Canterbury Roman Museum

15/11/2024

🧣Time to see the fabric seller!

It’s getting colder in Roman Canterbury so let’s see what he’s got.

🧵 British cloth was regarded as some of the best in the Empire. The skilled women who wove the fabric made cloth in different thicknesses for summer or winter - it was said that some British wool was as thin as a spider’s web. Linen and silk, which the Romans imported, were scarce in Britain.
Nearly everyone in Canterbury would have worn woollen clothing and as the weather turned colder, they needed it!

The British weavers continued to make cloth in the same way after the Romans arrived, and even wove the same tartan patterns as they had before.

🌿 The wools in the marketplace at the museum have been dyed with colours from plant dyes known to the Romans - madder (red), weld (yellow), nettle (green) and blackberry!

Image 1: reconstruction of a fabric seller in a Roman marketplace. The mannequin is dressed in warm woollen clothes and various fabrics are on display along with a large loom.

Image 2: close up of a mannequins representing a Roman man selling fabric.

06/11/2024

We'll be at the Canterbury Heritage Expo 2024!

Event Highlights:

🌟 Meet the Experts - Chat with architects, archaeologists, conservationists, and historians at over 30 stalls.

🗣️ Inspiring Talks - Listen to a series of talks by leading figures in the heritage sector, sharing insights into their work and the fascinating history of Canterbury.

🎓 Opportunities Await - Discover volunteering, apprenticeship, and job opportunities within the heritage sector—perfect for students, career switchers, or anyone looking to get involved.

🌐 Community Spirit - celebrate the community efforts that make Canterbury a place of both historical significance and modern vibrancy.

🌟Chance to win a £40 Canterbury Gift Card – perfect for shopping, dining, and exploring all our city has to offer!

11am to 4pm
Saturday 9 November
Westgate Hall, Canterbury

See you there!

Image: A blue graphic with a black and white photo of a Canterbury street. A White logo at the top reads 'The Canterbury Society presents' another reads 'free entry'. The large yellow text reads 'Heritage Expo 2024'

30/10/2024

30/10/2024

🙌 Get hands on with history this Half Term!

Learn all about life in Roman Canterbury through interactive exhibits that are fun for the whole family.

Kids Go Free Saturday 26 October - Sunday 3 November 2024 (2 kids go free per paying adult)

🫳 Pick up a Mosaic Makers Kit to continue the fun back at home! Kits are available from the museum information desk for £6

Image: Two young girls using a loom to weave some textiles with colourful wool.

25/10/2024

📣 It’s Half Term and Kids Go Free!*

What better time to explore some rotten Roman history!

Play games, try on helmets and armour and explore Roman Canterbury together.

👌 You can even pick up a Mosaic Maker Kit (£6) to recreate a miniature piece of Roman history at the museum or back at home!

* Kids Go Free Saturday 26 October - Sunday 3 November 2024 (2 kids go free per paying adult)

Image: a magnetic board with small square tiles in black, white and browns. There tiles form the words ‘Kids Go Free’

18/10/2024

🏷 A Roman enamelled chatelaine

Chatelaines like this were often hung from the waist and were equipped with various toilet implements.

This one has distinctive blue and gold enamel decoration and was unearthed in the nineteenth century!

📍 You can see it on display next to a drawing of the item by Victorian Archaeologist John Brent who enthusiastically recorded finds in Kent in the mid 19th century.

Image: A metal artefact that is green with patination. The top piece is arched in shape, below hang six metal toiletry implements, two look like small trowels. The item is decorated with blue and gold enamel which is still clearly visible.

05/10/2024

📐 People always borrowing your tools?

Try inscribing them! It seems like that's what 'G CV VALENO' did sometime in the fourth century. We think that was likely the name of the Roman Citizen who owned and used this carpenter's square.

Cut to shape from sheet bronze, it's a rare find and could have been a prized possession. These tools were used by a joiner or furniture maker to mark out wood before cutting to check the angles of joints during construction.

📍 Find it on display at Canterbury Roman Museum

Canterbury Museums Reference: M I 1426

Image: A bronze tool, a carpenter's square, it has a triangular handle and a long arm for measuring. At the end of is hole and along the arm is a name that has been inscribed in the metal 'G CV VALENO'

27/09/2024

🗺 It's !

Have you enjoyed visiting historic Canterbury? Recommend it to a friend! They may know about the city's famous Cathedral but do they know about Canterbury's ancient Roman History?

Canterbury Roman Museum winds under one of the city streets, step underground and back in time to discover fascinating artefacts, reconstructions of Roman life and the amazing remains of the Roman Town house with it's beautiful mosaic floor.

➡ Visit the museum website to plan a visit!

Image: The remains of a roman mosaic floor created from small square, reddish, black and white tiles. The design is organised into a rectangle, at the centre is a floral design, surrounded by two diamonds and four leaves. Encircling the central design is an interlocking knotted border.

10/09/2024

🔊 Listen here, listen anywhere!

Take our new audio tour with descriptions and insights into some of the most interesting aspects of the Canterbury Roman Museum collection and historic site!

💬 Audio Descriptions are used to communicate visual information and are one of the best ways for blind and partially sighted visitors to access things in museum collections.

🙌 These resources were developed in collaboration with Sensing Culture, a group for adults living with sight loss led by artist Wendy Daws. Thank you to everyone for your support and input!

Sensing Culture meet monthly at The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge. Visit The Beaney website to find out more about Health & Wellbeing at the museums.

