Chesters Roman Fort and Museum is a lovely site (entry charge; free to English Heritage members). Look out for the phallus sculpted into one of the paving stones. The bathhouse near the river is well worth seeing, and the museum, built by local antiquary John Clayton in the nineteenth century, is charming.
Further west, Housesteads, near the centre of the wall, and in a dramatic spot, is perhaps the best-preserved fort hereabouts, and has those Roman toilets that so interested me when I was twelve (entry charge; free to English Heritage and National Trust members). It has a new museum on site. Further west again, Birdoswald Roman Fort (entry charge; free to English Heritage members) is worth seeing. There is much more, including the temple at Brocolitia, the fort of Great Chesters (not to be confused with Chesters), various milecastles, etc., which can be seen as you go.
For the footsore, a bus service, the AD122 (get it?), runs along the military road south of the wall during the summer, between Newcastle and Carlisle stations. The timetable is on the national trail website above.
The most useful book to have in your pocket is probably the English Heritage guidebook Hadrian’s Wall, by David Breeze.
Chapter Eight: Scotland
Walking the entire length of the Antonine Wall is not for the faint-hearted, but there are plenty of individual sites along the route that are worth seeing. The most spectacular part is around Bar Hill. A circular walk can be made, from Croy railway station or by parking near the canal, that takes in Croy Hill, Bar Hill (and its fort) and a length of the Forth–Clyde canal towpath. Rough Castle is perhaps the site where there is most to see, including the lilia pits, and is convenient for taking a look at the Falkirk Wheel, a feat of modern engineering on the canal. The bathhouse at Bearsden is also worth a visit (all of these can be seen freely at any reasonable time). David Breeze’s book The Antonine Wall is an excellent guide, as is Lawrence Keppie’s The Legacy of Rome: Scotland’s Roman Remains. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has published a map of the Antonine Wall, though it is also clearly marked on the relevant two sheets of Ordnance Survey Pathfinder maps.
The excellent galleries at the National Museum of Scotland (www.nms.ac.uk) in Edinburgh (free) and the Hunterian Museum (www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian) at the University of Glasgow (free) are the places to find out more about Roman Scotland. The distance slabs of the Antonine Wall have been recently given an impressive redisplay at the Hunterian. Both are wonderful museums aside from their Roman Britain collections.
There is a very small but nicely done display at the Auld Kirk Museum at Kirkintilloch (free): www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/auld-kirk-museum. The museum (free) in the seventeenth-century stable block of Kinneil House, through whose grounds the wall runs, tells the story of the Kinneil estate from the Roman period onwards: www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/venues/kinneil-museum/.
The website www.antoninewall.org has plenty of resources, including an interactive map of the wall.
Aside from the Antonine Wall, Ardoch, in the village of Braco in Perthshire, is worth seeing, and can be visited at any reasonable time.
Walks can be taken in the pleasant grounds of the ruined Penicuik House south of Edinburgh (www.penicuikhouse.co.uk/ex_policies.aspx) and the version of Arthur’s O’on, remade as the Clerks’ dovecote, can be seen from a distance, though bear in mind that the stable block is a private house.
Chapter Nine: York
The place to start is the excellent Yorkshire Museum (entry charge) which has an exceptional collection, recently redisplayed: www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk. The multiangular tower, possibly built during Septimius Severus’s stint in the city, is in the museum grounds. It’s a short walk to York Minster (entry charge), where the undercroft (entry charge) can be visited, with its Roman sculptures and fragments of painted plaster: www.yorkminster.org.
A walk around the walls of York is pleasant, with beautiful views. The best book to have with you is Patrick Ottaway’s Roman York. The following link also provides a leaflet about Roman York: www.historyofyork.org.uk/tpl/uploads/1Roman.pdf.
The tombstone of Regina is at Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum at South Shields (free): www.twmuseums.org.uk/arbeia.html. There is also a good cast of it in the British Museum’s Roman Britain gallery (free).
Chapter Ten: Cumbria and the Lakes
Ribchester is a delightful Lancashire town. The Roman baths on the edge of the Ribble and the Roman remains next to the church can be seen (free) and the little museum (entry charge) next to the church is excellent, containing, among other things, a good reproduction of the Ribchester parade helmet, the original of which is in the British Museum.
The bathhouse at the little village of Ravenglass is in the care of English Heritage and can be visited (free) at any reasonable time. The earthworks of the Roman fort are visible in the neighbouring field. Hardknott Castle, a few miles away, and in a spellbinding setting, can also be visited (free) at any reasonable time.
Not mentioned in the text, but certainly worth a visit, is the Senhouse Museum (entry charge) in Maryport, north of Ravenglass on the southern part of the Solway Firth. It has a spectacular collection of exceptionally well-preserved Roman altars. The enigmatic ‘serpent stone’ is a sculpture in the shape of a phallus (its authenticity has been questioned in some quarters). There is a charming sculpture of a running boar, emblem of the 20th Legion: www.senhousemuseum.co.uk.
The Coniston home of John Ruskin, Brantwood (www.brantwood.org.uk), can be visited (entry charge). Lanehead, the Collingwoods’ house, is now an Outward Bound centre.
Tullie House Museum (free) in Carlisle contains the Carausius milestone and other Roman artefacts: www.tulliehouse.co.uk.
Chapter Eleven: The Cotswolds and the South-West
Great Witcombe villa (free) is in a lovely spot and can be visited at any reasonable time. So can the amphitheatre on the edge of Cirencester. Both in the care of English Heritage.
The collection at the Corinium Museum (entry charge) is excellent, and Cirencester is a very pleasant town to wander about in (the abbey is particularly lovely): coriniummuseum.cotswold.gov.uk.
