I've only been to Brean Down once, in early June last year. An outlier of the Mendip Hills to the east, it stretches into the brown-blue waters of the Bristol Channel rising to about 100m above the beach and the water. I'd wanted to visit and walk its length for some time, its location combined … Continue reading A Quiet Life #3: Brean Down, Somerset, June 2019
Roman
The Cast Court, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Standing beneath Trajan's column following the frieze as it winds it way upwards, round and round, telling the story of the a eponymous emperor's bloody wars in Dacia, I marvel at how close up to it I can get. The column's too tall, though, so the top half is sitting quietly next to the bottom … Continue reading The Cast Court, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Great Witcombe Roman villa, Gloucestershire
Nestled at the foot of the Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire, just as they begin to rise up and woods cover the landscape, lies the Roman villa at Great Witcombe, built in the second century AD with additions continuing on-and-off until the fourth. I'd walked up from the village, following the footpath along the field edges, … Continue reading Great Witcombe Roman villa, Gloucestershire
Wordless Wednesday #7: Roman coin hoard, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, Devon
Wordless Wednesday #4: old-school panorama of the Roman amphitheatre, Pompeii, Italy, September 1999
Winter dreaming: the Greco-Roman theatre at Taormina, Sicily
On days that I work from home I'll always start with a walk. Nothing special at all, just a way to get some fresh air and a little exercise before turning on the laptop. Today, leaving the house I looked at the sky and was confronted with a quintessential January day in southern England: it … Continue reading Winter dreaming: the Greco-Roman theatre at Taormina, Sicily
Public art and retelling a city story: St Kyneburgh’s Well, Southgate Street, Gloucester
Just above the docks of Gloucester at the end of Southgate Street where one of the old Roman gates into the city once stood, there's now an open space known as Kimbrose Triangle. Within this space is a large two-part installation in steel by the artist Tom Price, one a hollow tower standing to about … Continue reading Public art and retelling a city story: St Kyneburgh’s Well, Southgate Street, Gloucester
Venta Silurum: a Roman town at Caerwent, Monmouthshire
It would be easy to miss Caerwent, a small village in South Wales. You might glance up as you drive by the Northgate House Bed and Breakfast, see the vestiges of a stone arch in the garden and think nothing of it. Off you’d go, none the wiser. But that would be a shame because … Continue reading Venta Silurum: a Roman town at Caerwent, Monmouthshire
Gloucester’s Roman City wall and King’s Bastion
About 5m below the rather innocuous 1960s King’s Walk shopping centre in Gloucester lies a section of the Roman City Wall. Only open to the public every now and then, I jumped at the chance to visit this summer. The entrance is right in the middle of the shopping centre, underneath a large metal cover. … Continue reading Gloucester’s Roman City wall and King’s Bastion
