We celebrate ten years at Roman Circus House!


 Ten years ago, Colchester Young Archaeologists' club had nowhere to meet. Colchester Castle, where the club traditionally met, was closed for refurbishment. An attempt to meet in one of the local churches was foiled by an art installation, which precluded any heating being used on a cold day. We decamped to Hollytrees Museum, where we were welcomed by museum staff for the rest of that cold October morning in 2012.  Although undecorated, Colchester Archaeological Trust (CAT) had moved to a former army NAAFI to be near the extraordinary discovery of Britain's only known Roman Circus. Colchester YAC was warmly invited to meet there. Our poster shows us outside the building, giving the thumbs up to our new home in November 2012; the third picture on the poster features a CAT archaeologist (and former member of the YAC) showing us some finds from a nearby dig in an undecorated unheated building; through that winter we were able to meet upstairs warmed by fan heaters; the picture with a blue cast on the poster shows us burying a time capsule in Colchester Castle eight years ago. Today we had a quiz and some crafts. Alex Jones, who devised Aquila, a game based on the Roman one excavated in Colchester, oversaw and tutored us. The cake in the picture and some other treats and nibbles were all eaten up!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Work experience student drew plans for city

Image
 Above is a picture of the model of the walled city of Roman Colchester. Today at the Young Archaeologists' Club we had a surprise visitor. Niles was a member of the club when it met in Colchester Castle and was one of the members who helped restart the club in October 2012. He was delighted to see the model had been completed. 'Do you know drew the plans for this?' he asked. 'Philip, I should think,' I replied. Niles admitted to drawing the plans as part of his work experience at Colchester Archaeological Trust.  
Read more

Caught and destroyed in the "Tudor Web"

Image
 Upheavals and reform in the Tudor period transformed the built environment in Essex. All that is left of a once great Benedictine Abbey, south of Colchester's town walls is its magnificent gatehouse. YAC Adam writes:- "St John's Abbey was founded in 1096 by Eudo Dapifer with the order of St Benedict (Benedictines). The Abbey was the largest abbey in Colchester and the fourth largest abbey in England. It was built where "miraculous voices" could be heard. Eudo even claimed to have witnessed a miracle at that site. Eudo is also known to have laid the first stone of the Abbey and the Abbey was burned partially in a large fire that affected the town in 1133. The Abbey also received a vial of St Thomas a Becket's blood from a monk named Ralph. This vial was the Abbey's most important relic. The Abbey was the victim of a mob attack during the peasant's revolt. The Abbey was also believed to have supported the Plantagenets leading to Richard lll's mothe
Read more

A from "ordinary to extraordinary" story

Image
   Here is the story which "inspired" the YACs and school children:-   A cricket pavilion overlooking Great Bentley village green was built on the exact spot of the cottage of William Munt, his wife, Alice Munt, and her twenty-year-old daughter, Rose.    In 1556 they had such strong beliefs and faith, that, with twenty-two other protestants, they were arrested and sent to London. They were cross examined by Queen Mary Tudor’s Bishop Bonner. He sent them back to their home after deciding they were no threat to the authority of the Catholic Church and the Pope.    William Munt was a farm labourer. His wife Alice, and her daughter Rose, were “spinsters”. That does not necessarily mean they were unmarried but that they spun wool into yarn for the cloth trade. The Earl of Oxford from Hedingham Castle, Lord Darcy and Master Tyrrell both of St Osyth were among those Justices and commissioners who had ordered their arrest.    Protestants were people who questioned the authority, trad
Read more