Stoke Mandeville: Roman sculptures

 

Stoke Mandeville: Roman sculptures HS2 find astounding, expert says

Publishe

IMAGE SOURCE,HS2/PA MEDIA

Image caption,Two complete sculptures appearing to be a man and a woman were found at a site in Buckinghamshire

Archaeologists have uncovered an "astounding" set of Roman sculptures on the HS2 rail link route.

Two complete sculptures of what appear to be a man and a woman, plus the head of a child, were found at an abandoned medieval church in Buckinghamshire.

The discoveries at the old St Mary's Church in Stoke Mandeville have been sent for specialist analysis.

Dr Rachel Wood, lead archaeologist for HS2 contractor Fusion JV, said they were "really rare finds in the UK".

"To find one stone head or one set of shoulders would be really astonishing, but we have two complete heads and shoulders as well as a third head as well," said Dr Wood.

"They're even more significant to us archaeologically, because they've actually helped change our understanding of the site here before the medieval church was built."

IMAGE SOURCE,HS2/PA MEDIA

Image caption,The discoveries have been sent for specialist analysis

IMAGE SOURCE,HS2/PA MEDIA

Image caption,Archaeologists have been working at the old St Mary's Church site in Stoke Mandeville

A hexagonal glass Roman jug was also uncovered with large pieces still intact, despite being in the ground for what is thought to be more than 1,000 years.

Dr Wood added: "They are so significant and so remarkable that we would certainly hope that they will end up on display for the local community to see."

Archaeologists have been working on the site and about 3,000 bodies have been removed from the church, which dates back to 1080, and will be reburied elsewhere.

Since work began in 2018, the well-preserved walls and structural features of the church have been revealed, along with unusual stone carvings and medieval graffiti including markings believed to be sun dials or witching marks.

It is believed that the location was used as a Roman mausoleum before the Norman church was built.

 

IPPLEPEN: NEW DISCOVERIES ON THE EDGE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

This exhibition was created with with the British Museum and the University of Exeter to interpret some of the finds from the recent excavations at Ipplepen for the first time.

Metal detectorists Dennis Hewings and Jim Wills, who found 74 Roman coins, between 2007 and 2010, discovered the multi-period archaeological site at Ipplepen. The significance of the finds was recognised through the Portable Antiquities Scheme when the coins were analysed by Sam Moorhead at the British Museum. The sheer number of coins led to a geophysical survey of the area and archaeological excavations led by the University of Exeter followed.

In the past 20 years an increasing number of Roman period finds (many housed in Torquay Museum) are slowly rewriting our understanding of this region of Devon, which was believed to have been relatively untouched by the Roman invasion. Working with the British Museum and the University of Exeter, the exhibition contains innovative graphic interpretation about this developing area of knowledge. The exhibition includes a selection of items from Ipplepen, loans from the British Museum, and many local Romano-British finds and items from across the Roman Empire from Torquay Museum's extensive collections.The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund - Sharing Heritage Fund, The British Museum Trust and Torquay Museum.

A.D. 56 - c. 120

Name: Cornelius Tacitus                   Dates: c. A.D. 56 - c. 120
Occupation: Historian
Importance: Source on Imperial Rome, Roman Britain, and Germanic TribesTacitus Quote "It is the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and say what he thinks.

"Histories
 I.1Tacitus

 Quotes

Biography

Little is known for certain about the origins of Tacitus, although he is believed to have been born, around A.D. 56, into a provincial aristocratic family in Gaul (modern France) or nearby, in the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. We don't even know if his name was "Publius" or "Gaius Cornelius" Tacitus. He had a successful political course, becoming senator, consul, and eventually governor of the Roman province of Asia. He probably lived and wrote into Hadrian's reign (117-38) and may have died in A.D. 120.

Despite a political situation that had provided for his personal success, Tacitus was unhappy with the status quo. He lamented the previous century's reduction of aristocratic power, which was the price of having a princeps 'emperor'