NUNTIUSThe Newsletter of The Friends of Brading Roman Villa

Nuntius Spring 2013

Two reliefs from the house of Dionysiac Reliefs, Herculaneum

Nuntius Spring 2013

2

Chairman’s Report page 2

The Roman Villa Garden page 3

Treasurer’s Report page 3

Car Boot Sale page 3

Life and Death in Pompeii & Herculaneum page 4

Day trip to Fishbourne and Bignor Roman Villas page 6

Membership Report page 7

Coffee Morning page 7

Pompeii Exhibition at the British Museum page 7

Forthcoming trip to Pompeii & Herculaneum page 8

The Roman Landscape project page 11

A Docent page 11

The Brighstone Hoard page 12

FBRV Lecture Series page 13

Once again a party of 24 adventurous Vectis natives left Brading Villa to make contact with and to explore more of theRoman sites over the water. On the 20th April we visited Bignor Roman Villa and Fishbourne Roman Palace, and toround off the day we called in to Portchester Castle, the most impressive and best-preserved of the Roman 'Saxonshore' forts. As well as having a good time, we managed to raise £174 profit, to be added to the FBRV British Museumexhibition fund. I would like to thank Ann Evans for running a raffle on the coach and for donating the prizes.

As people were leaving the coach at Brading, someone (I know who you are) made the suggestion that our next tripshould be to Pompeii. Thinking this to be a good idea, I have been in talks with a travel company that specialises inhistorical tours, and the results are that we can have a 4 day tour to Pompeii and other sites around Naples for £695pp staying in a 4star hotel, Dinner Bed and Breakfast. The suggested date for the trip is 17th May 2014. For full detailsplease see page 8.

As reported in an earlier copy of Nuntius, Brading Villa has achieved Museum partnership status with the BritishMuseum to enable a major exhibition of 50 Roman artifacts, including the Warren Cup, to be loaned and displayed atBrading. However, before the exhibition can take place, a specialist secure display area has to be constructed at theback of the museum. With this in mind, your trustees have for some time been ring fencing funds to assist theOglander Roman Trust to build the display area. To date we have ring fenced £7,000. Whilst this is a substantial sum,up to £80,000 may be needed to complete the task.

The good news is that the Arts Council has awarded the Villa a £50,000 grant towards the building costs.Unfortunately, this will leave a shortfall of over £20,000. Your trustees will be looking at ways to help raise this, andwe need your help. If you feel that you can assist in anyway, such as running a fundraising event, or by a directdonation, please feel free to contact myself or any of the trustees with your ideas.

More Good News.

On the 1st of May Pat Barber and I paid a visit to the British Museum Coins and Medals department to pick up a hoardof Roman Coins that had been found at Brighstone. See page 12 for Pat’s report.

Roman Landscape Project.Recently the ORT has held several consultation sessions to inform the Villa staff, FBRV, and the wider communityabout the proposed plans and ideas for the Roman Landscape Project. As well as being informative, these sessionswere held so that people could voice their ideas and opinions. The wealth of expertise, suggestions and ideas comingforward from the consultation sessions has given much food for thought, enabling the ORT to move forward with theProject. With this in mind, a special edition of Nuntius covering the Roman Landscape Project will be publishedshortly.

I would like to end by thanking you for your continuing support of the FBRV, and to thank the volunteers/trustees whogive their time and energy in many ways in order to help the Villa function as a first class museum and visitorattraction.

I look forward to meeting you at the Villa. David Reeves.Chairman FBRV.

Contents:

Chairman‛s Report:

3

Nuntius Spring 2013

The garden was first designedand planted by the Isle of WightGardens trust in 1997. After thefirst plantings it was found thatsome of the plants were notsuitable for the area due to theproximity of the sea or the soil andof course the rabbits had a fieldday with the new plantings.

The rabbits continued to be a bigproblem because no sooner hadany new plants arrived they thoughtit was picnic time and devouredthem. This was very dishearteningfor the gardeners and so it wasdecided to install fencing to eachsection of the garden. This isproving very effective at last.

Two years ago it was felt that thewooden fencing around the gardenwas beginning to show its age,needing a lot of work. The cost toreplace it was prohibitive, so thedecision was taken to plant a boxhedge around the perimeter of the

garden and eventually this wouldbe of sufficient height so the oldfencing could be removed.The new trees arrived a day earlierthan the suppliers had advised.This was lucky because that nightwe had about 2 inches of snow andthe forecast was for more to come.

