Romans in Ravenglass Film Transcript (13 minutes and 40 seconds)
Times are shown in the format minute then second. So 01:57 means 1 minute and 57 seconds
00.00 - 00.50 seconds: Music playing
00.50: Peter Frost – Pennington, Managing Director of Muncaster Castle
“Muncaster Castle is reputedly built on Roman Foundations and there is a definite Roman Heritage with Ravenglass originally being a
Roman Port. I believe Agricola sailed in 79AD with his Roman Fleet and used it as a jumping off point for the north of England. It is
believed to be the start of the Hadrianic Frontier, which I understand runs from Ravenglass to Budapest or Syria.
So we are at the edge of empire but my frustration is that for years and years we have been sitting on great archaeology and it is really
relatively untouched. We have the highest freestanding Roman walls in the North of England at the bath house. It is quite a magical
place.
The community are very keen for the project to happen, we as the landowners are keen for the project to happen. Now we are on at the
edge of that tingly feeling. It is almost like unwrapping your Christmas Present – what will be in that box? What will be under the soil?”
01.57: Holly Beavitt-Pike, Archaeology and Heritage Assistant and Romans in Ravenglass Project Manager, Lake District
National Park Authority
“The Lake District National Park Authority is involved because we obviously want to make sure the site is managed and protected for the
future. The only way you can do that is if you have a handle of what you know is actually there.
York Archaeological Trust are running the excavation so they will be on site each day and they will be talking to the volunteers each day,
about how to go about the project. And it’s nice that the York Archaeological Trust are there to help them and to work with the local
community and making their wish happen.”
02.30: Kurt Hunter-Mann, Excavation Project Manager, York Archaeological Trust
“I’ve worked with volunteers for many years. The many techniques they will learn will be to carry out archaeological excavation. That
includes not just digging but recording. So that there will be an archive of what they have dug.
They will also be told about Geophysical Survey and Finds work, so that any finds that they dig up. They are going to wash it, identify it
and mark it up. So it is all there for the archive and posterity. I’m optimistic that we will find something, it is just at this stage we really
have no idea what it’s going to be…”
03.05: Holly Beavitt-Pike, Lake District National Park Authority
“I started at the National Park three years ago. One of my objectivities was to try and develop this community project. I’m really really
looking forward to it. All the bits are coming together and I’m really pleased to say that we will be on site tomorrow.”
03.20 – 04.48: Music playing
04.48: [Volunteers talking about the experience]
04.48: “I always used to enjoy being on my knees in the mud when I was a child. So it is nice to get back to it.”
04.55: “What I get out of it is those stones and who held these the last time. That is what I get out of it.”
05.08: “The Lake District is lucky we have got so many traces right through from the Neolithic to medieval sites that just haven’t been
touched. It is a fascinating landscape.”
05.20: “You never know quite what you are going to find. And the company is good.”
05.35: “I didn’t think I would be sitting in the sunshine washing little bits of stoneware. It is very therapeutic. I’m really enjoying it.”
05.40: ”It is nice because we are allowed to do anything. We can just choose. If we are interested in doing something, sooner or later we
will be allocated that task, if it is available of course”
06.00 - 06.24: Music playing
06.24: Kurt Hunter-Mann, York Archaeological Trust
“As well as the excavation we’ve got the geophysical survey. That is the other big fieldwork element that we are doing at the minute.
There is the magnetometer which looks at magnetic anomalies in the ground. So things like stone walls will have a big impact compared
to the natural subsoil background. Burning has a big bearing on that as well. So things like ovens and structures are very easy to find
with the magnetometry. Here it is a hand pulled, chariot type of effect with quite a rapid method of survey.
The resistivity looks at slight changes in the electrical conductivity of the ground. So that is better for finding more subtle features such as
pits and maybe burials even. So that has major implications for understanding the size of the settlement and what it is being used for.”
07.27: Clark Innes – Environmental Archaeologist, Northlight Heritage Ltd.
“Not too many people are aware of the environmental sampling side of archaeology but it is a good insight and most people are surprised
at what we do. It is one of the most important pieces of the jigsaw because we are painting a broader picture of the landscape around the
site, how people were living, what their diets were like, how high the water table was, what kind of flowers were grown outside the front
door, what plants, trees all sorts of things. We get a much bigger picture of the landscape.
