In 1822 the peasant poet John Clare wrote about his fascination at seeing an archaeological excavation of Roman baths at Castor.
The picture above shows the excavation and is part of a talk about Clare and his archaeological links by Geoffrey Dannell – the next Langdyke “in conversation with …” event on February 16 (7.30pm)
Clare’s comments were in a letter to Edmund Tyrrel Artis – the nineteenth century excavator of sites in Castor and the surrounding area.
Geoffrey came across Artis and became fascinated with his links with Clare.
Geoffrey explained: “I began excavating at Verulamium in the Museum car-park in 1955 as a schoolboy , and later for six years with Sheppard Frere. Developing an interest in samian pottery, I was introduced to the late Brian Hartley, which led eventually to a series of excavations on pottery sites in France and the Nene Valley., which is where I “met” Edmund Tyrrell Artis, the nineteenth-century excavator of Castor and the surrounding area, and became interested in his life and connections.”
Geoffrey is currently the Chairman of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
His talk will be an online Zoom event. You can join it via this link
Alternatively you can paste this into your browser https://zoom.us/j/93429967838?pwd=QzduNnRIOTMzNCt2WkY5SmNrd3hoUT09
Anyone interested in learning more about local archaeology can visit the Nene Valley website here