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Canterbury Roman Museum

Canterbury Roman Museum

  • Canterbury Roman Museum holds three Roman Mosaics, a Roman Silver Hoard and a reconstructed Roman House.
  • It is located at 11a Longmarket, Butchery Lane, Canterbury and was built over the Remains of a Roman Courtyard House, which was unearthed by bombing during WWII.

Roman Artefacts

  • Roman Pavement
    • This consists of three Mosaics on a Hypocaust.
  • Canterbury Treasure
    • This is a Roman Silver Hoard. Copies of the Treasure are held in the British Museum.
  • Samian Ware
    • Various Pottery items, as well as Roof Tiles and Floor Tiles.
  • Studs for a Horse Harness
  • Reconstruction of a Roman House and Market

 

Photo and map: Canterbury Roman Museum

Lullingstone Roman Villa

  • Lullingstone Roman Villa is located in Lullingstone Lane, Eynsford, a village on the river Darent in the County of Kent.
  • The villa was occupied between the 1st-5th century CE.

Roman Artefacts

Roman Roads

 

Lullingstone Roman Villa, Eynsford

Museum of London, London Wall

Museum of London

  • (Currently closed until 2026) The Museum of London was located at London Wall, Barbican, and is a museum dedicated to all periods of the history of London.
  • The Museum is now closed to visitors and will reopen in new premises near Farringdon in Smithfield in 2026.

Links

Roman Collection

  • Roman London Gallery
    • The museum holds a gallery dedicated to Roman London with many Artefacts.
    • The collection includes Gold coins, a Lead Ingot, Inscriptions and various models of Roman buildings.
  • Roman Shipwrecks

 

Photo and map: Museum of London (currently closed until 2026)

The King's Men, Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

The Rollright Stones

The Rollright Stones: A complex of Megalithic Stones in the Cotswolds

Overview

The Rollright Stones are a group of Neolithic and Bronze Age Monuments dated to between the 4th – 2nd millenium BCE. They are located at the village of Little Rollright, 23 miles (37km) north of Oxford, and are divided by the A436 road with some stones in the county of Oxfordshire, others in the county of Warwickshire.

Description

The Monument consists of three groups of Stones: the King’s Stone near the peak of the ridge. On the opposite side of the road lies a stone circle known as the Kings Men Stone Circle. A short walk down the hill lies a Dolmen known as the Whispering Knights Dolmen. The stones are made from natural boulders made of Jurassic oolitic limestone, the main rock forming the Cotswold hills. They were probable collected from within half a mile (1km) of their current position.

WWII and the Cold War

Because of the stones are located on the crest of the Cotswolds, the location gives excellent views in all directions. During WWII a Royal Signals Corps hut with a telephone was set up to watch for enemy aircraft. Its usefulness continued into the Cold War, when it was turned into an early warning post with an underground bunker. It was decommissioned in 1992. For those interested in astronomy, the site has a Dark Sky Discovery Site status which protects it from intrusive light pollution.

The King Stone

King Stone, Rollright Stones, Warwickshire

King Stone, Rollright Stones, Warwickshire

Description: This distinctively shaped stone is dated to the Middle Bronze Age, circa 1500 BCE. There is no consensus amongst archeologists as to its purpose, there is no long barrow nearby and it doesn’t appear to be astronomically aligned with a significant star. The railings were erected in 1894, for both the King Stone and the Whispering Knights.

The Kings Men Stone Circle

The King's Men, Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

The King’s Men, Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

Description: The King’s Men stone circle dates to late Neolithic, circa 2,500 BCE. They are famously considered to be uncountable, however there are currently about 70 stones, down from circa 105 when the monument was constructed. The Antiquarian William Stukeley (1687-1765) who pioneered the investigation of Stonehenge, wrote that the stones were ‘corroded like worm eaten wood, by the harsh Jaws of Time’.

Historical Insight: The design, close-set stones, a portalled entrance and a levelled interior, hold very close similarities to stone circles of the Lake District, notably, Castlerigg near Keswick, Long Meg and her Daughters near Penrith and Swinside north of Ulverston.

The Whispering Knights Dolmen

The Whispering Knights, Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

The Whispering Knights, Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

Description: The oldest stones, the Whispering Knights dolmen, are dated to the early Neolithic Period, circa 3,800-3,500 BCE and predate the Kings Men stone circle by 1,000 years. Located further away down the hillside, the Whispering Knights is a ‘portal dolmen’ burial chamber consisting of four upright stones supporting a large now fallen capstone. It is one of the earliest funerary monuments in Britain and would have contained the remains of several individuals. The railings were erected in 1894.

