Welcome to our Heritage Workshops and Lectures programme for Spring 2014! We have a HUGE selection of different activities and talks this year, so why not dive in and discover more about life in centuries past?

1. Peterborough
Heritage
Heritage Workshops
& Lectures:
Spring 2014
vivacity-peterborough.com/tryheritage

2. Kick off 2014 by learning something new! Vivacity Heritage
is delighted to offer an exciting programme of workshops
at Peterborough Museum and Flag Fen Archaeology Park.
The workshops are suitable for complete beginners and all
materials will be provided. Tea and coffee are included.
Roman Pottery Handling
Peterborough Museum
Tutor: Dr Stephen Upex
8 February, 10am-12noon
£15
After an introduction to the
local Roman pottery industry
and techniques, you’ll get the
chance to handle original local
and regional material under
the guidance of Dr Stephen
Upex - arguably the preeminent authority on the
Romans in the East of England!
Perfect for anyone interested in
the Roman period, and for local
archaeological groups.
coiling to make your own
mortarium - probably the most
important vessel in the
Roman kitchen.
Richard Gibson, MA has over
20 years of experience as a
practising ceramicist and
regularly teaches workshops.
Pottery will be fired after the
workshop.
Bookbinding: How to
make a notebook
Peterborough Museum
Tutor: Barry Brignell
15 February, 10am-12.30pm
or 1.30pm-4pm
£30
Roman Pottery Making
Peterborough Museum
Tutor: Richard Gibson
8 February, 1pm-4pm
£45
Discover how the Romans
created pottery by combining
different processes to produce
a single piece. Try your hand at
these techniques by
completing an earthenware
amphora, using a handpowered centrifugal throwing
wheel and using moulds and
Use the traditional art of hand
bookbinding to create your
own hardback notebook.
Under the expert tutelage of
Barry Brignell, of Cambridgebased Brignell Bookbinders,
learn how to collate sections,
sew French-style using a
needle, tip on ready-made
endpapers, glue the spine, stick
on head and tail bands, line up
the spine, cut out boards, cover
the boards in cloth and case the
book in.
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Roman and Medieval
Herbs
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Tutor: Chris Carr
1 March, 10am-4pm
£50
Discover how our ancestors
used herbs and spices for
healing and in the home including some outlandish
treatments used in bygone
times. Have a go at making
ointments for the skin,
shampoo, insect repellent bags
and more to take away with
you. Plus enjoy an authentic
Roman lunch!
Chris Carr is a Living Historian
with a wealth of knowledge
about everyday life in Roman
and Medieval times. She will
guide you through making
your own remedies, as well
as which plants to avoid.
Calligraphy
Basket Weaving
Bronze Sword Casting
Peterborough Museum
Tutor: Christine Robinson
15 March, 10am-4pm
£55
Peterborough Museum
Tutor: Sue Kirk
16 March, 10am-5pm
£60
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Tutor: Dave Chapman
22-23 March, from 10am
£290
Join experienced tutor
Christine Robinson to discover
the fundamental principles of
calligraphy. Learn the
foundational script using a dip
pen and ink, and explore how
to construct letters through
demonstrations and individual
practice. With personalised
support, by the end of the day
you’ll have designed and
created a bookmark, greetings
card or short quotation.
Spend the day making a small,
round, stake and strand basket
using willow. Learn traditional
techniques including pairing,
waling, randing, slyping and
how to finish the basket with a
rod border.
Expert bronze forger Dave
Chapman returns to Flag Fen
to offer this opportunity to
make and take home your
own bronze sword. Set
amongst the atmospheric
surroundings of roundhouses
and fenland, the workshop
will include the casting,
cleaning, finishing,
sharpening, and finally the
hilting of the finished blade.
Participants undertake all
handwork themselves, so
this workshop is not for the
faint-hearted!
Plus take home all the
equipment you’ll need to put
your new calligraphy skills into
action! Lunch is included.
Basket weaving dates back
thousands of years and recent
excavations suggest that tools
and techniques have remained
remarkably similar. Wellknown local tutor Sue Kirk has
15 years basketry experience
and uses Somerset and locally
grown willow. Lunch is
included.
