Over the half term break, our Senior Classics pupils set out on an exciting tour across the South of England, delving into the region’s rich historical and archaeological heritage. From Roman ruins to ancient landmarks, this trip brought their classroom studies to life. Year 11's Antigone has written about their experiences - read on to discover what they enjoyed most on this adventure.
On the first day of our Classics trip, we got on the minibus and out of the rain, and we drove to Chedworth Roman Villa, the archaeological remains of a villa inhabited up until the fifth century AD. This discovery was a surprise, our guide told us, as previously it was thought that after the Romans left in the fourth century AD, Britain went back to being ‘barbaric’. The villa reached its peak in about 360–380 AD (when the Romans had left). Another fun fact about Chedworth Roman Villa is that the snails they have at the site have been there since the Romans put them there, originally intending to cook and eat them. We could see in the remains that it had underfloor heating (hypocaust), which works by pumping hot air under the floors of rooms to keep them warm. It had a beautiful patterned mosaic in the bathhouse, where presumably the wealthy men who owned the villa would bathe, and it had a second well-preserved mosaic displaying all of the seasons. We stayed there to eat our lunches and chat before heading off to our next destination.
Our second destination was the Corinium Museum. We were greeted by an Old Bristolian who used to be one of Mr. Keen’s students. He showed us around and showed us some historical Roman cavalry swords that were unearthed in the Cotswolds. They were found with remnants of their wooden scabbards and fittings too. After that, we were free to walk around the museum. We had been given a paper full of quiz questions to answer as we walked around the museum. The bit I enjoyed the most was a floor mosaic they had displayed called the Orpheus mosaic; it portrayed Orpheus playing his lyre in the centre as animals circle him, enchanted by his music. Another part of the museum that interested me was a tombstone for a Roman soldier, Dannicus. The tombstone shows him riding on a horse, holding a lance, standing over his fallen enemy, and apparently, he came from the Raurici tribe, which is part of today’s Switzerland. It was a fascinating museum and one of my favourites from the trip. It also had a brilliant gift shop with some very cool classical necklaces and pendants.
On the second day, we went to the British Museum. I understand that someone else is going in depth writing about this, so I’ll only mention something funny. A friend and I wanted to see if Caecilius (the statue of his head) was there. Unfortunately, we later found out he’s in an Italian museum, not the British Museum. However, when we tried to look up what room his statue would be displayed in, Google AI told us that Caecilius could not be in the British Museum because he was a real historical figure and dead… Cheers, Google I thought he was just wandering about.
After that, we arrived at our youth hostel, which was very warm and cosy. When we got in from the outside, the fire was lit and the staff were very friendly. We spent the evening playing classical-themed board games.
On the third day, we woke up early to go to Bignor Roman Villa. The countryside view from there was beautiful. Inside, they had a small museum area with coins and other things that had been unearthed with the villa, and further inside there was a geometric mosaic that would have been an ancient Roman hallway. There were some other buildings; my personal favourite was one of the winter rooms with a mosaic depicting Venus and a gladiator. The place was very welcoming — they had an area where you could try on Roman clothing and helmets, and it was quite fun to do. We stopped there to have our lunch, and a few friends and I enjoyed a hot chocolate and a walk around the beautiful place. When we finished, we got back on the bus and headed to Fishbourne Roman Palace.
Fishbourne Roman Palace was a palace belonging to a Roman-appointed Celtic king, Togidubnus (or Cogidubnus, or Cogidumnus, or Togidumnus, and so on and so forth). It holds one of the best-preserved mosaics in England of Cupid on a dolphin. It was amazing to look down at it and imagine what it would be like to live there, or live anywhere in the ancient world, with such beautiful mosaics in your own home. According to a worker at the museum, Fishbourne Roman Palace was abandoned, seemingly in 270 AD, after a fire burnt down the palace. Quite a few of the mosaics in the floor were damaged, as they had been under crop fields and ploughs had scraped through them, but regardless, the place was beautiful.
Then we visited the Novium Museum, which had part of a Roman bathhouse excavated inside. It was quite interesting; however, I got very distracted by their exhibition on Shippams fish paste, which they were quite patriotic about. On this day of the trip, it was Pavani’s birthday, so we spent a lot of our time here secretly signing her a birthday card. When we returned to the youth hostel, we ate and sang Pavani happy birthday, and then we had some very delicious cake.
We later had a quiz night where we got into groups and picked a topic from a book. Then we all had to write down ten answers. My team and I got second, and we got donuts, which I was very happy about because I was low-key ravenous.
On our final day, we arrived a bit late to the Ashmolean Museum, and I’m very sad we did because it was the highlight of the trip for me. It had so many gorgeous statues: a small sculpture of Mars sat down, his helmet below his foot and his shield turned facing him at his side; Apollo ‘the Lizard Killer,’ which shows Apollo leaning against a tree looking at a little sculpted lizard; and my favourite statue — a statue of Athena. It was incredibly tall and towered over me mightily as I looked up at it. The head of the statue was a bit more recent than the body, suggesting it had been replaced. I was genuinely awe-struck.
I’d highly recommend going on this trip to anyone with any classical interest. It is easily one of my favourite school trips. It was also the first time I’ve made it back to school to be picked up at a reasonable hour. If I had anything to complain about it would just be that I’d like to spend more time at the Ashmolean.
