Cumbrian History from Roman times. 17/03/06

Stand on the cliff top next to the Senhouse Museum at Maryport, at the site of the Roman Fort, and in these pre-Robin Rigg wind-farm days you will see the Solway and the Criffel much as a Roman sentry would have 2,000 years ago. The artifacts saved and displayed in the museum tell us not only that Romans were here but also which Romans and when. The carved statues and altar stones provide us with some of the earliest building blocks with which to construct our history, a reconstruction of past events begun as early as the 16th Century with the Senhouse family’s collection of Roman finds and continued to this day by the Trustees of the Senhouse Roman Museum and associated volunteers.

The Trustees have recently reprinted the 1997 publication ‘Roman Maryport and its Setting’ and also its sequel, the 2004 publication ‘Romans on the Solway’. The earlier volume contains a history of the Maryport Roman Fort and its environs from 1st to the 4th century, with additional chapters on the Roman regiments stationed here, and others on the sculptures and the stone altars found. The book is beautifully and comprehensively illustrated with black and white photographs and line drawings.

‘Romans on the Solway’ concentrates on the military legacy of the Roman occupation, in particular the coastal continuation of Hadrian’s Wall by means of milefortlets and wooden tower emplacements. There are additional chapters on the Geophysical Survey conducted on the Fort and Vicus site between 2000 and 2004, and a record of the archaeological activity at the Roman Cemetery, Beckfoot.

Both books have been collated with great care and attention to detail by the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society (CWAAS) whose latest publication brings the story of our history forward by 1,000 years.

‘Norman Rule in Cumbria 1092 – 1136’ by Richard Sharpe began life as a lecture to the CWAAS in April 2005 and is now reproduced as an 80 page pamphlet. Sharpe’s ‘early building block’ is the single surviving Pipe Roll from Henry 1st’s reign which records the taxes due from Westmorland and Cumberland to the crown. This roll is the first national document still in existence that relates to Carlisle and its district.

Fast–forward 1,000 years to the Second World War. The same process that inspired Legionnaires to record their tenure at Maryport also inspired internees to paint and draw on the walls of prison Camp 103: Moota. The urge to save and display those roman relics by generations of the Senhouse family is alive today in the efforts of the Kirkgate Museum Group who have published the story of Moota and its artwork. ‘Moota: The Story of a Cumbrian Prisoner of War Camp’ by Gloria Edwards has rescued from the past those temporary, transitory images; saving and displaying them for future generations in an extraordinary collection of photographs and reminiscences

Stand on the Solway shore at Beckfoot and share the same view as the Roman mourners who gathered to inter the remains of family and comrades 2,000 years ago and witness history being written. The Maryport & District Archaeological Society, under the auspices of Oxford Archaeology North, are currently digging and cataloguing the site of the Roman Cemetery. The strong local tradition of preserving and celebrating our heritage is alive and well. Watch this space.



This review was first published by the 'Times & Star' 17th March 2006. The copyright remains the property of The Derwent Bookshop.