The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne has had two features on the official Ministry and English Heritage guidebooks of Hadrian’s Wall in their News Bulletin:
David W. J. Gill, ‘Guiding us along the Roman wall’, 69 (September 2020), p. 3
Nick Hodgson, ‘Guiding us along the Roman frontier, Part II’, 70 (December 2020), p. 5
Corbridge (with update); Chesters (with update); Housesteads; Birdoswald; Hadrian’s Wall
The Senhouse Roman Museum at the Roman fort of Maryport on the Cumbrian coast contains an extensive series of Latin inscriptions. Among them is this altar (RIB 816), found in 1870 to the north-east of the fort. It was dedicated by the prefect of the Cohors I Hispanorum, L. Antistius Lupus Verianus, from Sicca in Africa (Numidia Proconsularis). David Breeze provisionally dates his command to 136 (and prior to 139 when the Cohors I Delmatarum arrived).
Paul Kenneth Baillie Reynolds (1896–1973) wrote a number of guidebooks for monuments in state guardianship.
Baillie Reynolds was educated a Winchester College, and Hertford College, Oxford. His studies were interrupted by service in the Royal Field Artillery (1915–19) when he served in the 4th West Riding (Howitzer) Brigade. On completion of his studies he became a Pelham Student at the British School at Rome (1921–23). He published Thomas Ashby’s notes on the Castra Peregrinorum as well as a study of the troops based there in the Journal of Roman Studies (1923). In 1923 he was made an award by the Craven Fund to continue his research at the British School at Rome; the other awards were made to William A. Heurtley of Oriel College, and C.A. Ralegh Radford of Exeter College.
In 1924 he was appointed Assistant Master, Winchester College, and later the same year Lecturer in Ancient History, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1924–34) where the principal from 1927 to 1934 was (Sir) Henry Stuart-Jones, a former director of the British School at Rome. Baillie Reynolds published The Vigiles of Imperial Rome (Oxford University Press, 1926). From 1926–29 he directed the excavation of the Roman auxiliary fort at Caerhun (Canovium) to the south of Conwy in north Wales; the final report was published by him in 1938. In 1931 he was responsible for excavating the north gate, and in 1932 the west gate of Verulamium as part of the wider project directed by (Sir) Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler. He was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (1929).
In 1934 he was appointed Inspector of Ancient Monuments for England, Ministry of Works. In 1936 in his capacity as Inspector he supported the proposal to preserve the remains of the Jewry Wall in Leicester that had been excavated by Kathleen Kenyon. In 1935 he was elected to the Council for the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, serving alongside Ralegh Radford. In 1947 he was one of the people who helped to acquire the Roman site of Wall from the National Trust.
Baillie Reynolds joined the Royal Field Artillery (TA) (1927–39) while he was in Aberystwyth, and during the Second World War served as a Major in the Royal Artillery (1939–45).
In 1954 he became Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Ministry of Works (1954–1961) replacing B.H. St John O’Neil; A.J. Taylor was appointed Assistant Chief Inspector. One of his projects was the intervention at Corfe Castle in 1959 to stabilise the ruins. Another was the restoration of West Kennet Long Barrow and Wayland’s Smithy; he defended his decisions in The Daily Telegraph (28 July 1962) describing the work as ‘no more a “fake” than is the reconstructed Portland Vase’. In 1960 he advised on the restoration of the Claudian aqueduct that ran through the grounds of the British Embassy in Rome. He retired in 1961 and was succeeded by Taylor.
In 1963 he was elected President, Royal Archaeological Institute (1963–1966) succeeding Ralegh Radford. He was made OBE (1950) and CBE (1957). Baillie Reynolds died in 1973.
Obituary: The Times 25 August 1973.
I have been thinking about my Top 10 heritage sites in Norfolk. This is very much a personal choice, and the locations are placed in (rough) chronological order. I have tried to include a variety of types of heritage site. How can you decide between Norwich Cathedral and Norwich Castle? Or between Felbrigg and Blickling? Castle Rising and Castle Acre?
Grime’s Graves. You can descend into the Neolithic flint mines.
Burgh Castle. One of the best preserved Roman forts of the Saxon Shore.
Norwich Cathedral. The cathedral is an architectural gem and dominates the city.
Binham Priory. Part of the Benedictine priory is still in use as the parish church.
Castle Rising. This well-preserved keep is dominated by a series of earthworks.
Oxburgh Hall. The moated hall at Oxburgh contains fabulous tapestries.
Felbrigg Hall. The 17th century front to the house is a gem.
Holkham Hall. One of the most magnificent houses and Grand Tour collections in Norfolk.