Three members of the gardeninggroup decided the plants had to goin because they were bare rootedand would not have lasted long. Ittook about three hours and frequentcoffee breaks in between to warmup and finish the plantings. Eventhe C.E.O., Chis, helped by puttinga sprinkling of bone meal in theholes prior to planting. Thefollowing night we had about 6inches of snow which made us gladthat we had made the effort.

In 2010 with the help of Joy andErica, two mosaic pavings weremade as a project for adults withlearning difficulties from the RydeHouse group. These were officiallyopened in the rain by Peter Brand.They are now in the process ofbeing refurbished ready to go backin the garden.

In 2010 a plant sale was arrangedin conjunction with the Brading day.This raised in the region of £40.After this sale a table was set up by

the entrance to try and raise fundsfor the garden. Eventually it was feltthat a more professional lookingstand was needed.This was made for us by one of ourfriends.

This has proved to be a very goodfund raiser, but a steady supply ofplants have to be found. So far wehave had a lot of plants and potsdonated which has helpedconsiderably.

Perhaps some of our friends whohave surplus plants would like todonate them to the gardeninggroup. Also more volunteers areneeded to help maintain thegarden, so if you feel that you wouldlike to donate plants or your timeplease contact John Hardy on01983 407660.

John Hardy

The Roman Villa Garden

Car Boot SaleThe Sandown Rotary Club will beholding a Car Boot sale at the Villaevery Sunday until September,starting on the 19th May. If youhave anything to sell please justturn up on a Sunday or comealong and be the first to grab abargain. It is £5 per pitch, with freeentry to the public. Setting up timeis from 9am, open to the public at10am.

Treasurer’s Report

For the Half Year ended 31 March 2013

I have prepared interim accounts for the above period and am pleasedto report that the Friendshave achieved a surplus of £2,485. This is made up of Income £4,730less Expenditure £2,245.This has enabled the Trustees (together with generous donations totalling£1,500) to earmark funds of £7.000 towards the new display area thatneeds to be built, to house the forthcoming roman artefacts beingloaned by the British Museum.The Friends’ Trustees are now in close consultations to support theORT’s future financial requirements not only on this project but also onthe Roman Landscape Project.

Harry HarrisonTreasurer

Nuntius Spring 2013

4

Pompeii and Herculaneum, two Roman cities insouthern Italy, were destroyed in just 24 hours by thecatastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.This disastrous event preserved them, beneath theash and volcanic debris, until their rediscovery nearly1,700 years later (Fig. 2). From the moment of theirrediscovery until the present day, they havecontinued to provide an incredible insight into twoordinary cities belonging to the Roman Empire. Nextmonth the major exhibition 'Life and death in Pompeii

and Herculaneum' opens at the British Museum. Theexhibition focuses on the lives of ordinary peoplewithin the most universal context: the home. As aresult of close collaboration with the ArchaeologicalSuperintendency of Naples and Pompeii, over 300objects from the cities will be on display, includingboth recent discoveries and celebrated finds fromearlier excavations.

The exhibition begins with the wider context of thehome: the bustling streets and public spaces of thecities, where citizens jostled for power and influence.A marble statue of the priestess Eumachia, stillbearing traces of the orange-red pigment used for herhair, was discovered in the largest building on theforum at Pompeii. As a woman, Eumachia wasunable to vote or stand for civic office, yet she wasclearly able to own and dispose of her wealth, as thebuilding in which this statue was found was built withher own money and dedicated in her name.

From the street, and the shops and bars which linedit, the visitor will pass into the house itself. Theimagined rooms of a Roman home will be explored,beginning in the atrium and moving through thebedroom, garden, dining and living rooms, and finallythe kitchen. The objects exhibited in these spacesrange from the finest frescoes and intricate mosaics,to bronze cooking vessels and terracotta plant pots,allowing us to explore all aspects of daily domesticlife.

In the atrium, where the family displayed their wealth,power and piety to the gods, is a striking fresco of thebakery owner Terentius Neo and his wife. Terentiuswears a white toga, perhaps the toga candida,identifying him as a candidatus – a contender forpolitical office. His wife holds a three-part writingtablet (triptych) and in the other hand a stylus, whilehe holds a scroll, indicating that they are not onlypartners in marriage, but also in business. The real

people of the cities, like Terentius and his wife, arerevealed through items which we can imagine theymight have owned. Among these is one of the mostremarkable pieces in the exhibition: a baby's rockingcradle (Fig. 1). Instantly carbonized during theeruption, the cradle is one of a number of rare piecesof wooden furniture which survive only inHerculaneum, because the city was engulfed byextremely high temperatures of up to 400°C.

