Abstract
WHILE some, at least, of the advantages of an adequate display for relics from the Roman Wall must be obvious to every layman who gives the matter a thought, only an archæologist can appreciate to the full both the hindrances to Romano-British studies of the present arrangements, as well as the benefits which would follow from the appropriate grouping of the collections in premises dedicated to this sole purpose. Mr. Ian A. Richmond, lecturer in Romano-British archæology in the University of Durham, in a review in The Times of August 29 of the present position, touches upon both aspects of the matter in putting forward a plea for better accommodation for at least some of the collections under the custody of the University of Durham. At present the relics from the Wall are divided between three principal museums, the Blackgate at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tullio House at Carlisle, and Chesters on the Wall itself. These museums are both overcrowded and ill-adapted to the requirements of modern display. In particular, the Blackgate, the medieval gateway of the Castle, is the most urgent problem. Once a debtors’ prison, it is dark and gloomy, yet it contains the collections of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which now have been in existence for more than a century and are the most important source of information on the Wall and its area.
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A Museum of the Roman Wall: An Appeal. Nature 144, 411 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144411a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144411a0