The North Norfolk Railway (The Poppy Line). The journey between Sheringham and Holt provides views of the coast as well as the Norfolk countryside.
Sandringham. The Royal residence sits in the middle of extensive landscaped grounds.
Sir Charles Peers prepared the post-war guidebook to Pevensey Castle in 1952. The monument incorporates part of the Roman Saxon Shore fort. The guidebook contains a history followed by a description. A foldout plan is placed inside the back cover. A number of black and white photographs are included.
Peers’ guide continued to be published through the 1960s. The pictures were placed as a block rather than slotted through the text.
A souvenir guide was prepared by Derek F. Renn in 1970. He had previously prepared a similar souvenir guide for three shell keeps in the west country. Renn later wrote the official guidebooks to a number of sites in England and Wales.
The English Heritage guidebook is prepared by John Goodall. This starts with a tour and description, and then a section on the history. There is a special section on the Second World War defences. A colour plan is provided inside the back cover.
Portchester Castle consists of a Late Roman Saxon Shore fort, with a Medieval castle and church placed within its walls. It was placed in Statue Guardianship in 1926 and Sir Charles Peers wrote the first official guidebook in 1933.
Stuart E. Rigold revised Peers’ text in a 3rd edition of the text (1965). This was divided into two main parts: a history and a description. The description included sections on the Roman fortress, the medieval castle, and the church (for an Augustinian priory). There are two fold-out plans inside the back cover: the Roman fort, and a plan of the medieval castle.
The new English Heritage guide was prepared by Julian T. Munby (who had excavated on the site with Barry Cunliffe). This contains two tours: The Medieval Castle, and the Outer Bailey and Roman Fort. These are followed by a history of the castle including the Roman fort and the Saxon settlement. The guide has numerous reconstruction drawings and photographs. The centre pages provide an overview of the whole castle.
The current English Heritage guidebook is by John Goodall. It contains a tour followed by a history, with special sections on ‘Building the Roman Fort’ and ‘Prisoners of War’. There are plans of the fort and the different levels of the castle on a foldout plan inside the back cover.
The remains of the Roman siegeworks of Masada have been preserved in the desert. The main fort was located on the western side of Masada, opposite the northern palace. One of the roles was to provide a location of troops close to the siege ramp that was being constructed.
The siege wall can be seen in front of the fort heading for the edge of the wadi.
One of the current issues facing the forts is that increased visitor numbers threaten their preservation.
Reference
Gwyn Davies. “Under Siege: The Roman Field Works at Masada.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 362, 2011, pp. 65–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.362.0065.
What would be the best guide to Hadrian’s Wall? The 14th edition of J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall (by David J. Breeze) would have to be high on the list. It is published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (website). At 512 pages it contains the detail that is needed to make sense of each feature of the complex frontier system.
The volume contains a chapter on the forts along the Cumbrian Coast (chapter 4, pp. 373-414) as well as the Stanegate (chapter 5, pp. 415-470).
Anne S. Robertson published The Antonine Wall: A Handbook to the Roman Wall Between Forth and Clyde and a Guide to its Surviving Remains for the Glasgow Archaeological Society. My copy is a revised 4th edition (1973 [1970] though the Handbook was first published in 1970.
The guide contains a substantial essay on the Antonine Wall along with maps of Roman Scotland (7-41). The rest of the handbook takes the visitor from east to west, from Bridgeness to Old Kilpatrick. There are plans of the forts included at relevant points.
There is a short bibliography for the wall, and then bibliographies for each of the forts. A foldout map helps the visitor. Details of the main museums holding material from the Antonine Wall are provided, and then a list of ‘The most impressive features on the line of the Antonine Wall’.
This forms a companion to the very brief DOE Guide to the Antonine Wall.
Robertson’s handbook sits alongside Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall covering Hadrian’s Wall.
One of my treasured possessions is Barri Jones’s Hadrian’s Wall from the Air (Archaeological Surveys Ltd. 1976; 65p). The cover shows Cawfields Crag and hints at the damage sustained to the wall by the development of a quarry. There is a short introduction, followed by a series of black and white aerial shots with a short commentary. The first image is of the Roman fort at South Shields, and the last the fort at Burnswark with the Roman siege works.
The booklet has been updated and revised by David Wooliscroft (Tempus Publishing, 2001; The History Press, 2009). Jones had started to revise his work in the 1990s.
Some of the major changes at sites are clear between the two volumes. Take for example the outline of the fort at Segedunum (p. 5), with the rows of housing, with the clearly defined plan (col. pl. 15). Or compare milecastles 37 and 39 in the two volumes (pp. 16-17; col. pls. 24 and 25).
Heritage Futures 