Please note that safety is our
priority and as such, use of
power tools and hot metal
pouring will be undertaken by
workshop facilitators. Lunch
is included on both days.
vivacity-peterborough.com/tryheritage 03

3. Retelling the story of Roman Peterborough...
The Roman town of Durobrivae lay to the west of the modern city. Located on a major
trade route, archaeological discoveries suggest it was a focus of enormous wealth and
status, with current research still revealing surprises.
New project ‘Romans Revisited’ aims to establish a centre of excellence in
Peterborough for the interpretation of Roman heritage across multiple sites.
These lectures will explore our local Roman story and its wider context.
The Roman Villa at Itter Crescent & the
Fane Road Heritage Lottery Project
A load of old pot!
The local Roman pottery industry
Londinium calling: The story of Roman
London... now with added chapters
The Dangers of Powerful Women?
Rome and Britain in the time of Nero
John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speakers: James Drummond-Murray &
David Crawford-White
24 February, 7.30pm
£3, £2 concs
& Heritage Pass holders
John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speaker: Dr Stephen Upex
3 March, 7.30pm
£5, £3 concs & Heritage Pass holders
John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speaker: Caroline McDonald
17 March, 1pm
£3, £2 concs & Heritage Pass holders
John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speaker: Professor Catharine Edwards
30 April, 7.30pm
£8, £5 concs & Heritage Pass holders
Roman Peterborough expert Dr Stephen Upex
will explore the Nene Valley pottery industry,
including local production workshops. The talk
will also emphasise the industry’s importance
both locally and nationally.
This talk will explore the founding of Londinium
on the banks of the Thames 2,000 years ago
and some of its most significant excavations including recent work and the amazing
discoveries on the site of the lost Walbrook river.
Roman writers contrast the masculine rule
of their empire with the dangerously powerful
role of women such as Boudicca amongst some
of their barbarian subjects. What role did
women have in the power structures of the
Roman empire?
Dr Upex returns to Peterborough following his
well-received talk on the Water Newton Fort last
year. Best known locally for his extensive work at
Durobrivae, he lectures widely in the UK.
Caroline McDonald is the Senior Curator of
Prehistoric and Roman collections, Museum
of London.
mysteries featuring a reluctant Roman Army
sleuth, Manda Scott follows up her bestselling
Boudica series with 'Rome' which features an
assassin and spy, and writer of the Hannibal
and Rome series Ben Kane has also written a
series on Spartacus.
Pompeii and Herculaneum – bringing
the exhibition to the British Museum
Tickets available from Waterstones
Peterborough and Peterborough Libraries as
well as Peterborough Museum.
In AD 79 Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities
at the heart of the Roman Empire, were buried in
a catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But
their rediscovery from the 1700s has given us
Recent excavations by Oxford Archaeology East
uncovered a spectacular Roman villa hidden
under Peterborough allotments! An unexpected
discovery, learn how this archaeological
investigation has given an insight into how the
better half lived in Roman times. The talk will
also introduce new community heritage project
‘The Romans of Fane Road’ and how you can
get involved.
The Romans in Fiction
John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speakers: Ruth Downie, Manda Scott,
and Ben Kane
12 March, 7pm
£5 (£4 concs, Heritage Pass holders and
reading group members)
Thanks to The Historical Writers Association,
find out how bestselling authors bring Roman
life to their novels. Ruth Downie is the author of
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John Clare Theatre, Central Library
Speaker: Paul Roberts
24 March, 7.30pm
£8, £5 concs & Heritage Pass holders
Catharine Edwards is Professor of Classics
and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of
London and presenter of BBC4’s 'Mothers,
Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of
Ancient Rome'.
unparalleled insight into Roman life. In 2013 an
exhibition in the British Museum brought
together over 400 objects from jewellery to
cooking pots, from furniture to beautiful
frescoes, which showed aspects of the lives
of ordinary Romans.
Exhibition curator and Head of Roman
collections at the British Museum, Paul Roberts
will give the inside story in this exciting lecture.
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4. Excavations in 2011-12 at the Must Farm quarry in Whittlesey uncovered
an amazing assemblage of eight Bronze Age and Iron Age boats, as well
as hundreds of beautifully preserved objects.
These finds provide a unique and detailed view of life 3,000 years ago.
As research yields more about this lost landscape, these lectures focus
on what is known so far and its significant national context.
