that have been recovered are illustrated in the article which can be seen at Europe's oldest handgun may date to 14th-century siege at German castle

The future for monastic life in France

 

The National Catholic Reporter has an article about the current state of enclosed monastic communities in France. The story begins with rumours and discussions about the future of the renowned Cistercian house of La Trappe, and documents a depressing story of decline and closure or relocation in other houses. 

However it also reports on the evidence in some cases of revival and new foundations in monasteries abandoned by their original communities. It is perhaps noteworthy, if not altogether surprising, that some of these new foundations are being established by Traditional  Latin Mass communities.

The article does not make for especially optimistic reading given the age of so many monks and nuns, but nevertheless does record some signs of hope. It is perhaps a parable for Lent, and something we should pray about.

The article can be read at After 900 years, monks of iconic French La Trappe Abbey consider leaving historic monastery

   

My only real experience of contemporary French monasticism was when I stayed at Bec in 2004. This sizeable community is relatively new, established somewhat surprisingly at the behest of the French state which still  owns the handsome seventeenth and eighteenth century claustral buildings and the late-medieval detached bell tower - the earlier medieval church was blown up in the years after the very regrettable events of 1789. The secular republic offered it to monks from another community who established a very successful abbey. At the time I visited it had a lot of young men who gave the impression of stability and seriousness. I hope that continues to be the case.

The Restoration of the South Tower at Wentworth Woodhouse

 I have posted several times about the ongoing program of conservation and restoration at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire. This is a huge task given the size of the house, and also the condition into which much of it has fallen. It is also very inspiring, to see the rescue of a building of such importance that came perilously close to being lost forever, and also, that it engages craftsman and craftswomen in restoring a building, using the techniques, with which it was built.

One of the current projects Is the restoration of the Siuth Tower of the East Front - famous for being the longest frontage of any house in the country.

The project is partially funded by the Landmark Trust, And upon completion, it will be possible to book via the Truat to stay in what once the self-contained drawing room of the second Marchioness of Rockingham. 

The Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust

has a video about the history of the Tower, which can be seen at The Story of the South Tower at Wentworth Woodhouse

BBC News also has a report about the project which can be seen at Tower is new focus of historic Wentworth Woodhouse restoration

There is another feature about the plans which can be seen at Layers of history peeled back to reveal past of hidden gem

Biodiversity, pollen and the Black Deatg

The Conversation has an interesting article which links modern concerns with historic events by looking at the vidence of the impact of the Black Death on biodiversity in the rural environment. The results are perhaps surprising, and maybe cautionary. 

The article can be read at The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity

Linked to it is an article from 2022 which I think I have shared before on this blog, but which is worth sharing again. This also looks at plant based evidence from lakes and wetlands in the form of pollen to attempt to identify regional variations across Europe in the impact of the Black Death, and suggests some significant localising features.

The research is outlined at The Black Death was not as widespread or catastrophic as long thought – new study

In addition to these two scientific studies using microscopic evidence there is new archaeological evidence about the pandemic with the identification of one of twelve plague burial pits recorded as being dug around the German city of Erfurt. This discovery is reported by the Daily Galaxy in Discovered After 700 Years, Archaeologists Found a Massive Pit in Germany Full of Human Remains

Medieval Norwegian life

Writing my post the other day about medieval Norwegian stave churches has prompted me to put together into one post a number of links to recent discoveries from the medieval era in Norway.

First of all there was was the publication of evidence gleaned from a skeleton discovered in 1938 beneath stones and boulders in a well at Sverresborg castle near Trondheim. This has been shown to date from the later twelfth century and to confirm an account of the siege of the castle in  1197. One army threw a dead body into the well to poison the water supply by a form of germ warfare.

The analysis was reported upon by the Daily Telegraph in Norse legend could be proved true by 900-year-old body found in castle well and by the Independent in Remains of mysterious Norse ‘well man’ reveals secrets of medieval biological warfare

Sverresborg is close to Trondheim and the Nidaros cathedral, the historic ecclesiastical centre and coronation church of Norway. Recent research on the octagon built over and around the shrine of the national patron St Olav is outlined in an article from Medievalists.net which can be seen at The Strange Medieval Sculptures of Nidaros Cathedral

There is a report from last year about significant discovery of leather goods from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the harbour at Oslo during redevelopment work. These include shoes, bags and scabbards, which have been preserved in the mud. The article from Live Science can be viewed at Thousands of leather shoes, bags and sword scabbards discovered during dig in medieval harbor in Norway

Another discovery of great and wider significance is what is thought to be the oldest surviving book in Norway. It is a small hymn book dated to about 1200 which had survived at a farm near Bergen. It is now held by the National Library and designated the Haganes Codex.

It is discussed on the History Blog at Rare furry sealskin manuscript may be Norway’s oldest book

There are also two videos about the book, which can be seen at Extraordinary sealskin manuscript may be Norway's oldest book and at Norway's Oldest Book

The book would clearly have been in the hands of medieval Norwegians, which links neatly to a ring from the era which has been discovered in recent excavations in Tønsberg, the oldest city in the country.

The ring, which, from its size, appears to have been made for a woman, was discovered at Tønsberg. The layer below which it was found is dated to 1167-1269. The ring may actually date from the tenth or eleventh centuries. This argument is based on stylistic similarities to examples from an England and Denmark. The ring is illustrated and discussed by Heritage Daily at Pristine medieval gold ring discovered in Tønsberg.

The ring is also discussed in a report from Popular Mechanics but illustrated by a bought-in generic image. The article can be read at Archaeologists Uncovered a Rare Medieval Ring—With Mystical Implications

Conserving Norwegian Stave Churches

Medievalists.net has a report about a substantial government grant in Norway to conserve a number of the country’s distinctive medieval stave churches. As the article points out these churches are unique survivals in the country, without parallel elsewhere.

The report can be accessed at Norway Invests Millions to Preserve Its Medieval Stave Churches 

I believe I am correct in saying that where the account refers to tar it does not mean the sticky black gloop we refer to as bitumen and associate with road building, but rather to Baltic or pine tar. This is made from pine trees and used as a sealant and preservative on ships an and timber buildings for centuries. It is brushed on and provides a varnish-like coating that protects the wood from decay. It also emits a distinctive pine aroma.

