Comments on: Tourist trinkets, Roman-style

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:26:38 +0000

Thank you very much, Carla – Kath Langrish was also kind enough to offer an award recently and I really need to pull myself together and follow them up! Thanks for your support

By: carla

carla — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:21:47 +0000

I don't know if you do blog awards, but anyway, I have awarded you the Liebster Blog Award. Entirely optional! I just wanted to say thank you for your interesting site.

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:16:10 +0000

Hello there Garry – nice to see you again. My posts have been a bit thin on the ground recently for all sorts of reasons but I hope to catch up with myself soon. It’s not a shortage of ideas

By: kentuckyboyblog

kentuckyboyblog — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:02:40 +0000

I had been away for some time with the idea that no one was out there who wanted hear me.In other words,feeling sorry for ole Garry!But Bill Thayer being the inspiration he has been said “Post!Or you will never know.”So I came to catch up you and Behold!All you’re beautiful posts I had been missing.You have no peers with your stories of Britain, in particular the area around the Wall.I would like to link you to my blog,but regardless,I’m in for the long run and you I will be seeing on a regular basis.Thank you so much for your histories and insights.I admire you,Garry in Kentucky.

kentuckyboyblog@wordpress.

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:42:29 +0000

Ah yes! Sue and I enjoyed the museum but found the cafe portion sizes too moderate for greedy cake-eaters like us

There’s a newish Roman gallery downstairs, which is where you can find the ‘pan’, the Mallerstang Hoard (Roman coins) and the Embleton Sword (pre-Roman native sword). Upstairs, I favour the oldest stuff – prehistoric carved stones from Edenhall; the bronze age spear moulds; the Bewcastle cauldron (which is HUGE); masses of native godlets of various shades. There’s also a lot of detail on the Border Reivers and the civil war siege of Carlisle, if you favour later history. (D’ya think they should be paying me to promote them? )

By: Carol Warham

Carol Warham — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:13:52 +0000

You’ve reminded me that it is a couple of years or more since I last went to the Tullie. Sue and I mentioned it last week. I didn’t have time then but must make time next time I’m in the Lake District. I’ll need a list off you what to look out for!

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:35:27 +0000

I agree – and what a grand souvenir it is. I’ve got the advantage that I’ve seen this ‘pan’ in Tullie House, so I know it would fit in the palm of my hand, and don’t need to worry about the mms! I love the way that this one uniquely has ‘native’ style decoration, coupled with the Roman’s style of writing. Thanks for coming over – I appreciate it.

By: Carol Warham

Carol Warham — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:40:13 +0000

A fascinating post, my only problem was converting the size into good old fashioned imperial! Can’t do with this new fangled mm’s. The idea of early souvenirs is wonderful. For me, it brings to life that these were real people, in the way that the preserved letters in Vindolandia also do.

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:40:13 +0000

Well, thank you very much! I’d better pop over and work out what to do next.

For those who don’t know, Kath’s blog is Seven Miles of Steel Thistles, which has been on my blogroll since this blog started. Go read, now.

By: Kath Langrish

Kath Langrish — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:01:25 +0000

Hi there – just to say I’m handing you the Inspirational Blog Award, which came to me this morning – yours seemed the obvious choice! Don’t feel you have to play, but if you do, the ‘how to’ is at my blog today.

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:23:37 +0000

By: calmgrove

calmgrove — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:39:53 +0000

I thought that commenting about Draco might have been too obvious, or evidence that I was trying too hard…

It’s intriguing though, isn’t it!

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:34:33 +0000

Ah, Cammoglanna? You know my theory… that everyone has to put their Arthur in their own back yard. Perhaps we should stoke the fire by pointing out that his dragon was cited on this particular item

Thanks for coming over!

By: calmgrove

calmgrove — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:25:23 +0000

I’ve always been very impressed by these Wall souvenirs, as much for their putative Arthurian associations as for their beauty and rarity. Though the spellings varied, two placenames that frequently appear are recognisable as Camlaan, the legendary site of Arthur’s final battle, and Avalon, where he traditionally ended up. The probability that the names merely mean ‘Crooked Bank’ and ‘Apple Orchard’ and so could apply to any number of other sites scarcely detracts from the magic of the inscriptions!

Good post. Great to have the links, too.

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:42:52 +0000

Haha! You’re right there, on both counts! It is pretty, though, and in spectacular condition for something so old. Thanks for coming over!

By: wellhopper

wellhopper — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:35:28 +0000

obvioulsy there is a worn bit at the beginning where there was a # MAISCOGGABATAVXELODVNVMCAMMOGLANNARIGOREVALIAELIDRACONIS – looks clearly like a Roman attempt at a hashtag to me.

still souvenirs were so much nicer back in the day – I’d far rather that than a “My father went to Brocolitia and all i got was this lousy toga” present

By: esmeraldamac

esmeraldamac — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:48:31 +0000

Haha, Pauline! It can’t have been you, though, unless your middle name is Draco. If it’s the money you fancy, the Crosby Garret roman helmet sold for £2,281,250. Thanks for coming over!

http://esmeraldamac.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-crosby-garret-helmet-the-one-that-got-away/

By: Pauline

Pauline — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:43:25 +0000

Oh, I think I’ll have to buy a metal detector. My proofer would probably suggest (very unfairly) that I wrote that inscription around the top!