In Folklore

In 1610, the Antiquarian William Camden (1551-1623) recorded a rhyming version of the folktale associated with the stones. A king riding across the county with his army was accosted by a local witch named Mother Shipton who told him:

  • Seven long strides thou shalt take, says she
  • And if Long Compton thou canst see,
  • King of England thou shalt be!

The knights sat around in a circle to consider this challenge, and eventually the king took seven steps forward. However, rising ground blocked his view of Long Compton and the witch crowed:

  • As Long Compton thou canst not see, King of England thou shalt not be!
  • Rise up and stand still like stone, For King of England thou shalt be none;
  • Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be, And I myself an elder tree!

The king became the solitary King Stone, his soldiers the Kings Men Stone Circle, and four of the knights whom she heard plotting against the king, were turned into the Whispering Knights Dolmen.

 

Nearby Attractions

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

North Leigh Roman Villa

North Leigh Roman Villa

Chedworth Roman Villa

Chedworth Roman Villa

Pevensey Roman Fort

Pevensey Castle

  • Pevensey is a town near the English south coast located in the County of East Sussex.
  • It is the location for Pevensey Castle, one of the Saxon Shore Forts called Anderida. A later Norman Castle was built inside the Roman Walls.

History

  • The Roman Fort was one of the Saxon Shore Forts, a chain of Roman Naval Forts in southeastern England that stretched from Portchester in Portsmouth Harbour to the Wash.
  • Their function was to defend the River estuaries and coastline from Pirate attacks by seaborne invaders.
  • The Forts date to the third century CE and are mentioned in a 4th century CE document known as the Notitia Dignitatum.
  • The Sea has since retreated and left Pevensey as an inland Fort.

Roman Sites

  • Pevensey Castle Roman Walls

Museums

  • Pevensey Courthouse Museum and Gaol
    • Located beside the Fortress.

Roman Roads

  • A possible Roman Road
    • A Road may have connected London with Pevensey via a junction off Watling Street across the Forest of the Weald, but no trace has yet been found.

 

Pevensey Castle

Richborough Roman Fort

Richborough Roman Fort

  • Richborough is a village near Sandwich in Kent and is the location of Legionary Fortress of Rutupiae, one of the Saxon Shore Forts.
  • Founded in c. 43 CE, it was the official entry point into Roman Britannia from Gaul. The site is managed by English Heritage.

Roman Sites

  • Richborough Roman Fort
    • Roman Fortress Walls.
    • Roman Amphitheatre.

The Saxon Shore Forts

  • Richborough was part of the Saxon Shore Forts, a chain of Roman Forts in southeastern England that stretched from Portchester to the Wash, whose function was to defend the River estuaries and coastline from Pirate attacks by seaborne invaders.
  • The Forts date to the third century CE and are mentioned in a 4th century CE document known as the Notitia Dignitatum.

Richborough was the Official Point of Entry to and from Gaul

  • The Notitia Dignitatum states that Richborough (Rutupiae) was the official point of entry into Britannia from Boulogne (Gesoriacum), and that the distance was 450 stades or 56 Roman miles.
  • Entry was through a Triumphal Arch inside the Fortress, and then up to London via Watling Street (the modern A2).
  • To get to Richborough, a ferry was taken across the ‘Fretum Gallicum’, the Straits of Dover, from the Fortress of Boulogne in Gaul.

Watling Street

  • Watling Street started at Richborough and continued to London and Wroxeter, where it divided and served the two Legionary Fortresses of Caerleon and Chester.
  • Watling Street appears to have been the main road for the British Legions to march to the Continent, and vice versa.

Antonine Itinerary

Legionary marching route to Germany

  • Watling Street connected from Richborough to Wroxeter where it divided, with one arm going to Chester, home of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix, and another arm going to Caerleon, home of the Legio II Augusta.
  • A unit of the Legio II Augusta was still based at Rutupiae (Richborough) in late c. 400 CE, according to the Notitia Dignitatum, despite having closed their base at Caerleon one hundred years earlier.
  • All Roman Roads in Italy and the Provinces had Way Stations known as the Statio. These were manned by the legionaries. This ensured that a road like Watling Street was clear to use for rapid Troop Movements during an emergency, either in Britannia or on the Continent.