With regard to stave churches I recall attending one of Martin Biddle’s archaeological seminars in Oxford where we were shown the very simple stone foundation footprint of a stave church that had been destroyed in the nineteenth century alongside an architectural drawing of the lost church. The point was that such a simple foundation could support so wonderfully elaborate a structure as the church had been, and that the ability of craftsmen in wood needs to be borne in mind when interpreting surviving archeological remains. A simple footprint does not necessarily mean a simple superstructure.

Reassessing Fr Fortescue

Dr Peter Kwasniewski has an excellent article on the website of the New Liturgical Movement In it re gives a charitable but incisive assessment of the work of Fr Adrian Fortescue on the history of the Roman Mass. Arguing that more recent scholarship has done much to revise significant errors in Fr Fortescue’s work, errors which have had regrettable consequences amongst modern liturgists.*

Dr Kwasniewski also provides an indicator of which books one should read so as to understand the origins and development, or otherwise, of the Roman Rite.

He also commends other works by Fortescue which have not ceased to be of use to students and scholars.

The article can be read at On the Roman Mass, Don’t Take Your Cue from Fortescue 

* “What’s the difference between a terrorist and a liturgist? You can negotiate with a terrorist”

Wuthering Heights Revisited

 

Even before, let alone since, the release of Ms Emerald Fennell's film “Wuthering Heights” there has been a flurry of activity on the Internet with posts about the film alongside mainstream articles in the press. Most of these have ranged between the scathing and the excoriating. They almost read as if we had been presented with “Carry On Wuthering Heights”. 

An attempt at a balanced overview can be seen from the excellent History Calling at Why you shouldn’t watch Wuthering Heights and why you should | Cathy and Heathcliff movie revie, but that is still far from glowing in its assessment.

The film is, of course, Ms Fennell’s adaptation ( and that word is important in the context of the film ) of the late Miss Emily Brontë’s everyday story of farming folk set in the Yorkshire Dales in the years 1770 to 1801. Often described, as it is by Ms Fennell, as a great, or even the greatest love story, it is, in fact no such thing, as is made clear in a good video about the family which can be viewed at Wuthering Heights Was Never a Love Story | The Brilliant Bronte Sisters

It is a bleak story of revenge and retribution. One does rather begin to wonder what was going on in the mind of the author as the daughter of a clergyman of the established Church. Amongst the comments on the online videos about the new film one contributor quoted a tutor who described it as a story of some mentally ill people sexing their way through a property dispute. Very romantic.

Now I must confess that I have never read the novel, but the raised interest online has led me to do some wider research on the Brontës and their lives and literary output. 

I have visited Haworth once and would recommend anyone interested to do so. The family home at the parsonage is very well worth visiting and to experience this relatively cramped house which in the 1840s was gone to so much literary talent. The village is picturesque in a dour Pennine way. The literary pilgrim can walk west from the village to the remains of Top Withins, which is widely believed to be the location for the imagined Wuthering Heights. There is a helpful video about the walk and the ruins at The Problem With The 'Wuthering Heights' Ruin

Top Withins may be an only a ruin but nothing, alas, remains of High Sunderland Hall, which lay just outside Halifax, some miles to the south of Haworth but known to the Brontës. This architecturally important building with its likely literary connections to their novels, was demolished in 1951. One would hope that such a loss would not occur today. Wikipedia has an illustrated account of the house at High_Sunderland_Hall

Like I suspect quite a number of people my view of the Brontës and their works is somewhat coloured by reading Stella Gibbons’ marvellous Cold Comfort 

Farm with Mr Mybug and his theories about the Brontë family, as well as the late, great Michael Wharton’s ‘Peter Simple’ column in the Daily Telegraph with its character Julian Birdbath living in a disused lead mine in Derbyshire whilst he researches his life of the tweed suited and pope-smoking lost Brontë sister Doreen….

More recently the Radio 4 comedy series about literary  Before they were Famous ‘unearthed’the fact that Wuthering Heights originated with a gardening column contributed by Emily Brontë to a local Keighley newspaper ….

In other words I am not in awe of the tropes and themes, the sweep and scope of such fiction - sometimes described as ‘loan and love-child’ stories.

 

I come from the lowland, not the Pennine part, of the West Riding, but my paternal ancestors lived from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries in an area very similar to Haworth, but about thirty five miles to the south and on the Yorkshire-Lancashire county boundary, so I have perhaps some genetic awareness of the power of such a landscape and social setting.

With that in mind and as an historian approaching what I know about the adaptation that has created this film there is quite a lot to criticise.

First of all I do not like adaptations that diverge unnecessarily from the text. Constraints of time and cost will often require some consolidation - not everything can be like the television version of Brideshead Revisited- but fidelity to the text should always be a principle, and a dominating one.

Secondly there should be authenticity to the era presented in matters such as location and costume. This film appears to pay scant regard with dresses from a later period and even, apparently, made of plastic(!). In some images Margot Robbie looks like Disney’s Snow White. Ms Fennell did not manage to include the Seven Dwarfs apparently.

Thirdly, and even more grating, is colour-blind casting, which simply looks like heavy handed DEI pressure. Ironically the casting of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff has been stigmatised as ‘white washing’. Heathcliff is meant to be an outsider, distinctively so, but Emily Brontë appears to have been unclear in what way he is meant to be “other”.  Is he to be seen as of part Mediterranean, Arab, Sephardic, Gypsy, Indian or Black heritage? Given the textual evidence and the stamp Olivier put on the part Mr Elordi with his own Iberian heritage seems quite credible. Miss Brontë was not writing about twenty-first century ‘multiculturalism’.

In conclusion reading about the film reminds me of a conversation I had some years ago with a fellow son of the West Riding in Oxford. My friend opined that people in southern England thought that the long-running television series Last of the Summer Wine was a comedy programme but that we knew it was in fact a fly-on-the-wall documentary….. That principle might, I suggest, be applied to Ms Fennell’s film somewhat along the following lines when conversing with the unwary or uninitiated….

“Well ya maight think yer like it but don’t you go nah think in’ it’s sum fancy made-up tail. That’s ‘ow it is oop heer, wi’ driving rain and storms all’t time, and nowt but sheep and people tha’ ates, an that’s on a gud day. Don’t you be coming wi them fancy la-di-da southern notions. It’s tuff oop here, always was, always will be. Nowt but drudgery. But ‘appen it’s gud for them’s as can bear it”

*This post has not been sponsored by any Yorkshire Tourist Board but is written by One Who Knows

The wall paintings at Sutton Bingham

A few days ago I wrote about the conservation of the little known medieval wall paintings at Ickleton in Cambridgeshire in Conserving the twelfth century wall paintings at Ickleton church

I have now come across a video about another little known series - well to me at least - dating from the beginning of the fourteenth century. They are in the church of All Saints at Sutton Bingham on the boundary of Somerset and Dorset. They were rediscovered in the 1860s.