Leaving the house behind, the final section of theexhibition looks at the death of the cities. Theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 did not featurelava, but something far more deadly. The volcanothrew up a column of superheated gas and ash thatreached 20 miles into the sky. Due to the direction ofthe wind, Pompeii was showered in pumice, theweight of which caused buildings to give way. Whenthe column above the volcano finally collapsed itcreated pyroclastic surges (avalanches of volcanicdebris) which wiped out Herculaneum during thenight, and Pompeii the next morning. Casts of someof the victims from Pompeii, and personal itemsfound with the skeletons discovered on the ancientshore of Herculaneum in the 1980s, make thetragedy of the disaster and the loss of life a poignantreality.

Fig. 1. Carbonised wooden cradle. From theHouse of MPP Granianus, Herculaneum, firstcentury AD. Photo: © Soprintendenza Speciale

per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei /

Trustees of the British Museum.

5

Nuntius Spring 2013

More recent discoveries remind us that work stillcontinues at the sites, and of the exciting possibilitiesfor future discoveries and research. The work of theHerculaneum Conservation Project has resulted in anumber of finds, including the excavation of a largecesspit situated under a row of houses andworkshops in Herculaneum. The material rangesfrom pottery and glass vessels to oil lamps andbeautifully incised gemstones, all deposited in theyears leading up to the eruption. From the drain wemove to one of the most opulently decorated housesin Herculaneum, where two fine marble relief panelswere set into the adjacent walls of a room (Fig. 3).One of these panels shows a ceremony in honour ofthe god Bacchus, and was only discovered byarchaeologists from the Superintendency in 2009, asthey were completing earlier excavations.

These and, indeed, all of the fascinating exhibits,were once the possessions of the people of the cities,who would have used them and admired them duringthe course of their daily lives. We hope that theexhibition will bring these people to life for our visitors.

The exhibition is sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Fig. 3. Top: relief with Bacchus and followers.Bottom: relief with satyr and maenads. Marblewall panels from the House of the DionysiacReliefs, Herculaneum, first century AD.Photos:

© Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni

Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei / Trustees of the

British Museum.

Fig. 2. Pompeii, Bay of Naples, Italy, 2012.Photo: © Soprintendenza Speciale per i

Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei / Trustees

of the British Museum.

Article first published in the ARA NEWS,

March 2013 Issue 29 and reproduced by kind

permission of the British Museum.

Nuntius Spring 2013

6

Saturday 20th April 2013

We arrived by 8 am at BradingRoman Villa car park, for our muchanticipated day away on themainland. I personally don’t gothere very often so this was achance to see what it was like!!

With everyone on the coach, andour driver Tony, not Mike, as thename above his seat suggested,we headed off for the ferry, all 24 ofus.

The day looked like it was going tobe bright and sunny, which wasgood, who needs bad weather tospoil our day, all the planning andorganisation would have beenruined.

Once on the mainland, we headedto our first port of call, BignorRoman Villa, a lovely little villasituated just north of Chichester, inthe beautiful South Downs NationalPark. Bignor Roman Villa is ownedand run by a local family and ourtour guide Lisa was lovely.

The Villa mosaics are covered withthatched roofing and from theoutside looks like old farmbuildings. Once inside however themosaics are absolutely beautiful,well worth a second visit, David!

So back on the coach for thesecond of our guided tours this timeto Fishbourne Roman Palace, that’swhat all the road signs tell you onapproach to this site. Much biggerand yes palatial, does what it sayson the tin.

Once inside we were greeted byour tour guide, Bob, and what Bobdoesn’t know isn’t worth asking, he

was just amazing and veryinformative. We were able towander around the mosaics andsee for ourselves the stunningbeauty, created by the Romans allthose years ago.

Fishbourne Roman Palace is thelargest domestic roman building yetfound in Britain. The person whoresided here was possibly TiberiusClaudius Togidubnus, said to beking of this part of Britain in the firstcentury AD.

Once our tour guide had finishedhis extensive talk on the mosaics,we were able to take refreshmentsin the nearby cafeteria, then backon the coach, for our homewardbound journey, well not quite.

