Revealing Roman Maryport
Russell Crowe may not be there, but there will certainly be plenty of gladiators and Roman soldiers strutting their stuff when Maryport's Senhouse Museum once again hosts its Roman Festival this August. Visitors to the museum can expect cavalry charges and fascinating scenes bringing back to life the days when Maryport was part of the Hadrian's Wall defensive system.
The Senhouse Museum at the end of Maryport promenade is set in the grassed remains of one of Emperor Hadrian's forts. And when I visited the museum recently I saw for myself the archaeological clues pointing to what had been Roman Maryport's main shopping street. In those days Cumbrian locals and troops from all over the Roman empire would have rubbed shoulders in the Main Street of the Vicus - or town - that grew up around the Roman fort.
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As one of the museum trustees, Zoe Thompson explained to me: "In 2008 it was discovered through geo-physical probing of the ground that there may well be an earlier Roman fort before Hadrian's. The archeologists have also used geo-phys to trace the buildings, some of them quite large, that line the main street of the Vicus."
So important are the Roman fort remains and the newly-discovered outlines of the Roman town that the entire area is now designated part of the Hadrian's Wall Heritage Site.
Peter Greggains, chairman of the charitable trust that has successfully run the museum since 1990, said that the future of the important Roman museum at Maryport was secure, partly thanks to a recent legacy of around £1 million left to safeguard the collection by former trustee, Graham Harris. Mr Harris was a former schoolteacher and classicist from Ilkely, Yorkshire.
Assistant, and for eight years a volunteer supporter, Vanessa O'Donnell added that the museum is becoming more and more recognised as one of the finest collections of Roman artifacts in the North. It sees 10,000 visitors through its doors each year. With mtanager, Jane Laskey guiding the museum and its enthusiastic volunteers, Hadrian himself would have been delighted to see his own legacy being passed on to both visitors and local schoolchildren.
The museum has new video displays alongside its collection of tombstones dug up from the Roman fort. There is also a reconstruction of a Roman watchtower that gives visitors a birds-eye view over the fort and old town remains.
The museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday until April and thereafter everyday from July to October.
Tel. 01900 816 168
