Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.
Visiting Oxford?
Allow me to be your guide... and discover the history of Oxford with an Oxford historian.
I offer a wide range of guided walks around the city and university. These can be a general introduction to the history and architecture or looking at specific themes and subjects.
I am a Catholic and a historian based in Oxford, where I am a member of Oriel College. My research, for a long delayed D.Phil., is a study of Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln in the second decade of the fifteenth century. I also work as a freelance tutor in History and as an independent tour guide.
I was received into the Church in 2005 and am a Brother of the External Oratory of St Philip Neri at the Oxford Oratory.
Obituary of a very failed Pontificate
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"Nun khre methusthen kai tina per bian ponen, epei de katthane
Mursilos."Such would have been the reaction of the unchristianised Greeks.
But for us, for t...
Saint Gabriel
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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part
of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic
school t...
Prayer and Reality
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[image: Image result for kneeling "low Mass"]
"It is not the healthy who need a physician but the sick"
Jesus is supposed to be our Saviour but most of us...
In my home area a feature of third and fourth century Roman funerary practice were gypsum burials in which the deceased person was placed in a stone coffin which was then filled up with liquid gypsum - what we would call Plaster of Paris - and then interred.* This may have been because the gypsum could be made from the rocks of the magnesium limestone ridge which runs north to south through the area, and along which run the lines of several major Roman roads. The coffins tend to be robust, cut out of millstone grit from the area to the west.
Such gypsum burials are not uncommon in England, but the highest concentration is in and around York. Similar burials have been found in Europe and North Africa.
Investigators in York have pioneered research by means of scanning of a number of these burials.
The BBC News website has now reported about a new study that is being undertaken into twenty two of these burials that have been found in or close to York ( Eboracum ), Castleford ( Legiolium or Lagentum ) and Doncaster ( Danum ). Because of the gypsum details of clothing as well as of the body are recorded - analogous to the casts of victims from Pompeii.
The York Museums Trust website has an illustrated catalogue entry about a child’s burial discovered in the nineteenth century, which has clear evidence of the shroud material which can be seen at Gypsum Burial | York Museums Trust
Gladiators are in the news at the moment. This is no doubt due to the release of Gladiator II which appears to have had a far from favourable response from many film critics and a similarly unfavourable one from many experts in Roman history.
Perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps not knowing how commercially minded the national collections have become, the British Museum is publicising a major travelling exhibition for next year entitled Gladiators of Britain. This opens in January at Dorchester in the splendid Dorset County Museum before moving onto Northampton, then to Chester, and finally to Carlisle before it closes in early 2026. The British Museum website about the exhibition can be seen at Gladiators of Britain
One of the objects featured in the video is a small bone figure of a gladiator which was found in Colchester in the nineteenth century. This was a knife handle and a similar piece has also been in the news. This was found in the river Tyne near Corbridge which had a Roman fort as part of the Hadrian’s Wall’s system of defence. It is made of copper alloy and features are left-handed secutor and will be on display from next year at the Roman site in Corbridge.
That last article also refers to an item that is not from the British Museum collection that will be part of the travelling exhibition is the Colchester Vase, an earthenware vessel that had been used as a cremation urn discovered in the town by early archaeologists and which features scenes are gladiatorial combat, including the names of the competitors. Colchester City Council has a piece about it which can be seen at Historic Colchester Vase goes on tour with the British Museum
Wikipedia describes and illustrates the Vase at Colchester Vase
I see that also getting onto the gladiatorial bandwagon the BBC iplayer service has made their series Colosseum available again. The first episode covers the background and training of gladiators, highlighting in particular the memorable combat of Priscus and Verus at the opening Games in the Colosseum that were organised by the Emperor Titus. The academics who are interviewed stress the fact that such Games were a gift to the citizens of Rome by the Emperor who expected their appreciation in return. In that sense they they seem very similar to a modern Olympic Games, rather than the original celebrations at Olympia. The investment of state funds in such events and the head-to-head rivalries of leading athletes look horribly similar.
I have seen some comments which were not entirely in agreement with all of the detail of what is depicted but it looks to be worth looking at, and more accurate than the new blockbuster - no riding of rhinoceros’for example . It is available to subscribers at
The BBC News website reports on the return to the National Museum of Scotland from the exhibition at the British Museum of the restored and reconstructed Roman brass arm guard from the military camp at Trimontium.
Trimontium, in the Borders, takes its name from the distinctive and dominant Eildon Hills, and was a forward post in the Roman attempts to either subjugate what is now Scotland or to at very least maintain a degree of control beyond Hadrian's Wall in the first and second centuries.
Although discovered over a century ago it is only recently that this piece of armour has been identified as protection for the arm of the wearer from shoulder to wrist, and that it has been pieced together from numerous fragments. It is one of only three such pieces known to survive from the Roman Empire.