The coach driver, Tony, took us ona little extra guided tour on thecoach, across the top of PortsdownHill, spectacular views of the Isle ofWight from up there and once we

Friends of Brading Roman VillaDay Trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace

and Bignor Roman Villa

Frieze depicts two Gladiators in asequence of fighting scenes

Approach to Bignor Roman Villa

In this mosaic the Gladiator lies injured.Note his leg bleeding

Guide Bob talking to our group

Beautiful mosaic with in the middleCupid riding a dolphin

7

Nuntius Spring 2013

were down from the hill we went toPortchester Castle.

This was the extra bit David hadpromised (if we had time)! Weenjoyed a wander within the

grounds of the castle and onto thewaterfront, and the little churchyard.

We all had ice creams or ice lollies,in my case Apple Cider Lolly,haven’t had one of those for ages!

I would really recommend any oneto go on the trips run by Friends ofBrading Roman Villa, excellentvalue for money, good company,lots of laughs and lots of veryinteresting historical facts.

Rumour has it we are going muchfurther afield next time, I can’t wait!

June Bryant

The church inside the castle walls

Pompeii exhibition live at theBritishMuseum.

If you are unable to visit theBritish Museum’s Pompeiiexhibition in person, you nowhave a chance to see the nextbest thing.

Don’t miss the world premièreof Pompeii Live – the first livecinema event produced by theBritish Museum from a majorexhibition. See the wonders ofthe exhibition from the comfortof the cinema, introduced live byPeter Snow and BettanyHughes, along with Mary Beard,Rachel de Thame, GiorgioLocatelli, Exhibition CuratorPaul Roberts and BritishMuseum Director NeilMacGregor who bring uniqueinsights in this exciting newevent.

Plus, you’ll see specially madefilms of Pompeii andHerculaneum today, and gobehind the scenes of theexhibition to explore the storiesof these famous Roman cities.

This live broadcast will beshown at Cineworld NewportIOW on Tuesday 18th June at7pm.Adult= £14.20, child, studentand senior £12.10. Tickets arenow on sale at Cineworld.Note – if you do not live on theIsland, this is a nationwidebroadcast. Please check forviewings with your localcinemas, or the BM website.

Trustees have been asked if it ispossible to hold Friends coffeemornings at the Villa. This wouldgive Friends a chance to meeteach other and for those Friendsnot on email to keep up to datewith Villa News. It has beendecided to hold a Coffee morningon the first Tuesday of eachmonth, starting on Tuesday 4th

June at 11am in the Villa café.Unfortunately we are not able tosupply free refreshments, butplease do come along for a chatand maybe sample the deliciouscakes made at the Villa.

Coffee Morning

Membership Report.

I have been doing the job of membership secretary for 15 months. Duringthat time membership levels have been fluctuating, with any newmembers being offset by those members who have allowed theirmembership to lapse.

New member registrations have now become stagnant, causing adownward trend in levels to 275 members at time of publishing. This willbe partly due to the economic situation here and in Europe, and partly the effect ofage catching up with many of us.

We are about to start a new and exciting phase at the Brading RomanVilla. Hopefully this will entice more people to become part of this veryimportant historical feature of the Isle of Wight.

May I take this opportunity to ask members who pay by standing order tokeep their bank payment mandates up to date! So often S/O paymentsare made at the old rate. I then have to write to the member, whichmeans extra postage and stationery costs; money which would otherwisebe used to the advantage of the villa. Occasionally a member evenforgets they have a S/O mandate and pays a second time. This againmeans additional cost in making a refund to the member!

John Bryant Membership Secretary.

Nuntius Spring 2013

8

17 May 2014

To keep the cost to a reasonable level we havelooked at a short break of 4 Nights.Booking through Global West Travel based inChippenham, Wiltshire. Global West are specialistsin Archaeological trips.

We will be staying in Naples at the 4 Star HotelMercure Angioino, close to the water front andCastle.

Half Board, (Bed, Breakfast & Evening Meal).Private Transfers from airport to hotel.3 full day Excursions (see below)

British Airways flight from London Gatwick toNaples 17th May.Depart: 1705. Arriving: 2045 local time.

Returning: on the 21st May. Depart Naples1310. Arrive Gatwick 1455.

On the 24th of August, AD 79, Pompeii, along withthe neighbouring towns of Herculaneum, Capua andOplontis were mostly destroyed and buried under 4to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruptionof Mount Vesuvius.