Take our audio tour with descriptions and insights into some of the most interesting aspects of the museum collection and historic site!um or visit our website!canterburymuseums.co.uk/canterbury-roman-museum/explore-canterbury-roman-museum/listen-here-canterbury-roman-museum/

Image: A poster with an dome shaped iron age helmet and silver spoon engraved with a mythical beast. A hand holds a smart phone seeming to scan some audio descriptions content with a QR code. Gold and white text reads 'Canterbury Roman Museum. Listen here, Listen anywhere. Enhance your visit with audio descriptions and insights into the museum and collection'.

09/09/2024

28/08/2024

👋 We’re looking for people to join our great team! Applications close this Sunday

📣 We're recruiting!

🏛 Do you have a passion for museums and a strong track record of delivering great customer service?

🫵 If so, we want to hear from you about three exciting opportunities:

🧒 3 x Visitor Services Officer roles
💰 £24,347 per annum, pro rata
📆 Applications close 1 September 2024

ℹ Head to the link in the comments to find out more and apply.

10/08/2024

🌞 Kids Go Free* all summer holiday at Canterbury Roman Museum!

🔷 See some amazing artefacts and Canterbury's Roman Town House

🔶 Practice your mosaic making and take part in other fun activities

🔷 Pick up a kit from our gift shop and make your own mosaic at home! £5

Image: a young girl in rainbow striped cardigan and man with curly brown hair creating a mosaic design from magnetic tiles at a museum.

*Kids Go Free: Wednesday 24 July to Sunday 1 September 2024 (2 Kids Go Free per paying adult)

22/07/2024

🌞 Kids Go Free this Summer!*

Travel back to Roman Canterbury this summer holiday:

🍎 Stroll through the marketplace to browse the goods
♟ Stop off at the town house for an ancient board game
🍳 Check what’s cooking in the kitchen
🏛 Pay a visit to the shrine

Together you’ll find an amazing collection of artefacts, fun hands-on activities and the remains of a Roman Town house with beautiful mosaics!

*Kids Go Free Special Offer: Wednesday 24 July to Sunday 1 September 2024 (2 Kids Go Free per paying adult)

👉 Visit our website to plan your visit and get a great day out in the calendar!

16/07/2024

🏷️ So many archaeologists have contributed to uncovering Canterbury’s ancient history…

Victorian archaeologist John Brent (1808-82) was one of them! He was a keen observer of discoveries made during the construction of new railway lines and other projects in the mid-nineteenth century.

📝 Brent set about rescuing and recording objects and information. He also initiated excavations and published the results, including drawings of items he found, like those on display in this reconstruction of his desk at the museum.

Brent’s finds were exhibited at the museum in Maidstone, and also here in Canterbury where he was Honorary Curator.

He wrote many articles and his illustrated book ‘Canterbury in the Olden Time’ was published in 1860.

🏛️ Canterbury Roman Museum is filled with inspirational material for archaeology lovers and what better time to visit than during the !

Visit our website to plan your visit.

06/07/2024

🌙 A splash of colour

Enamelled jewellery like these were popular in Roman Canterbury with people who could afford them.

🔥 Makers would apply colourful broken or powdered glass to the compartments and fuse it to the metal with heat.

If not for the wear and tear, it would be easy to mistake a design like the brooch with four red enamel circles as something much more modern!

28/06/2024

😰 What happened Canterbury!?

⚔️ Political and military struggles in the Roman Empire grew during the fourth century AD, troops were withdrawn from Britain to fight elsewhere which lead to instability…

Excavation evidence in Canterbury shows gradual decline of the town from the mid-fourth century into the fifth. Buildings decayed and collapsed.

🌿 Dark earth overlaying Roman remains indicates overgrowth with vegetation. People appear to have abandoned the town to live elsewhere, but we do not know why. Could it be because of a decline in trade? An outbreak of disease? Or something else…

Piece together the story of Canterbury’s Roman history here at the museum!

22/06/2024

👋 Welcome to late Roman Canterbury…

Evidence from sites damaged by World War 2 bombs and from building developments that followed have helped to create a detailed picture of what Roman Canterbury became.

🏦This artist’s impression is based on archaeological evidence and shows the impressive, fully-developed town with its defensive walls, public buildings and many homes.

The semi-circular building in the centre is the theatre. It was rebuilt to this larger size in AD 220 and was one of the largest in Britain, able to seat 3000 people! The theatre’s stage was found in recent excavations by Canterbury Archaeological Trust, beneath the road next to the Three Tuns pub.

Public baths, constructed about AD 200, have been found below St Margaret’s Street too.

It also seems that the site of Canterbury Cathedral has been a sacred for thousands of years as it was once home to a Roman temple complex!

But the growth of this Roman town wasn’t to last…

16/06/2024

🏛️ Step back in time to Roman Canterbury!

This artist’s impression recreates the early Roman town in about AD 150.

Roman Canterbury, or Durovernum Cantiacorum, was a town of considerable importance. Founded shortly after the Roman invasion of AD43 on the site of an earlier Iron Age settlement.

The town’s key strategic position, at the mouth of the river Stour and centre of a new road system made it an obvious choice for capital city of the administrative area of Cantium.

⚒️ Ground was cleared and gravel streets laid out. Public buildings followed - market (forum), town hall (basilica), theatre and temple. Plots were let for the new citizens to build houses in the Roman way. Main roads linked the new town to London and to the coastal ports, opening up trade links with the Empire.

This artwork was based on archaeological evidence and shows the town’s first public buildings, including the theatre (the semi-circular building at the top right).

Piece together Canterbury’s ancient past with a trip to the museum!

➡️ Visit our website to find out more and plan your visit.