Environmental materials such as charcoal and seeds and so on float to the top of the barrel and we collect them in to two different size of
sieves, put it away and dry it and look at it the lab later and look at the seeds and the small things. What’s left in the barrel, things that
don’t float are also important. We get all sorts of artefacts - you’ve got pottery, glass perhaps bits of leather. We take these artefacts and
separate them and dry them and add them to a database. “
8.40: Brian Kennish and Leo Saldanha, Muncaster Parish Council
Brian: “I can’t say enough about the volunteers - they’ve been really really brilliant. We are very pleased. We work together on the parish
council. We’ve worked on many other things for the good of the village.”
We knew where the fort was, we knew where the bath house was, but we have never ever known where the vicus was. So we wanted to
know where the civilians where who backed up the soldiers in the fort. We asked merely for £6,000.”
9.18: Leo: “and they said… ‘we think you ought to bid for a bit more money’ And Brian and I thought ‘Oh, another couple of thousand
that would be quite nice!’ and they said ‘No, it ought to be a phase one bid which is around £90,000 to £200,000’ A huge amount of
money! “
09.35: Brian: “There’s no way we could’ve dealt with £90,000 we just hadn’t got the facilities but we’re fortunate that the Lake District
National Park Archaeology department stepped in and said ‘We’ll do it for you’. The pottery expert who came got very excited when he
saw the pottery because some of it is very delicate. He didn’t expect to see pottery of that exquisiteness here!”
09.57: Leo: “The only other thing that I find so amazing is that fact that the Roman level is very shallow. Those whopping great stones
have to be Roman… They are big, they are chunky, they are in a straight line.”
10.10: Brian. “I think it is convening to people what we’ve got here. The number of people who have been here who are interested in the
project. It is amazing how much interest there has been from the village. We have had most of the children from the village with their
parents. Everyone keeps asking ‘what have you found?’ It’s great.”
10.45: Lisa Keys, Director and Interpretation Consultant, Minerva Heritage
“Chances like this don’t come along too often. It’s great that we can involve the kids, the excitement on their faces when they know
something is 2000 years old. You can’t beat the reaction!”
[Lisa talking to children]
Lisa: “What did we see when we first came out on site, what where the three main things that are in Roman Ravenglass?”
Children: “Was it the bath house, the vicus and the fort?”
Lisa: “Well done. What was the Vicus?”
Children: “The Vicus was a village”
Lisa: “And who lived in the Vicus?”
Children: “The family and friends”
Lisa : “Who lived in the fort?”
Children: “Soldiers”
11.23: Lisa: “By engaging the local children, they get a chance to have their hands on their heritage. Primary school children are great
because they really embrace ideas. They get really really excited by things. History is exciting at that age! There are lots of ways that
heritage is communicated through websites, through museums, through reading a book, or watching a telly programme. Even if they go
away and explore just one of those of things as a result of what they have seen today then we have done a good job.”
11.58: Holly Beavitt-Pike, Lake District National Park Authority
“It’s a great opportunity for kids in the local area to know about their heritage and hopefully inspire them so that they want to be the
archaeologists of the future.”
12.08: Kurt Hunter-Mann, York Archaeological Trust
“It’s been a fantastic success with the community. We couldn’t have done it without the hundred or so people who’ve worked on the
project. They have done most of the digging we have just been here for moral support. We’ve found some evidence for Roman
occupation in all three trenches. We’ve had a really good time and I’m really looking forward to being here next year.”
12.30: Sandra Garside-Neville, Pottery specialist – York Archaeological Trust
[Mixture of Pottery expert talking about the finds and volunteers talking about the experience].
12.27: Sandra: “What is interesting about this rim is that is has some marks on it that were made on it after the firing.”
12.35: Volunteer: “I’ll be very sad when they go away. But I’ll be back next year.”
12.46: Sandra: “This one we know is from Crambeck (ware). It’s got the paint on it.”
12.54: Sandra: “It normally has a very nice orange shinny slip on the outside. But it has actually lost it.”
Volunteer: “There was a child who had actually found some mortarium and he would remember that always.”
[Concluding remarks]
13.10: Brian: “To know that you’re walking where thousands of people lived and worked two thousand years ago. We know they’re
elegant people we know they were cultured but to see that culture here is something special. We will be talking about it and dining out on
it for the next year.”
13.40: The End