After two successful coach trips taking Friends to visit Villas on the

mainland, it was suggested that we go further afield and visit

Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Mount Vesuvius from The Forum Pompeii

9

Nuntius Spring 2013

Day 1- 17th May

Travel out

Day 2 -18th May

A guided visit to Pompeii

The city of Pompeii was an ancient Romantown/city near modern Naples in the Italian regionof Campania, in the territory of the Commune ofPompeii. It is believed that the town was foundedin the seventh or sixth century BC and wascaptured by the Romans in 80 BC. By the time ofits destruction, 160 years later, its population wasprobably approximately 20,000, with a complexwater system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium anda port.Evidence for the destruction originally came froma surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who sawthe eruption from a distance and described thedeath of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral ofthe Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. Thesite was lost for about 1500 years until its initialrediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscoveryalmost 150 years later by the Spanish engineer,Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. Theobjects that lay beneath the city have been wellpreserved for thousands of years because of thelack of air and moisture. These artifacts providean extraordinarily detailed insight into the life ofthe city. During the excavation, plaster was usedto fill in the voids between the ash layers thatonce held human bodies. This allowed one to seethe exact position the person was in when theydied.

Morning of Day 3 -19th May

A guided half day tour of Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was rediscovered in the mid-eighteenth century. It was explored by means ofdigging tunnels into the buildings. In the Villa ofthe Papyri, over 1500 scrolls were discovered –the only library from the ancient Greco-Roman world to survive into the modern era.

Archaeologists continue to make newdiscoveries; at the end of the 20th century it wasdiscovered that the seafront warehouses werefilled with the skeletons of people who had hoped

to escape the volcanic eruption engulfing theirtown by setting out to sea.

The pyroclastic flows that engulfed the town weresufficiently hot to carbonise organic material andcause the instant death of anyone still in the townat that point.

For more information visit:http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/829/gallery/

Afternoon of Day 3

A guided half day tour of Santa Maria Capua

Vetere, an amazing ancient Roman

amphitheatre in the Campania countryside

At the edge of this little town in the Campaniainterior lie the hulking remains of the largestamphitheatre in Italy after Rome's Colosseum.Though much of its 560 by 460 foot bulk has beenpillaged for building materials over the centuries,the carcass that remains of this grand sportsarena, in what was once southern Italy's richestcity, is impressive.Capua dates back to the Oscans (who peopledthis region before even the Etruscans), andthough it put itself under Roman rule in 343 BC,it was always a little rebellious. Capua even gavesafe harbour to Rome's great enemy Hannibal inthe 3rd century BC.You can still wander the vaults under the grassyfloor of the amphitheatre where in 73 BC agladiator named Spartacus began his slaverevolt against Rome. Some finely carvedfragments of statuary and friezes lie scatteredabout the entrance to the site.

The ancient Roman amphitheatre at Santa Maria Capua Vetere. (Photo by Stanley Goodspeed)

Nuntius Spring 2013

10

For more information visit:http://touritaly.org/tours/capua/capua-main.htm

Day 4- 20th May

A half day guided visit to the Villa Poppea.

Followed by a half day at leisure

Why not visit Naples Museum !

The Villa Poppea is an ancient Roman seasidevilla situated between Naples and Sorrento, insouthern Italy. It is also referred to as the VillaOplontis. The villa itself is a large structuresituated in the ancient Roman town of Oplontis(the modern Torre Annunziata), about ten metresbelow the modern ground level. Evidencesuggests that it was owned by the Emperor Nero,and believed to have been used by his secondand rather notorious wife, Poppaea Sabina, asher main residence when she was not in Rome.Like many of the frescoes that were preserveddue to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, thosedecorating the walls of the Villa Poppaea arestriking both in form and in color. Many of thefrescoes are in the “Second Style” (also calledthe Architectural Style) of ancient Romanpainting, dating to ca. 90-25 BC as classified in1899 by August Mau in the book Pompeii: Its Life

and Art (Berry, 171). Details include feignedarchitectural features such as trompe-l'œil

windows, doors, and painted columns.

The CaldariumFrescoes in the caldarium depicting Hercules inthe Garden of the Hesperides are painted in the

"Third Style" (also called the Ornate Style) datingfrom ca. 25 BC according to Mau (Berry, 170).Attention to realistic perspective is abandoned infavor of flatness and elongated architecturalforms which “form a kind of shrine" around acentral scene, which is often mythological (Berry,170).Immediately to the west of the triclinium is a largeoecus, which was the main living room of aRoman house. Like the caldarium frescoes, theroom is also painted in the Second Style. Theeast wall includes some wonderful details suchas a theatre mask and peacock (Wallace-Hadrill,27).Much attention has been paid to the allusions tostage painting (scenae frons) in the Villa Poppaeafrescoes, particularly those in Room 23 (Wallace-Hadrill, 27; Coarelli, et al., 372; Clarke, 117).For more information visit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_PoppaeaHalf day at leisure

Day 5. 21st May Return home.