Chedworth Roman Villa is a major site in a picturesque spot, in the care of the National Trust (entry charge, but free to members). Bob Woodward’s reconstruction of the Woodchester Pavement is, unfortunately, no longer on view to the public; the real Woodchester Pavement lies protected under the earth of the village churchyard. The Dido and Aeneas mosaic is one of the highlights of the recently refurbished Museum of Somerset (free): www.somerset.gov.uk/museums.
Also mentioned in this chapter, though very much not in the Cotswolds, are the mosaics in the Hull and East Riding Museum (free entry) in Yorkshire, and the lovely Bignor Roman Villa (entry charge) on the Sussex downs south of Petworth: www.bignorromanvilla.co.uk.
Chapter Twelve: Norfolk, again, and Sussex
Burgh Castle, just south-west of Great Yarmouth, is one of Britain’s most impressive Roman remains. It can be visited at any reasonable time (free), and is in the care of the Norfolk Archaeological Trust: www.norfarchtrust.org.uk/burghcastle.html. The Mildenhall Treasure and the late Roman glass from Burgh Castle can be seen in the Roman Britain gallery of the British Museum.
Pevensey Castle, in the care of English Heritage, is also extraordinary (entry charge but free to members).
Acknowledgements
To Dan Franklin, Clare Bullock, Joe Burgis, Ruth Waldram, Jane Selley and all at Jonathan Cape. To Jane Randfield for the maps. To Peter Straus, my agent.
To the many scholars, archaeologists and curators who so generously shared their ideas, showed me sites, allowed themselves to be interviewed or helped in other ways: Richard Abdy, Mary Beard, Guy de la Bédoyère, Alan Bowman, Lydia Carr, Stephen Cosh, Michelle Cotton, Philip Crummy, Barry Cunliffe, Jane Draycott, Hella Eckardt, Michael Fulford, Jenny Hall, Richard Hingley, Richard Hobbs, Luke Houghton, Ralph Jackson, Lawrence Keppie, Thomas Leece, Andrew Morrison, Patrick Ottaway, Tim Padley, Mike Pitts, Jacq
ueline Riding, Darrell Rohl, Roy Stephenson, Roger Tomlin, Tim Whitmarsh, Jonathan Williams. My thanks also to Robert Clerk, Colin Matthews, and Matthew Paton and Georgina Aitken of Christie’s.
To the many friends and family members who offered practical help or accommodation, were companions on the road, or listened patiently to talk of Roman Britain: Richard Baker; Andy Beckett and Sara Holloway; Isaac Bird; Sue Blundell and Nick Bailey; Fiona Bradley and Nick Barley; Neil Crombie; Phil Daoust; Jon Day; Susanna Eastburn; Damian Harland; Peter and Pamela Higgins; Rob Higgins and Pam Magee; Rupert Higgins and Dawn, Tilda and Eleanor Lawrence; Maev Kennedy; Clare and Andy Smith; Joshua St Johnston; Valerie and Colin St Johnston; Richard and Jane Wentworth.
To the staff of the Rare Books and Music reading room of the British Library; the Institute of Classical Studies Library; the Society of Antiquaries Library; and the National Archives of Scotland.
To Alan Rusbridger and colleagues at the Guardian, who tolerated several periods of absence – especially to Georgina Henry, whose passion and spirit are ever-inspiring.
To my first teacher of Latin and Greek, Cynthia Smart, and to the ones who came later.
To the council of the Classical Association, whose generous bestowal of the Classical Association prize for 2010 bought me valuable time.
Grateful thanks to those who kindly read portions of the manuscript: Alan Bowman, Lydia Carr, Stephen Cosh, Matthew Fox, Michael Fulford, Jenny Hall, Sara Holloway, Richard Hobbs, Roger Tomlin; and to those who with extraordinary generosity ploughed through the whole: Tom Holland, Sam Moorhead, Paul Myerscough and Greg Woolf. Their suggestions were invaluable; the errors are my own.
This book is, with love, dedicated to Matthew Fox, valiant driver of the camper van.
Bibliography
ANCIENT TEXTS
Where possible, online resources are indicated. Translations of most of the sources on Roman Britain are also usefully collected in Ireland, Roman Britain (see here)
Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War
Latin text: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall5.shtml
Translation: http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.5.5.html
Diodorus Siculus, the Library
Greek text: Loeb Classical Library (7 vols.), 1939
Translation: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html
Vindolanda Tablets online
http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/
Tacitus, Agricola
Latin text: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.agri.shtml
Translation: Tacitus: the Agricola and the Germania. Translated with an Introduction by H. Mattingley. Translation Revised by S. A. Handford, rev. ed., London, 1970.
Tacitus, Annals
Latin text: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tac.html
Translation: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/14B*.html
Cassius Dio, History of Rome
Greek text: http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/Dion/
Translation: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/
Solinus, Collection of Marvels
Latin text: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/solinus.html
I have found no English translation in print or online.
St Patrick, Confession
Latin text: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/L201060/index.html
Translation: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.toc.html
Gildas, On the Destruction of Britain
Latin text and English translation: http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/arthist/vortigernquotesgil.htm
Collingwood, R. G. O., Wright, R. P., and Tomlin, R. S. O., The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB), 3 vols., Oxford, 1965–2009.
UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
Smith, C. R., Journals (5 vols.), London, 1835–60. Held by the Department of Prehistory and Europe, British Museum.
Papers of the Clerk Family of Penicuik, Midlothian. Held by the National Records of Scotland, GD18/5018‒5075: Antiquarian, general papers and correspondence, 1698–1845.
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