The people, places and events that have shaped our history and culture
Trailing the introduction to my upcoming book. See below to pre-order! Archaeologists believe that the area around the ancient foundations of Rome, bounded by the seven hills to the east of the River Tiber, was settled by at least the Bronze Age (c. 2,400–800 BC). It was unattractive land; a large mosquito-infested flood plain frequently [...]
Beneath York Minster lies the basilica of the Roman fort of York (Eboracum), built around AD 100 (and rediscovered in the 1960s). The basilica was the heart of Roman administration and ceremony in York and was located at the centre of a fortress built in AD 71 during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. At this [...]
Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent was built in around AD 80. World renowned, it's home to a Christian chapel dating from AD 360, >200 years before Augustine of Canterbury arrived on our shores. The wall paintings (housed in the British Museum) are of international importance, depicting worshippers with outstretched arms in prayer alongside the Chi-Rho [...]
Such would have read the headlines of the particulars for one of England's finest Romano-British villas. Four miles from Cirencester, a villa replete with stunning mosaics, two bath houses and a nymphaeum bring AD 400s Romano-Britain to life. Thought to be a villa of high-standing administrators, it would have housed his close and wider family [...]
Henry VIII's main objective was to prevent enemy troops of the European Catholic powers from getting ashore at the Downs, Kent. And to achieve that aim he built a series of heavily armed artillery castles along the Kent Coast. Deal Castle is the most elaborate of these remaining today - sixty cannon (with a range [...]