PLEASE NOTE: The cost is based on 2 peoplesharing a room.There is a single occupancy supplement.

TWIN/DOUBLE, Dinner Bed & Breakfast = £695 perperson.SINGLE OCCUPANCY SUPPLEMENT £200 total =£895

EACH DAYS EXCURSIONS: £64 PP. TOTAL FORALL 3 EXCURSIONS £192 PPPRICE INCLUDES: COACH, ENTRANCE FEES, AGUIDE, AND ALL TAXES.

It is advised that you have travel insurance

in place before booking.

To register your interest please contact DavidReeves:friends@bradingromanvilla.org.ukor 07775 606 812

To secure your place, a deposit of £300pp willbe required.

11

Nuntius Spring 2013

Nuntius is now only being producedelectronically, relieving The Friendsof the printing & postage cost. Thisenables us to increase its size, andhopefully instil a greater interest inthe product.With the greater size comes theneed for more interesting articles.

The Friends of Brading Roman Villahave also taken control of theFriends section of the BradingRoman Villa web site.

If anyone has anything of interestpertaining to the Brading RomanVilla, Roman IOW, or RomanHistory, we would be pleased toreceive your article, with pictures ifyou have them. We cannotguarantee they will be used, but Iassure you it is our intention tomake use of anything of interest,either in Nuntius or on the web site!

Please send any articles tomembers@bradingromanvilla.org.uk

Would readers please note:All editions of Nuntius will beposted to the web site 2 monthsafter publication.

We look forward to your input.

Friends web site:www.bradingromanvilla.org.uk/friends

A DOCENTNo, I hadn’t heard of it either. Withcustomary tenacity, Chris Piggot –the Villa’s CEO, followed up aconversation about titles given toguides/volunteers and came upwith “ Docent”. In the states thereare “ Docents “ who are junioracademics, and in museums theyare guides. Sometimes. I’veisolated this word because itdoesn’t always impress and asearly as 1984 The New ZealandHerald describes it as “ ugly, un-English, unfamiliar or harshsounding.” ( Thank goodness forWikipedia ). I mention it now for tworeasons. First, about two weeksago a docent introduced himself tome, which explains why he seemedmore interested in the approachthat I was taking than the content.He works at the Burke Institute,Washington DC and when this wasrevealed I wanted to discuss hisapproach to work as opposed todetails of George Washington andRonald Reagan. At present thereseems to be a sparkling focus onhistory/archaeology on televisionand visitors appear to be betterinformed than ever. The number ofvolunteers who have expressed aninterest in guiding has reflected thepre- occupation with the past. Theexcellent series, “ Archaeology : ASecret History “ presented by DrRichard Miles describes theincreasing importance of carbon

dating, chemical analysis andaerial photography and a range ofdevelopments. The series secret,of course, is that you need toengage your audience and notswamp them with the depth of theunderlying erudition. “ Docent “comes from the Latin verb “ toteach, “ and really it is not enoughto “ machine gun “ visitors withfacts. Reading what a visitor wantsis quite an art and sometimespeace and quiet and to leave aloneis the right assessment. I supposeit is predictable that I should admirethe skills which our guides applyand to make our visitors feel atease is frequently noted, and sothis piece is partly to say a bigthank you to them. Underpinningtheir work is the excellent traininggiven by Helen Jackson. Thesecond reason for these musingsis a description emanating from theSmithsonian Institute regarding theguides on a travelling exhibition.Their job is to “ lead observationand enquiry.” How far we havecome ! There is a photograph of aguide leaning against the gate toCarisbrooke Castle in 1862. By1860, twenty horse buses pliedbetween the Castle and Newportin the Summer months. The guidewas blind.

Ivan Harwood, Head of Guides

In MemoriamTerry Manley who died at the age of 84 on February 15th 2013. He joined us as a generalvolunteer in 2007. He was a writer and poet, and his contribution to The Friends was unique,particularly in the upkeep of our garden which he thoroughly enjoyed doing. We will miss him alot.