The church itself is just a nave and chancel dating to the twelfth and thirteenth century, but with a fine Norman chancel arch. This was clearly not a wealthy parish but one which did commission a fine set of paintings in the years around or after 1300. One, which the presenter of the video pays particular attention to, is of the Dormition of the Virgin. This rarely survives as an image in this country, and may indeed have been unusual before the defacing and obliteration of such worths by mid-sixteenth century fanatics. The apparent rarity of the subject suggests that a small and remote village could still be connected to a much wider spiritual and cultural milieu.

The video can be viewed at The Reformation Tried to Erase These: A Glimpse of One of England's Rarest Wall Paintings!

More medieval vegetables

Almost a year ago I posted a link to a video about vegetables that were once widely cultivated or gathered and which contributed to the diet of the many, but which you would not find in the modern supermarket or even specialist greengrocers. If you want them you have to go and grow or gather them yourself . That post and link can be seen at Medieval vegetables we have lost

I have now found another similar video which outlines the properties and potential of a number of these plants, and which it might well be interesting to sample.  This video is, despite its rather sensationalist title, is worth watching and can be seen at 7 BANNED Medieval Vegetables Big Agriculture Wants To Erase

King John and his jewellery

Medievalists.net has an extremely interesting article about King John and his love of both ceremonial and personal jewellery, including pieces that were talismans.

The article can be read at The Magical Gemstones of King John of England

There is more about the King, his appearance, his possessions, his clothes, his court, and the cultural milieu he inhabited in an online article from 2015 which can be read at KING JOHN'S BLING

On the basis of this evidence the loss of his baggage train in The Wash in 1216 must have been all the more destabilising for an already sick man.

His love of jewellery is indicated clearly in the effigy created a few years after his death in his beloved Worcester Cathedral where he had requested burial. If one mentally fills the depressions in his crown and collar with paste stones one can begin to envisage how the effigy once looked and, by extension, what the King looked like in life.

King John 

A detail from his funerary effigy in Worcester Cathedral. Image: copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral 

More Medieval Maps

Earlier this month I posted The earliest surviving maps of Great Britain linking to an online article about early maps of Britain.

I have now found another online article from Rare Historical Photos about maps of the world from late antiquity through to the seventeenth century. A number are schematic like the Hereford Mappa Mundi from the early fourteenth century. Others however are concerned to give as accurate a cartographic representation of the world as the mapmakers could. Looking at the various maps serves as a reminder of how much was known long before we might think, and that for centuries people understood the earth far better than more modern writers have assumed and claimed.

The online article can be seen at Ancient Maps That Reveal How Our Ancestors Imagined the World

Conserving the twelfth century wall paintings at Ickleton church

The BBC News website has a report about the restoration of the impressive remains of a cycle of wall paintings in the church at Ickleton in south Cambridgeshire. They were only rediscovered during cleaning following a fire in 1979, which means they and the church are not necessarily included in many established books on medieval churches and their decoration. 

The Wikipedia entry for the church indeed quotes Pevsner as lamenting that this important church is not better known for its Norman work. That article can be seen at St_Mary_Magdalene_Church,_Ickleton

The illustrated report on the current conservation work can be seen at Ickleton's rare Norman church frescoes secure conservation funds

The fate of Queen Mary I’s episcopate

I have no wish to be vainglorious, but readers may be interested to see an article that I have written, which has been published in the latest edition of the Latin Mass Society magazine Mass of Ages. Entitled ‘Deprived and Imprisoned’ it looks the fate of the surviving Marian bishops after 1559, And seeks to correct the impression that one often sees in history books that the deprived bishops simply faded away in discreet retirement on their family estates. This was not the case, as they were imprisoned and indeed some faced the possibility of execution. Two managed to escape abroad, but one of them died soon afterwards. The long and tedious years of imprisonment gradually took its toll. They are not men who are particularly held in remembrance, and I hope that the article might help rectify that omission.

Mass of Ages can be found in all good Catholic churches, and is free. The magazine can be accessed directly online and can be downloaded as a PDF.

The article is on page 31, following a reprint of the Daily Telegraph obituary of Fr Ray Blake, whom I had the privilege of meeting on several occasions.

Sagrada Familia nears completion

The new rival to Cologne Cathedral and Ulm Minster, and to the former claim of Lincoln Cathedral, to be the tallest churches in the world is, of course, Antonio Gaudi’s astonishing Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. 

In recent days the basilica’s central tower and spire were completed when the cross was placed on top of the Jesus tower. There remains another decade to work to finish the decoration and details of a building whose foundation stone was laid in 1882. At 566 feet the spire is the tallest in the world - but even then just possibly lower than that which once crowned Lincoln Cathedral.

There is a good video about Sagrada Familia, its architect Gaudi, and the travails faced by the builders during the horrors of the Spanish Civil Wat - building so great a statement of faith in anarchist Catalonia was likely to attract hostility and violence.

As a boy I remember having books in which one pasted pictures of other countries, and a recurring image was of the one completed facade of this extraordinary looking building. I am grateful for having lived to see the verge of its completion, and to do so as a Catholic.

The video about it can be viewed at Sagrada Familia Finally Nears Completion After 144 Years

Surveying the graffiti of Lincoln Cathedral

Just before Christmas the BBC News website reported on an ongoing project at Lincoln Cathedral to find and record the medieval and later graffiti in the building. These date from the fourteenth century onwards and are both sacred and secular in their intention. More than eight thousand have been identified and the survey is by no means complete.

