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| The Bybrook which ran past the Roman Temple at Nettleton Shrub |
The things that come up in conversation. Whilst away at the weekend someone asked had I been to Hadrian's Wall. Yes said I but 6 months pregnant, so I did not get far, especially as my son Mark had his foot on my sciatica nerve and I thought I was going to give birth. But Jack rose abruptly from his chair and bought back a heavy thick tome on Roman history with their surname on it and started a conversation.
I found myself defending the Romans after their conquest of Britain and saying they had managed the colonisation of this country pretty well. I had written a few years back as to how the native gods had been paired with the Roman gods, a subtle blending. My old megalithic friends who were all for the prehistoric legends were very dismissive of the Romans seeing them as the out and out enemy.
But during the time of the occupation the Romans brought a degree of civility to the natives, and the showy nature of the Bath or Aqua Sulis Roman temple with its hot bath lays testimony to a civilised culture.
So where am I going with all this? Well Bensozia mentioned Nettleton Shrub Roman Temple the other day and I had the familiar spark of homesickness for the little valley that lies hidden just outside Chippenham along a narrow lane. Wandering along with my collie Moss by the outline of the Roman canalised brook that followed the line of the valley. It was also a designated nature reserve of a chalk landscape.
So this morning I did a rather foolish thing and went and found Wedlake's book on the excavation of the temple. It wasn't expensive ;)
The funny thing is I remembered that my ex-husband of 27 years, and who I talk little of, was an archeology lecturer and had dug at Nettleton shrub in the 1970s. Also my favourite professor Ronald Hutton had stated that this place was also a favourite!
Why 'Nails of Gold'? Because it is one of Weaver's favourite natural plants, the Marsh Marigold or King cup and it has its own small history.
The Roman Temple of Nettleton Shrub
I always rather disliked the Romans. Partly because of their verbs which I could never get the hang of, but also because of the way they built their roads with no regard for the natural lie of the land - something which is almost invariably done by invading or occupying military forces. Nice to hear mention of the Marsh Marigold, one of several plants which I try to photograph every year for my blog; all of them because at some time or another Weaver mentioned that she liked them.
ReplyDeleteI suppose John our dislike of the Romans is instinctive, they 'conquered' us after all. I agree about the roads, there is supposedly one on the North Yorkshire moors, you can walk along it. Their surveyors took sightings from one raised surface to another, although they also used the trackways of the Bronze Age people as well.
DeleteI think the Romans were good for Britain. I see them less as an invading army more of a civilising force with the establishment of Romano-British farms, the road building, the safe passage and trading of goods. We are lucky to have Bignor Villa on our doorstep from which finds are still emerging (on our last visit I was allowed to wear a gold ring that had been found there and I felt so tingly and special) ) and Fishbourne Palace isn’t far away either. I’m hoping their artefacts museum will be open and expertly manned again during Heritage weekend next month as last year’s visit was an eye opener. I had no idea so many Roman objects had survived in such excellent condition and we were allowed to hold some of them too. Only the other week there was an archaeological dig in Priory Park in Chichester (the guildhall stands in the park where William Blake was tried for sedition) and I was able to hold Roman pottery that had just come out of the ground. Oh, I nearly forgot about the Roman garrison at the confluence of the rivers Arun and Rother less than a mile from here. Obviously important to control such an important trading post. My children and I used to regularly field walk and take our Roman, but mostly later, finds to Guildford museum for inspection. Children have good eyes for field-walking and I still have wooden wine boxes of our treasures in the garage. I started learning Latin aged 11 and carried on to A level alongside English, History and French and then after a gap year working on a kibbutz and exploring Israel I sailed to Greece and her islands for the summer before embarking for the port of Brindisi and hitching my way up through Italy. I love Italy and have travelled there often for work both my wine trade job and my ports and terminals job, for the latter I often used to drive from the UK all the way to Trieste. My first ever trip to Venice was as a guest of the port authority - wonderful days. Finally I was at university in Colchester - Britain’s oldest Roman town - and my first ever school project in primary school was on Roman roads. Yes, I think I can safely say I am a fan of the Romans! Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteYou have had a wonderful life of exploring Sarah your memories must give you great pleasure. Fishbourne Palace is witness to great wealth (down South of course) but the establishment of the 'colonia' secured the towns for approximately 400 years. Colchester was of course the place where Boudicca attacked the Romans savagely and ensued her own downfall.
DeleteHave you read Tacitus's 'Conquest of Gaul'? He describes the various attributes of different tribes, including the Britons. He said that the Germans would make formidable warriors if only they stopped fighting amongst themselves. They lacked discipline, apparently...
ReplyDeleteNo Tom, but as my interest unfolds will probably find it. We had all the classical (were they Pelican books?) black history books ranging from Charlemagne to Caesar.
ReplyDeleteWho was it did the TV series of "What the Romans Did for Us" ? I shall investigate.
ReplyDeleteAdam Hart Davis Sue. I clicked on one, a lot of men acting warfare. As it was 2000, the film is very fuzzy.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbJ3WkDxIww
Tim watched a series called 'For Those About to Die'. The thing that will always stop me in my tracks is that they watched people die for entertainment. For all their fine buildings and temples and statuary, they walked a very fine line between civilization and bloodlust.
ReplyDeleteYes that is true Debby. But think, how many people are dying through torture or war killing around the world, we haven't gone forward at all. Perhaps football has replaced the Roman ampitheatre but the human race still practices killing each other.
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