Via Belgica

Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre

Olympia

  • Olympia is an Archeological Site in the Peloponnese in southern Greece, which was the location of Elis, the Sacred Grove. The Ancient Olympic Games were held here every four years between 776 BCE until 393 CE.
  • It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located 6 miles (10 km) east of Pyrgos and was in the Roman Province of Achaea.

Archeological Site of Olympia

  • The Site once had 70 buildings, of which the Ruins of some can still be seen.
    • Temple of Zeus
    • Palaestra of Olympia
    • Temple of Hera
      • where the Olympic Flame is still lit on the Altar.
    • Mitroon
      • a Temple dedicated to Rea-Cybele
    • Nymfaion Aqueduct
    • The Stadium
      • with a capacity of 45,000 spectators
    • Baths
    • Gymnasium

Museums

  • Archeological Museum of Olympia
    • Located in the Archeological Site of Olympia.
    • The museum holds the Finds from the excavation of the Sanctuary of Zeus, such as the Nike of Paionios (c.425 BCE) and the Hermes of Praxiteles (4th century BCE). There are also Collections of Terracottas, Sculptures and Bronzes.

Sacred Grove of Elis

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Olympic Games

  • The Greeks held the Olympic Games here every four years without interruption from 776 BCE to 393 CE.
  • Only Free Citizens could compete, not Slaves.
  • In 146 BCE Greece fell to the Roman Republic. The Romans were considered to be the descendants of the Greeks and so were invited to participate in the Olympic Games.
  • Up until this point, the Olympics had been an amateur sport. The Romans introduced professional athletes.
  • In 80 BCE the Roman General Sulla moved the Games to Rome, but in 76 BCE, after his death, they returned to Greece.
  • During The Roman Empire, they continued as the Roman Olympic Games.
  • When Roman Citizenship was extended to the Provinces in 212 CE, competitors from all over the Roman Empire were able to attend the Roman Olympic Games.

Olympia and Mount Olympus

  • It is easy to confuse the two, but they are very different and very far apart.
    • Mount Olympus
      • This was the home of the Greek Gods, the Twelve Olympians.
      • The Mountain is located in central Greece, 100 miles (160 km) west of Thessalonica.
    • Olympia
      • This was the home of the Sacred Grove of Elis and the Ancient Greek Olympic Games.
      • It is located in the Peloponnese of southern Greece.

 

Archeological Site of Olympia, Elis, Greece

Tomb of Cecilia Metella

  • The Tomb of Cecilia Metella is a 1st century BCE circular mausoleum located along the Via Appia next to Roman Milestone III indicating it was 3 miles (5km) from the centre of Rome.
  • It was dedicated to Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, the Consul in 69 BCE, who was the son of Marcus Crassus.

Getting There

  • Location: Via Appia Antica, 161, Parc de la Caffarella, Rome.
  • Nearest Metro Station: Colli Albani, Line A.

 

Tomb of Caecilia Metalla, Via Appia.

Agrigento

  • Agrigento is a city on the island of Sicily located in the Region of Sicily, in Italy.
  • Known to the Romans as Agrigentum, the city was located in the Province of Sicily.

History

  • Agrigento was founded in c.580 BCE by Greek colonists and became part of Magna Graecia.
  • After the Roman conquest of Sicily during the First Punic War (264-246 BCE), it was called Agrigentum.

Ancient Greek Sites

Museums

  • Regional Archaeological Museum Pietro Griffo
    • Contrada San Nicola, 92100, Agrigento.
    • The museum holds over 5,000 artefacts dating from the prehistoric period up to the end of Classical Antiquity.

Roman Roads

  • A Roman perimeter road that encircled Sicily connected all of its coastal cities.

 

Agrigento

Palermo

  • Palermo is a port, cathedral city and capital of the island of Sicily, located in the Region of Sicily in Italy.
  • Originally a Phoenician city founded in 734 BCE, it was conquered during the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), and became Panormus or Colonia Augusta Panormitanorum in the Roman Province of Sicily.

Roman Sites

  • Roman Amphitheatre
    • a few Remains are visible next to the Royal Palace.

Museums

  • Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas
    • Located on the Piazza Olivella, 90133, Palermo.
    • The museum holds one of the finest collections of Punic and Greek Art, along with a collection of Roman Sculptures and artefacts.
    • Palermo Stone
      • The Palermo Museum holds one of 7 fragments of an Ancient Egyptian Stele, known as the Palermo Stone, that lists all the Egyptian Pharaohs from the First Dynasty to the Fifth Dynasty (c.3150-2283 BCE).

Roman Roads

  • A circular perimeter road connected all the coastal cities of Sicily

 

Palermo