The report can be seen at Extent of  Lincoln Cathedral graffiti revealed

This online visit to Lincoln leads rather neatly into my next post. When some of these graffiti were made Lincoln Cathedral was, whether people who saw it knew or not, the tallest building hitherto built in the world. From 1311 until a storm blew it down in 1548 the central tower - itself the tallest in the country - supported a timber and lead spire which overtopped all others. Often claimed to have been 584 feet high, but almost certainly somewhat less because of physical limitations, maybe 560 feet, it was not exceeded in height until the completion of the Washington monument in Washington DC in 1884, the same decade in which it was rivalled by the completion of Cologne Cathedral and Ulm Minster. Now it has a new rival …

Symbolism and preparation for the Westminster installation

Following on from my recent post about the inauguration Mass for Archbishop Moth’s ministry at Westminster Cathedral I have now found an online video about the preparations for the day, and in particular about many of the items used. These include more images and more information about the amethyst cope morse, the crosier and the chalice used for the celebration of the Mass, and the symbolism of the altar and the Archiepiscopal throne, the cathedra which gives the name of cathedral to every episcopal church. 

As I said in my previous post, and as this video stresses much more emphatically, they all stress the inherent unity of the Catholic Church from the Apostolic Age onwards, and its inherent unity, despite so much upheaval and suffering from just after the chalice was made to the calmer times of the restoration of the Hierarchy and the building of Westminster Cathedral, in England.

The video can be viewed at From Crozier to Cathedra: The Installation of Westminster’s 12th Archbishop

The evolution of Ash Wednesday

The New Liturgical Movement has an excellent article today about the evolution and development of the historic liturgy of Ash Wednesday from the time of St Gregory the Great. It also has a useful note about the development of processions on certain other feast days, although Ash Wednesday lost this particular element in the later medieval period.

The article can be accessed at Liturgical Notes on Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday and T.S.Eliot

Today being Ash Wednesday seems a very good occasion on which to share an article from the Daily Telegraph by Christopher Howse. In it he writes about T.S. Eliot’s set of six poems, written in 1927 and published as “Ash Wednesday” in 1930. It is often seen as Eliot’s “conversion” piece, written when he became an Anglo-Catholic. As the article points out many critics in 1930 missed many of the liturgical allusions in the text, let alone how many would miss them today, which is a depressing commentary on the state of our society.

The text of the poem can be found online, and there are a number of online videos about it. 

Howse’s article can be read at Sacred Mysteries: The churchgoers’ secret to T S Eliot’s ‘Ash Wednesday’

Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, a day which in addition to its place in the liturgical calendar has acquired over the centuries both in Britain and Europe a wide selection of customs and practices. Some, such as the consumption of foods not officially sanctioned in Lent in pancakes might be deemed para-liturgical. Others such as barely controlled and rowdy football and related games were an opportunity for the young men and boys of a village to let off steam before Lenten sobriety took over.

Many of these have doubtless been completely lost as demographic change took place, but, happily, some still survive. I wrote about these, drawing upon and linking to previous posts, last year in Shrovetide celebrations

I have not seen anything new about these old traditions this year, but I did come upon a video from the always excellent and well researched Tasting History series from 2020 about the history of pancakes. It involves a recipe from 1658 for cooking them. It can be viewed at The Wonderful History of Pancakes.

The Installation Mass of the Archbishop of Westminster

Two days ago, Westminster Cathedral witnessed the Installation Mass of the new Archbishop of Westminster.

I do regret the contemporary choice of terminology - a canon of a cathedral is installed by the being physically placed into his stall in the cathedral choir, a bishop or archbishop is enthroned by being placed into his throne. That is a central part of the ceremony which is involved in such an occasion. Words have a meaning, and the meaning is patently clear.

It is, no doubt, a sign of the times that such a service is not broadcast by national television, as was that for the consecration and installation of Basil Hume in 1976. However, modern technology does mean that institutions can produce their own videos and this has been done by Westminster Cathedral. This full length coverage of the liturgy and ceremonies can be seen at THE INSTALLATION OF THE 12TH ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER : Mass 12 noon Westminster Cathedral

The Zenit website has a report about the events, and includes interesting details about the form of the service, the vestments and the principal chalice used by the Archbishop - all of which link to the pre-reformation era. Although the article does not mention it the spectacular amethyst encrusted morse worn by the Archbishop to fasten his cope is part of the nineteenth century heritage of the Archdiocese. I think it is normally on display in the Cathedral Treasury.

The illustrated article can be seen at This is how the inauguration of the new Catholic Archbishop of Westminster went

Let us pray for the new Archbishop in the discharge of his office and responsibilities.

The Spire Project

Another friend sent me today this online article from Psephizo about the virtue-signalling Church Commissioners Spire Project for slave trade reparations.

Anyone who follows the news will be aware that this scheme has attracted a lot of grass roots criticism both for its effect on the funding of the Church of England at national and, more particularly, at parish level, and because of the secrecy which has surrounded the decision-making process. This week these matters were being raised in the General Synod, with the Bishop of Salisbury, as Deputy Chairman of the Church Commissioners trying to bat them away whilst giving no new information.

The whole project is indicative of the woke state of mind of the leadership of the CofE these days under its ‘Most Reverend Mother in God’ [sic], the one-time national District Nurse.

The very basis of the whole scheme is effectively deconstructed - not least in demonstrable historical errors - in a set of linked pieces in the article I was sent, and which can be seen at The problems with the C of E’s ‘reparations’ project (‘Spire’)

Restoring the Palace of Westminster

A friend shared with me an incisive and provocative article about the ‘Restoration and Renewal’ project for the Palace of Westminster. Written by Nicholas Boys Smith and published online by The Critic it can be read at Call for the King | Nicholas Boys Smith | The Critic Magazine

Well worth looking at.

British Museum secures Tudor locket

Art Net and the BBC News website reported the good news this morning that the British Museum has raised the funds to acquire for the nation the gold heart-shaped locket which celebrates the then seemingly happy marriage of King HenryVIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon. Thought to date from 1518, and to have been a commemorative piece from a jousting contest, the locket and chain were found by a metal detector in 2019.

 

The BBC News article is longer and more detailed with some excellent detailed images. It can be seen at British Museum to keep pendant linked to Henry VIII after campaign

The Art Net illustrated article about this rare survival, with its insights into the court culture of the early years of the reign, can be seen at British Museum Raises $4.8 Million to Snag Rare Tudor Pendant

The articles list some of the prominent contributors to the purchase fund, but it is significant that there were so many private contributors - 45,000 - like myself who gave small donations to save the locket.