I saw this article on Tumblr and thought it was worth copying and sharing with readers - the links from it are also worth looking at, especially the last two about a Roman militart burial from Leicester and the remains of York gladiators:
Wealthy Roman Settlement Discovered Beneath Britain's Longest Road
By Rossella Lorenzi, Live Science Contributor |
A rare silver ring shaped like
a snake that wraps around the finger hints at the great wealth of the
people who lived at Cataractonium.
Credit: Northern Archaeological Associates
Construction work to upgrade Britain's longest road into a major
highway has revealed a treasure trove of rare artifacts from one of the
earliest and wealthiest Roman settlements in the country.
The findings include ancient shoes, cups, a rare silver ring, keys, a
high-relief glass bowl and an elaborately carved amber figurine,
archaeologists with the public group Historic England announced
yesterday (April 6).
Archaeologists uncovered the artifacts in North Yorkshire along the A1,
which stretches 410 miles (660 kilometers) from London to Edinburgh,
Scotland, during a major project to improve the existing roadway. [See Photos of the Excavation and Roman Artifacts]
"It is fascinating to discover that nearly 2,000 years ago, the Romans
were using the A1 route as a major road of strategic importance and
using the very latest technological innovations from that period to
construct the original road," Tom Howard, project manager at the
government agency Highways England, said in a statement.
Beneath Britain's longest road lay a treasure trove of rare Roman artifacts.
Credit: Historic England
Indeed, the newly found artifacts include a plumb bob used to build
straight roads, which was likely utilized in the construction of Dere
Street, a Roman road following the course of the A1, the researchers
said.
Wealthy settlement
The excavations have also led to the discovery of a major Roman settlement at Scotch Corner, one of the best-known junctions in the country.
Taking its name from an old Roman road called Scots Dyke, Scotch Corner
links Scotland with England and the east coast with the west coast.
Right there, the archaeologists with the professional consultant group
Northern Archaeological Associates unearthed the remains of a large
settlement dating back to A.D. 60, thus predating settlements in York
and Carlisle by 10 years.
The settlement at Scotch Corner was unusually large compared to others
in northern England, and stretched over 4,600 feet (1,400 meters) from
north to south — roughly the length of 13 football fields positioned end
to end, according to Historic England.
Artifacts unearthed there suggest that the people who lived at Scotch
Corner were rather wealthy. High-status imported items include the
figure of a toga-clad actor carved from a block of amber, which is
believed to have been made in Italy during the first century A.D.
"A similar example was found at Pompeii. Nothing like this has ever before been found in the U.K.," representatives with Historic England said.
The archaeologists unearthed more than 1,400 clay fragments of molds
used for making gold, silver and copper coins, thus making the site the
largest known and most northerly example of coin production ever found
in Europe, the researchers said. Those findings suggest that the
settlement might have served as a sophisticated industrial and
administrative center, the archaeologists said.
"It shows that the Romans were carrying out significant industrial
activity in this part of England and potentially producing coins of high
value," Historic England representatives said in the statement.
Rise of Cataractonium
But it was a short-lived glory. The settlement was occupied for just
two to three decades. Its demise seems to coincide with the rise of
Catterick, a town south of Scotch Corner known by the Romans as
Cataractonium.
Finds at Catterick abounded. The archaeologists unearthed several
well-preserved leather shoes, along with large sheets of leather,
perhaps used for producing clothes. The artifacts suggest that
Cataractonium was an important leatherworking center that likely
supported the Roman military, the archaeologists said. [See Photos of Decapitated Gladiator Skeletons]
A rare silver ring shaped like a snake, which wraps around the finger,
and a number of keys of various sizes suggest that the people who lived
in Cataractonium were wealthy and that they locked up their valuable
possessions, the archaeologists suggested.
Moreover, the many styli (Roman pens) and a pewter inkpot found at the
site indicate that most of these ancient people were able to read and
write, the researchers said.
"The sheer amount of exceptional objects found on this road scheme has
been extraordinary," Neil Redfern, principal inspector of ancient
monuments at Historic England, said in the statement. "This project has
given us a unique opportunity to understand how the Romans conducted
their military expansion into northern England and how civil life
changed under their control."
The BBC News website has a report about the discovery in London of what are the earliest known handwritten letters from this country. They are on wooden tablets and are datable to 57AD and indicate the already established commercial life and social activities of Londinium. The report can be seen at: UK's oldest hand-written document 'at Roman London dig'
The BBC News website has a report about the discovery of what it describes as an an "elaborate" Roman villa unearthed by chance in a garden in Wiltshire and as being extraordinarily well-preserved. The illustrated report can be read at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36062538
There were interesting reports this week about the first century Roman helmet found at Hallaton in Leicestershire which has now been conserved and reassembled.
There is a background article here on the Hallaton discoveries, and an article about the helmet and the indications it gives as to contacts between the Romans and the Britons both before and during the time of the Claudian conquest can be read here.
The Hallaton Helmet
Image: BBC
A reconstruction of the Hallaton helmet's original appearance.