A Lost Landscape Reborn
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Speaker: Louise Rackham
5 February, 7.30pm
£3, £2 concs &
Heritage Pass holders
Whittlesea Mere was once the
largest lake in England, south of
the Lake District. Learn about
this last piece of wild fenland
and the complexities and
conflicts involved in draining
the mere. A fascinating story on
the toils and tribulations of a
lost landscape about to be
reborn with an internationally
recognised restoration project The Great Fen.
Logboats, Pile Dwellings
& Causeways: Bronze Age
Must Farm & Flag Fen in
context
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Speaker: Mark Knight
12 February, 7.30pm
£5, £3 concs &
Heritage Pass holders
New analysis of evidence
from Must Farm is shining
fresh light on the Bronze Age
occupants of the Flag Fen
Basin. Archaeologists are
beginning to understand the
magnitude and sophistication
of second millennium BC
settlement, and the integral role
of the River Nene as a
communication corridor.
Widely acclaimed as one of
Britain's leading prehistoric and
wetland field archaeologists,
Mark Knight returns to Flag Fen
with the latest on the
Must Farm excavations.
The Mary Rose
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Speaker: Dr Eleanor
Schofield
20 February, 7.30pm
£8, £5 concs & Heritage
Pass holders
The salvage of the Mary
Rose, Henry VIII’s Tudor
warship famously wrecked
in the Solent, is one of
maritime archaeology’s
great successes. Remarkably
preserved, the hull was
recovered in 1982 and its
subsequent conservation
process forged the
techniques used to conserve
the Must Farm boats today.
Still undergoing active
conservation, hear the latest
news from Dr Eleanor
Schofield, Conservation
Manager for the Mary
Rose Trust.
The reconstruction of the
Dover Bronze Age Boat
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Speaker: Richard Darrah
26 February, 7.30pm
£5, £3 concs &
Heritage Pass holders
In the 1990s, fragments of a Bronze Age boat
were discovered in Dover - one of the oldest seagoing vessels ever recovered. Now in Dover
Museum, ancient timber specialist Richard
Darrah will explain the science behind the
reconstruction of the boat’s original shape.
Plus learn what the building of a half-scale
replica tells us about Bronze Age boat building.
Enjoy action-packed events for less! With a
Vivacity Heritage Pass the whole family can
enjoy great value days out with FREE or
discounted entry to a multitude of exciting
events, exhibitions, talks and walks
throughout the year.
Plus enjoy FREE visits to Peterborough
Museum, Flag Fen and Longthorpe Tower
for a whole year!
06 vivacity-peterborough.com/tryheritage
Conserving one log boat is bad enough,
but having to deal with eight all at once is
a daunting prospect...
Flag Fen Archaeology Park
Speaker: Ian Panter
2 March, 7.30pm
£5, £3 concs & Heritage Pass holders
The Must Farm boat assemblage represents one
of the largest finds in the UK. The decision to
recover each vessel intact, instead of cutting
them into smaller sections, has been integral to
their conservation. Since April 2013, they have
been stored at a bespoke conservation facility at
Flag Fen and are undergoing detailed condition
assessments. Join Ian Panter, Principal
Conservator for York Archaeological Trust who
designed the conservation strategy for the boats,
to hear what the future holds.
• Family Pass £25
(2 adults and up to 3 children)
• Individual Pass £10
Available to buy from all three sites.
Simply ask a member of staff for full details,
call 01733 864 663 or email
museum@vivacity-peterborough.com
vivacity-peterborough.com/tryheritage 07

5. Peterborough
Museum
Priestgate,
Peterborough PE1 1LF
Car parking available nearby at
Peterborough Railway Station,
Queensgate Shopping Centre
and Car Haven near to
the Town Hall.
Flag Fen
The Droveway,
Northey Road,
Peterborough PE6 7QJ
Plenty of FREE car parking
available on site.
John Clare Theatre
Peterborough Central Library,
Broadway, Peterborough PE1 1RX
Photo by Cambridge Archaeological Unit
Car parking available nearby at
Market Car Park and
Dickens Street.
Booking information
Pre-booking for workshops is essential. Tickets for
all lectures and workshops are available through
Peterborough Museum, call 01733 864 663 or
email museum@vivacity-peterborough.com.
Stay in Touch!
To be kept up to date with the latest news across our
heritage sites visit our website vivacity-peterborough.com,
sign up to our e-newsletter or find us on
/peterboroughmuseum or
@Vivacity_Museum #TryHeritage
vivacity-peterborough.com
Peterborough
Heritage