The earliest surviving maps of Great Britain

Medievalists.net recently had a handsomely illustrated post on their weekly bulletin about the earliest surviving maps of Great Britain dating from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries. Two, that created by Matthew Paris in the mid-thirteenth century and the Gough Map, which these days is dated to the early fifteenth century, are well known, but others are little known and are worthy of consideration. Perhaps surprisingly it does not include the Hereford Mappa Mundi which is usually date to the end of the thirteenth century or soon after. However that map has little information about the island. It is both discussed and illustrated on Wikipedia at Hereford_Mappa_Mundi

The illustrated article can be seen at Medieval Maps of Britain

Evidence for the attempted assassination of Prince Charles Edward in 1746

The Daily Telegraph carried a story yesterday which reinforces the claim of an attempt to assassinate Prince Charles Edward in January 1746. At the time the Prince had been taken ill and was staying at Bannockburn House whilst his troops besieged Stirling Castle. Local legend has preserved the story of an attempt to shoot the Prince whilst he was confined to through a window, although there is no contemporary written evidence of such an attempt.

Last year evidence of a bullet hole or musket shot was found in the wall of the room the Prince is believed to have occupied and now it has been announced that conservation work on the bed has revealed in the headboard the remains of a projectile shot. Whilst not absolute proof it does make the traditional story look more probable.

The illustrated article can be read at Bonnie Prince Charlie survived assassination attempt from bed

Wikipedia has an account of the house and its history at Bannockburn_House

There is a video about the specific scanning project which revealed the pistol or musket ball which can be viewed at A Hidden Bullet and a Bed of Secrets: Bannockburn House Discovery Brings Jacobite History to Life

An Anglican reconstruction of the Sarum liturgy of Candlemas

A few days ago I chanced upon an online video of a reconstruction by Antiquum Documentum of the Mass for Candlemas according to the Use of Sarum.

This was recorded at the church of St Bartholomew the Great Smithfield. The homily from John Mirk’s Festiale, a collection of model sermon texts dating from about 1380, is read by my old Oriel friend, Marcus Walker, who is now the Rector of the church.

Wikipedia has a lengthy account if what little is known of the life of the Augustinian Mirk, a canon of Lilleshall in Shropshire, and of his guides for parish priests, which can be seen at John_Mirk

The video of the service at St Bartholomew’s can be viewed at Mass & Procession According to the Use Of Sarum | Antiquum Documentum at St Bartholomew the Great

Candlemas reflections

Today is Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

I have written in previous years that Candlemas is a feast for which I have a particular affection. There are three basic reasons for this.

Firstly, when I was to an Anglican in my home parish the new Vicar started observing the feast as part of the regular calendar of the parish year. I was charmed by the liturgy, and also by the way in which links Christmas with all its symbolism of light, and Easter with its emphasis on the light of the Resurrection. 

Secondly, when I went to Oriel, I found that Candlemas was the principal College feast of the year. This is probably because it is the only feast of Our Lady which falls in termtime, and which the House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford could celebrate together. It is marked by a candlelit Evensong in the Chapel, followed by a celebratory Dinner in Hall. My first year, for the service we were given candles, without candle guards, being assured that they were non-drip. I thought about that ruefully as I took my suit to the cleaners, the next day to get rid of all the accumulated wax from the previous evening…. The following year as Head Bible Clerk I made sure we had the cardboard guards.

Thirdly, when I started attending The Oxford Oratory, I found that Saint John Henry Newman established it in England on the Feast of Candlemas in 1848. This must reflect the fact that he chose the Oratory as a structure for his future ministry because it most resembled the structure of Oxford collegiate life which, in his case, would have meant Oriel. I also found that, like myself, Saint John Henry had seen the symbolism or Christmas linking to Easter in the hymn he wrote for Candlemas which is always sung at the Oxford Oratory on this day.

This year I see that the New Liturgical Movement has a detailed study on their website about the celebration of the feast. This concentrates on the five prayers made over the candles used in the procession at the beginning of the liturgy and their relationship to the five Books of Moses. It also looked at the parallels with the Byzantine rite. The article is well worth reading and can be accessed at The Five Prayers of the Candlemas Blessing and the Five Books of Moses

A happy and joyful Candlemas to all my readers.

Septuagesima and beyond

Looking back at what I have written in previous years about Septuagesima and the pre-Lenten season I found that two years ago I had gathered the links to these together in a single article. This provides access to my previous posts about both the liturgical

marking of the change in the calendar and to others about how we should use the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. 

That combined post can be accessed at Burying the ‘A word’ and Septuagesima

So whether you have buried the ‘A word’ tonight or are waiting until Shrove Tuesday may I wish my readers a prayerful and fruitful gesima season and reflection on the observance of Lent.

Restoring the historic environment in Wiltshire

Two linked articles on the BBC News website cover stories about restoring the historic natural environment. 

The first is about an initiative in Swindon by a local councillor to plant saplings of the Black Poplar in his ward. The tree is now a rarity in England as the conditions for its successful propagation and growth have declined yet it was once a frequently recurring feature in wet lowland areas. Thanks to books such as the late Oliver Rackham’s splendid and stimulating Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape and his History of the Countryside we are more aware of our ancient woodlands. There have also been moves to restore, regenerate and recreate these historic locations and foster them for their wider environmental impact. 

The article about the Swindon initiative can be seen at Joining the mission to save Britain's rarest tree

Linked to it in the report is one of an ornithological success in the same county of Wiltshire in the reintroduction of the Great Bustard to Salisbury Plain. This ongoing project seems now to be establishing breeding pairs literally on the ground in Cranborne Chase. The article can be read at Bustards nest found in Cranborne Chase for first time

Identifying the lost grave of Ivarr the Boneless?

The BBC News website has a report today about an archaeologist who believes he has identified on the Cumberland coast the ship burial grave of the Viking leader Ivarr the Boneless who is believed to have died in 873. A leader of the Great Heathen Army which invaded Northumbria in 865-867 Ivarr led his troops into East Anglia and Mercia, overthrowing the local kingdoms, leaving only Wessex as an independent Anglo-Saxon realm, and ruled from 871 by the young King Alfred the Great. Ivarr may have also ruled a kingdom based in Ireland.

The reputed burial site, at an undisclosed location near the coast, is surrounded by other burials, which suggests that this was indeed in the necropolis of a major figure.

The article about the site, with illustrations of ship nails found there in preliminary survey work can be seen at Cumbria hill could hold grave of Viking king Ivarr the Boneless

Wikipedia has a useful and nuanced article about Ivarr, and his intriguing nick-name at Ivar_the_Boneless

This would appear to be an archaeological site with great potential if the theory as to its occupants is correct.