Another good Friend, David Burch, died on 29th April, 2013, aged 80. David joined us in2003 and helped with the formation of The Friends organisation in its early days. We benefitedgreatly from his very broadly based knowledge and experience as he helped steer us in the rightdirection. He continued as a museum guide and his calm, informative style made him a muchvalued member of the guides team. He, too, will be sadly missed.

To all those buddingwriters and historians

Nuntius Spring 2013

12

Gallienus as sole Emperor AD 260-269

In February 2011 fossil searcherMr Mick Green was walking alongthe cliff top in the Brighstone areawhen he spotted what looked likea bone sticking up out of the soil bythe cliff edge. However, on closerinspection he saw that it waspottery, a jar or flagon. On prisingit out of the soil it fell apart leavingsome sort of large metallic object.When lifting this out a few bits felloff - coins! He had discovered ahoard of several hundred Romancoins, most of which had fusedtogether.

Frank Basford, the Island's FindsLiaison Officer (FLO) for thePortable Antiquities Scheme(PAS), was informed, photographswere taken and the find recorded.Ten or more coins which are overthree hundred years old and whichare found together are classified asTreasure, and must be reported tothe Coroner under the TreasureAct 1996. This Frank did on behalfof Mr Green and the owner of theland on which the coins werefound. On being declaredTreasure, the coins were taken tothe British Museum for cleaning,identification and valuation.

Mr Green, as finder, was entitled tothe hoard when no museumshowed interest in acquiring it. Thelandowner claimed his share of theReward (the value of the hoard asdecided by the British Museum) butMr Green wanted the hoard to go

to Brading Roman Villa. If the Villaaccepted the hoard he wouldgenerously waive his Reward oncondition that the coins would beon public display. This was agreed,a suitable place found and theOglander Roman Trust asked theFriends if, under the Treasure Act,we would be willing to pay theBritish Museum the Reward due tothe landowner - in effect buy thehoard - and donate it to BradingRoman Villa.

This was unanimously agreed atthe Friends' Trustees meeting inMarch. Arrangements were madeand on 1st May David Reeves,Chairman, and Pat Barber, ViceChairman, travelled to the BritishMuseum to collect the coins.

We were to meet Caroline Bartonin the Coins & Medals Department.The instructions told us that herewe would find a pair of metal doorsand we were to press the doorbellto gain entry. First find the rightmetal doors then search for thedoorbell! Having passed that test(just) we were ushered into a smallreception area overflowing withlever arch files and referencebooks where we were met byCaroline. She then led us down anarrow spiral staircase into thebowels of the British Museum,along a narrow corridor or two andinto a probably large roomcrammed with rows and rows ofbookcases containing, by the lookof it, both reference books andcases of coins for reference. A

narrow table by a long windowgave natural light and it was herethat the experts had their desksand examined the coins.

She brought out three Tupperwareboxes and handed them to us. Wasthat it? However, inside each boxwere brown envelopes containingall the coins, cleaned andstabilised, and separated into thereigns and mints of the differentEmperors. Caroline said it wasalways a pleasure to receive itemsfrom the Isle of Wight as the metaldetectorists are so good atproviding accurate details andinforming Frank Basford of theirfinds who records everything soclearly.

So, what did we collect from theBritish Museum?

The hoard consists of at least 696copper alloy radiates all datingfrom between 253/260 and 274.They are known as 'radiates' fromthe style of 'crown' worn by theEmperors on these coins. At thistime Roman Britain was part of a

The Brighstone Hoard

Gallienus AD 260-268

Claudius II AD 268-270

Postumus AD 260-269

13

Nuntius Spring 2013

break-away Gallic Empire and 497of the coins are of these Gallicemperors, mostly Postumus (AD260-269), Victorinus (AD 269-271),and Tetricus I & II (AD 271-274).Of the 154 coins from the main orCentral Empire most are ofGallienus (AD 253-268) andClaudius II (AD 268-270). Thereare over 45 coins which are eithertoo damaged or fragmented to beidentified with any certainty.

There were no banks in RomanBritain: coins were put into potswhich were buried somewheresafe, either within the home orgrounds, or outside. TheBrighstone Hoard was buried in aNew Forest ware flagon with a lidmade from a broken piece of BlackBurnished ware (BB1) from Dorset.Where the side of the flagon hadbeen exposed the colour coatinghad worn off which is why, from adistance, Mr Green thought it wasa piece of bone.