To end on a slightly facetious note, if this is the burial place of Ivarr the Boneless then his skeleton is not going to be found….

Ven. Mary Ward

 

The Catholic World Report has an article today about Venerable Mary Ward ( 1585-1645 ) the Yorkshire born 
recusant pioneer in educating girls and in developing an un-enclosed Order for women. Controversial both during her life and after her death, she is far better known on the continent than in her home country. She died on this day in 1645 at Heworth outside York. The city was under siege at the time and she was buried in the nearby churchyard at Osbaldwick.

The Catholic World Report article makes a good case for a sensible understanding of this clearly determined Catholic Yorkshirewoman and it can be read at The truth about Venerable Mary Ward, proto-religious sister and future Saint

I would recommend also reading in conjunction with it the Wikipedia account of her which gives more detail and context for her remarkable life, such as having three uncles involved in the Gunpowder Plot and walking several times to Rome to defend her ideas before the Pope and Cardinals. It can be accessed at Mary_Ward_(nun)

Venerable Mary Ward pray for us

Remembering King Charles the Martyr

Today is the 376th anniversary of the regicide of King Charles I in 1649.   

King Charles I during his trial in 1649

A portrait by Edward Bower circa 1650

Image: Baldwin.co.uk

The Society of King Charles the Martyr and the Royal Martyr Church Union, many High Anglican and Anglo-Catholic churches and foundations, as well as Civil War re-enactment groups will be holding services and commemoration ceremonies today and over this coming weekend.

Looking online I found on the Project Canterbury website the text of a booklet about the Royal Martyr and his cult published by SKCM, which appears to date from the 1930s. It can be read here

St Mary Graces Abbey in London

The continuing and still unresolved saga of the proposed conversion of the former Royal Mint and the modern development around it on Tower Hill into 
the largest embassy in Europe for the Chinese government has attracted no small amount of coverage in the media. If I were to express an opinion it would be against allowing it to go forward and maybe the local residents will be successful in their legal challenge. 

However whatever happens there should be in the basement not just the much publicised Secret Room but another feature of interest to people like myself and the readers of this blog. Under the design proposed for the new Embassy there will be in the basement access to and interpretation of the surviving foundations of the Cistercian abbey of St Mary Graces. This was founded in the mid-fourteenth century by King Edward III in the aftermath of the Black Death and was the last house of the Order to be founded in the country before the suppression of the monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII.

There is an online article about the proposal from the very helpful ianvisits.co.uk which  can be seen at London’s new Chinese embassy will include a free museum displaying the ruins of a medieval abbey

Presumably, if they Embassy plans fail to materialise whoever ends up managing the site will open it as a portion of the heritage of London, and particularly of the area around The Tower.

Professor David Abulafia

I was very sorry to hear today of the death yesterday of Professor David Abulafia. In recent years he has been best known for his studies of the relationship between humanity and the sea, but I instinctively think of his biography of the Emperor Frederick II.

The one time I heard him lecture was in Oxford about a topic covered in that book, the Islamic colony the Emperor created for his Islamic subjects at Lucera.

His biography Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor is both academic and readable, and sees the Emperor not as a medieval ‘New Man’ or indeed ‘Superhero’ in the tradition of Ernst Kantorowicz or Thomas Curtis van Cleve, but rather as a man of his time and status, with all that says about the rich variety of the thirteenth century, about Imperial and Sicilian courts and claims, about rulership and politics. It makes perfect sense rather than seeking to depict a man out of his times.

In recent years Prof Abulafia has been a notable critic of alarming trends in academia and a champion of academic freedom of expression. Both for that and his work as a historian he will be sadly missed.

The Daily Telegraph obituary of him can now be read at David Abulafia, outstanding historian and latterly fearless critic of woke academe

King Louis XVI - remembrance and commemoration

King Louis XVI

Image: Turtledove Wiki

This past week has seen a number of Masses and other events in France to mark the anniversary of the regicide of King Louis XVI on January 21st 1793.

There is a video of the Solemn Requiem celebrated at the church of St Eugène et Ste Cécile in Paris on the anniversary which can be seen at Messe solennelle de Requiem pour Louis XVI - REQUIEM ÆTERNAM

This is a regular feature of the liturgical calendar of this centre for liturgical and musical excellence, and I have linked in previous years to such celebrations.

The website Les Lys de France has a list of all such liturgical commemorations being held over the week and it can be seen at Messes pour Louis XVI et pour la famille royale – Les Lys de France

The website appears to be a useful resource for anyone interested in French royalism and I have signed up to it.

The Mass at the Chapelle Expiatoire - usually the liturgical focus of the Legitimist Anjou Royalists for this anniversary, and the Duke is shown arriving and leaving - is featured on X  by the well known Irish Catholic journalist Mary Kenny at Mary Kenny (@MaryKenny4)

Finally I came across an article by the indefatigable American Traditionalist Catholic and Monarchist Charles A. Coulombe which reflects upon the January anniversaries of King Louis XVI and King Charles I.

It can be read at Two Murdered Kings in January

Vive le Roi!

Oriel - restoration and renewal

Whilst preparing my post yesterday about the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Oriel College by King Edward II I came upon an online feature by the people who had carried out the very impressive renovation of the College Hall and Chapel in advance of the anniversary.

The range which contains the Hall and Chapel dates from the 1620s and 1630s and, as part of a building which has been continuously occupied and used has seen many changes. The Chapel as we see it now is the result of a late nineteenth century realignment of the west end. The Hall was remodelled in the time of Queen Anne and again in 1911 by Ninian Comper, followed by the introduction of the splendid stained glass with its fine heraldry in the inter-war years.

Under the new scheme the kitchens have been completely replaced, and revealing significant evidence in their foundations of the early defences of Anglo-Saxon Oxford. The rather tired looking entrance and screens passage has been redesigned in a sympathetic way. The Hall has lost its slight sense of faded splendour, having had its panelling cleaned and lightened, the Comper cresting painted to bring out the heraldic and monogram features, and the portraits rearranged and rehung. I see that St John Henry Newman now has pride of place behind the Provost’s chair, beneath the full length eighteenth century portrait of King Edward II.

The one thing that seems to be missing is the Oriel Sword, which can be seen in the photographs of the Hall before the restoration. Whatever its true origins that seems rather a pity to this old Orielensus.

The piece about the renewal with splendid images can be seen at Oriel College Dining Hall → 5th Studio

Floreat Oriel

Today is the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Oriel College in Oxford. Oriel is my college, and I am very proud to be part of such a long tradition of scholarship and piety.

It was on this day in 1326 that King Edward II granted a charter to establish it as a new college to the small academic community established in late 1324 which he had taken over from its founder Adam de Brome, rector of St Mary’s church in the High, exactly three weeks earlier. One of the endowments he gave to the college was the rectory of Saint Mary’s, and so it became known as the House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford, which is still its legal name. In the reign of King James I it gained the suffix of ‘commonly called Oriel College’.

I have sometimes observed that King Edward II’s sole enduring successful action as monarch was the foundation of Oriel. Our “memorable founder”, to quote the college prayer, had a singularly unhappy and unfortunate reign, but Oriel has now survived for seven centuries.

King Edward II

The effigy on his tomb in Gloucester Cathedral

Image: History Jar

It was the first Oxford college to be founded by a monarch, and was often referred to in the medieval period as King’s College or King’s Hall. Nine years earlier, the King had founded King’s Hall in Cambridge for the study of Civil Law, but that was merged in 1546 into King Henry VIII’s new creation of Trinity College. Oriel is, therefore, the oldest royal foundation with a continuous history in either of the ancient universities and the reigning monarch is The Visitor.

In 1326 there were only four existing colleges - University, Balliol, Merton and Exeter - all for graduates, alongside the undergraduate Halls - the solitary survivor being St Edmund Hall - and the friaries and the early Benedictine houses of study. Amongst the colleges Oriel might not be the first in order of foundation, but it was the first college to consistently refer to itself as a college, And therefore, might buy a stretch of terminology seen as the oldest college in the University.

Under the new establishment, the original founder, Adam de Brome, was constituted the first Provost, and spent the remainder of his life adding to the endowments of his new creation. These included the Hospital of St Bartholomew, or Bartlemas, east of Oxford, which served as a summer retreat or as a refuge from the plague, and eventually became, with its surviving medieval chapel, the college sports ground. He was, however, unsuccessful in attempting to seize for the college, the benefaction of the books of Bishop Cobham of Worcester, which went on to become the nucleus of the University Library, later the Bodleian.

Originally based in Tackley’s Inn facing the High, and which is still occupied in part by Oriel students, and establishing the old rectory house as St Mary’s Hall for undergraduates, and which in 1902 merged into Oriel and is buildings became St Mary’s or Third Quad it was not until 1329 that the new college acquired the adjacent house that gave its usual name. In that year its owner Master James of Spain, the illegitimate son of a brother of King Edward II’s mother Queen Eleanor of Castile, and a distinguished musical scholar, born in England, made over to the college the house called ‘La Oriole’. This was probably the largest private house in the town centre and arranged around a courtyard which lies under the early seventeenth century Front Quod. 

Oriel has formed the lives and careers of many over the seven centuries - the great and the good, the not so great and the not so good, clergy, writers, philosophers and theologians, historians, Nobel Prize winners, VCs, eccentrics and humourists, two cardinals, some sinners, some martyrs and Saints. 

What struck me as a member was its sense of community, created from a very diverse group of students - and Fellows - who melded together, and stood by one another. It was not a college that was just a one subject place, not just relentlessly hearty and sporty, not just abstrusely academic, but rather a community that was uniquely itself, a place to be a part of, to make friends, a place to belong.

When I used to show visitors around the college I used to conclude by saying that Oriel is not quite the oldest, not the largest, and indeed the second smallest, of the undergraduate colleges, not the wealthiest, but not the poorest, not necessarily the most successful academically, even if more often than not it is in rowing, but it is simply the best college.

The coat of arms of Oriel

Image: Oriel Alumni

Floreat Oriel!

Mad dogs and Romans go out in the midday Egyptian sun

I wrote a while ago in A Roman sunhat about the exceptional survival of what is recognised as Roman military sun hat discovered in Egypt and now, due to its being a textile in the Museum at Bolton. Having once visited Egypt during the autumn I can confirm the comfort and utility of such a covering to protect the head from scorching.

Further conservation work on the hat is discussed in articles from Futura at This 1,600-year-old sun hat found in Egypt still baffles experts today - Futura-Sciences, on Earth.com which can be seen at Rare Roman hat from 2,000 years ago, used in Cleopatra's Egypt, is being restored and by C-astonhair.co.uk at Who Owned This 1,600-year-old Sun Hat Found In Egypt – And Why Does It Still Puzzle Researchers?

This is the end of this thread, but I will probably do others on the Roman theme as I find stories that I think are worth sharing.

Jerash

Art Net recently had an article about the very impressive ruins of the Roman city of Jerash, which lie close to Amman in Jordan.

The article, which has some excellent illustrations can be seen at The Forgotten Roman Ruins of the ‘Pompeii of the Middle East’

The House of the Griffins

Art Net has a recent article about the conservation of the House of the Griffins which dates from the first century BC, and is on the slopes of the Palatine Hill in Rome. It remains an extremely well preserved site, because the house was absorbed into the complex of the Imperial Palace and, whilst losing its upper floors, the basement survived having been filled with earth to support Domitian’s extension above it.

The restored building will open at the beginning of March and includes the latest technology to facilitate virtual visits to inaccessible parts.

The history of the building and the modern project can be viewed at Long-Buried Roman Domus Opens to Public—With a High-Tech Twist

Caesarea Maritima

A regular reader shared with me an online article from the Daily Mail about the ruins of Caesarea Maritima, the Roman era port on the coast of the Holy Land, and one of those sites where the archaeology of the Empire meets the archaeology and texts of the New Testament.

The well illustrated article can be seen at Ancient Roman city uncovered that holds evidence supporting the Bible

Cleaning and restoring the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome

Although it is not perhaps as well known as that of Trajan the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome is a marvellous survival of a celebration of the life and military achievements of a great second century Emperor. 

An online article and video about the current restoration project for the column from the Daily Telegraph website can be seen at Rome’s brutal imperial past brought back to life in restored 1,800-year-old column

A carriage workshop on the Via Claudia Augusta

A recent excavation by Italian archaeologists has uncovered a carriage workshop alongside the Via Claudia Augusta, the road which linked Italy to Innsbruck and Munich. This roadside repair outfit is described in an article from Popular Mechanics at Archaeologists Discovered the Remains of an Ancient Roman Mechanic Shop

The Romans in Switzerland

Further south two Roman sites in what is now Switzerland are featured in online articles.