Hoards must have beenreasonably common in the Romanperiod. Coins would have beenadded to the pot or removed foruse when needed. It is not so muchwhy the coins were buried,

therefore, but why they were notrecovered. About thirty five coinhoards are known from the Isle ofWight, five of which have exactlythe same date range as that fromBrighstone. Hoards of this date arealso common on the mainland.Why is this?

Today, coins are tokens: a £1 coinis not worth one pound, it is itsvalue, much like a £5 note "Ipromise to pay the bearer...". In theRoman period this was not thecase. During the third century,however, the Emperors debasedthe coinage so much that by the270s there was no bronze at all inbronze coins. Hoards likeBrighstone were therefore probablyburied not because they werevaluable but exactly the opposite.They might have come in useful sothey were buried just in case; butthe fact that so many appear not tohave been recovered suggests thatthey never did come in useful.

So if they are so common whybother buying the Brighstonehoard? Because much can belearnt from the composition of coinhoards, the emperors, the mints. Itis already known that coin loss ingeneral on Roman Isle of Wighthas a very different pattern fromanywhere else in Roman Britain.Something different washappening on our Island and at themoment no-one is quite sure what.It is important, therefore, that theBrighstone Hoard is kept intact and

available for study. And wherebetter than Brading Roman Villa?

Details of the Brighstone Hoardcan be found on the PortableAntiquities Scheme website atwww.finds.org.uk under referenceIOW-8E7B71

More information about Romancoins and hoards can be found in:The Coinage of Roman Britain byRichard Reece published byTempus in 2002;The Finds of Roman Britain byGuy de la Bedoyere published byBatsford in 1989

For information on Roman coinloss on the Isle of Wight see:The Roman Villa at Brading Isle

of Wight by Barry Cunliffepublished by Oxford Universityin 2013, pp210-214;

Rethinking Roman Britain byPhilippa Walton, unpublished PhDthesis 2011 University CollegeLondon available athttp://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/theses/UCL_Thesis.html

If you find something that youwant identified contact theIsland's friendly FLO FrankBasford on 01983-823810 orFrank.Basford@iow.gov.uk

Postumus AD 260-269

Tetricus AD 271-274

Tetricus II

Courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Article by Pat Barber

The Friends of Brading Roman VillaReg. Charity No. 1110720

Morton Old Road, Brading, Is le of Wight, PO36 0PHEmail: f r iends@bradingromanvil la.org.uk

NUNTIUS is pr inted and publ ished by The Fr iends of Brad ing Roman Vi l l a.I t does not necessar i l y represent the v iews or opinions of the Staf f Archaeolog is ts, or the Trustees of the

Oglander Roman Trust , and no respons ibi l i t y is taken for the accuracy or val id i t y of the contents.

FBRV Trustees and OfficersChairman: David Reeves; Vice-Chairman: Patricia Barber; Treasurer: Harry Harrison; Membership Secretary: John Bryant

www.bradingromanvilla.org.ukTelephone 01983612327 / 07775606812

FBRV Winter Lecture Series – 2013/14

Sir Bar ry Cunl i ffeback at the

B r a d i n g R o m a n V i l l aGiving one of his talks

on

Friday 27th SeptemberTime to be decided

Price £10 per person ...... £8 FBRV members

Saturday 12th OctoberNick Minns

talking about

The Philosopher & ArchitectRobert Hooke

at

2:30 p.m.Price £5 per person .... £4 FBRV members

Saturday November 9thAt

2:30 p.m.Rosemary Cooper

gives a talk on

Princess ElizabethCharles I’s daughter

who died atCarisbrooke Castle

Price £5 per person .... £4 FBRV members

Saturday December 14that

2:30 p.m.Caroline Haynes

Talks about

Bursledon Brick worksPrice £5 per person .... £4 FBRV members

Saturday January 11that

2:30 p.m.

Roger Whitby Smithgives a follow up talk about

Naval Expressionsin Everyday use

in the English LanguagePrice £5 per person .... £4 FBRV members

Appeals:

An activity popular with themany school children whovisit the Villa is brassrubbing. Do you have anyspare white copier paper thatyou can donate? If so, itwould be greatly appreciated.If you can donate some paper,please hand it in at the Villareception on your next visit.

One of the fundraisingactivities that the FBRV carryout is to hold a raffle at theWinter Lectures, with theproceeds helping to fund theLectures. Can you help bydonating something that canbe used as a prize? If so,please contact,

David Reevesfriends@bradingromanvilla.org.uk