The first are the important and substantial remains of the town of Augusta Raurica near Basel, which have long been an inspiration for archaeologists and artists. They are outlined in an article from Art Net at  The Quiet Swiss Town That Harbors an Ancient Roman Outpost at The Quiet Swiss Town That Harbors an Ancient Roman Outpost

To the south-east in the canton of Zug a recent excavation revealed the remains of an important house or public building. This is described by Popular Mechanics in an article which is accessible at An Ancient Roman Wall Has Emerged in Switzerland. It's an Archaeological Sensation. 

The Horse of Lahnau

Roman sites in Europe have been as rich in yielding archeological evidence in recent years as those in Britain.

A notable instance some years ago was the discovery at Lahnau in western Hesse by a farmer sinking a well of a gilt bronze head of a horse. This is believed to be a surviving fragment of an equestrian statue of the Emperor Augustus, and to date from the years at the beginning of the first century when the Romans were moving eastward into Germania, and before the disaster of the Teuterburg Forest. This context is set out in the Wikipedia article about the town and its neighbourhood which can be read at Lahnau

The story of the discovery can be read and the head of the horse can be seen in an article from X at ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch)

The impact of the Roman Empire on the landscape of the German frontier

Recent research by Freiburg academics on the consequences of Roman efforts to consolidate the frontier of the Empire with the Germanic tribes in terms of its environmental impact is outlined in a recent article from LBV. It relates the changing impact of the Romans on the landscape and sets it against the changing political circumstances. By the end of the Empire what were to become major resources of timber in the middle ages were sprouting and able to grow to maturity.

 

The article can be read at The Roman Expansion Felled Forests So Remote, Inaccessible, and Ancient North of the Alps That They Had Never Been Exploited Before

The Roman villa at Margam

A very recently publicised discovery from the Roman era, is the site of a substantial villa at Margam near Port Talbot in south-west Wales. 

The discovery is of important for a number of reasons. The site lies under water once a deer park, so it is not been disturbed by ploughing over intervening centuries. Whereas most Roman sites in Wales tend to be fortifications this reveals that there was also a villa economy, as in other parts of lowland Britain. The suggestion is that this may have been the property of a local chieftain who had been Romanised. This might account for the moat around the complex, or it might reflect the more trouble times, which affected Britannia in the later years of Roman rule.

 

The article from BBC News can be seen at Margam park Roman villa find could be 'Port Talbot's Pompeii'

Re identifying Beachy Head Woman

A while ago I posted about the debates around the skeleton found buried on the Sussex coast and known from the site as Beachy Head Woman or Lady and her ethnic origins. In this day and age the fact that she appeared to have sub-Saharan origins made her a celebrity for certain academics such as David Olusoga.

More recent research into the scientific evidence yielded by her bones has established that she was in fact local to the area and of the same racial type as many English people of long established indigenous origin.

The research is outlined in an article from BBC News at True origin of 'first black Briton' revealed

and in ones from the Natural History Museum at The changing story of the Beachy Head Woman  

from UCL at Roman-era Beachy Head Woman originated from Britain: new analysis and from the Journal of Archaeological Science  here

On the theme of those now long dead with some African ancestry I hope to link in a separate post to some recent discoveries of Anglo-Saxon burials, which do show evidence of some mixed-race ancestry, in the case of one grandparent. 

A personal Roman medicine box from Worcestershire

An excavation at Broadway in Worcestershire has yielded an intact bone box with a sliding lid ( remember those old pencil boxes we used to have?) which appears to have been used to hold a medicinal ointment and was associated with the burial of a young woman.

The discovery in described, along with other discoveries at the largest Roman burial site so far uncovered in the county, in an article from the Daily Telegraph which can be seen at Roman ‘medicine’ box carved from bone uncovered

A remarkable Roman road in Worcestershire

 

The recent discovery of an intact section of the paving of a Roman road in Worcestershire has been hailed as highly important and described as being as rare as those surviving in Rome and Pompeii.

The site is described and illustrated by Archeo-Histories in X at Archaeo - Histories

Revealing Roman Bedford

The BBC News website recently reported on a long- running excavation in Bedford, which has revealed the remains of what was clearly a very substantial Roman villa. Hitherto, there had been little evidence of Roman occupation in the region and the discoveries are helping to rewrite the history of what is now Bedford.

The article can be seen at Bedford Roman villa volunteers hoping to return after big find

Hark, a late Iron Age Carnyx from Norfolk

There have been several online articles recently about the discovery in west Norfolk of a hoard of late Iron Age metalwork which includes substantial remains of a Celtic Carnyx, the war trumpet of the tribes that was awesome both in its appearance and sound.

The articles about the discovery can be read from LBC at Ancient battle trumpet from the age of Boudica unearthed in Norfolk, from the Daily Mail website at Battle trumpet among stunning hoard of Iron Age items found in Norfolk and from Live Science at Rare 2,000-year-old war trumpet, possibly linked to Celtic queen Boudica, discovered in England

The Car Dyke and the Foss Dyke

Lincoln, the Lindum Colonia of the Romans, is on the top of a hill overlooking the point at which the river Witham, having flowed northwards parallel to the Lincoln Edge, turns sharply east and then runs south-east to enter The Wash below Boston.

Wher the river turns east below Lindum Hill it widens out to form the Brayford Pool. This is believed to be the oldest inland harbour in the country, used sine Roman times. Linked to it are two significant waterways that apparently date from Roman times. I was recently reminded of their long history by an online article from Cambridgeshire Live which can be seen at Ancient waterway built by Romans that runs for miles throughout Cambridgeshire

The Car Dyke runs almost sixty miles from Washingborough, which lies on the Witham three miles east of Lincoln, south to the Soke of Peterborough, and then further south to Waterbeach on the river Cam. It may have been created both for drainage and transport. Wikipedia has an article with considerable detail at 

Car_Dyke

If the Car Dyke helped to link Lincoln and the coast and the waterways to the south, then by creating a link from the Brayford Pool to the Trent at Torksey the Romans ( or if not them King Henry I) linked the city to the north midland river system around which the Trent. Wikipedia has another, similar, article at Foss_Dyke

I would consider them both to be Roman, if maybe given a makeover by the Normans, and a crucial part of the network of waterways that linked East Anglia, Lincolnshire, and southern Yorkshire throughout the medieval centuries.