Chester Roman Festival II

The Roman potter was one of the most fascinating stalls, and the potter himself was very knowledgeable about the highly organised and industrialised way in which the Roman army provided itself with pots, clay ovens, mortaria, amphorae, etc.
http://trinitycourtpotteries.co.uk/

 

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Chester Roman Festival

This weekend was Chester Roman Festival, and very impressive it was too. Re-enactors came from as far away as Sweden, and converged on Grosvenor Park and the Amphitheatre. There were many different stalls featuring all aspects of Roman life, from doctors to dancers, to dealers in grave goods and household shrines. But first, a few shots of legionaries.

 

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Chester Giants III

Ahead of the Chester Giants Festival next weekend, those giants keep popping up everywhere. This one was outside St John's Church.

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The Guild Hall

The Chester Guilds were early associations of craftsmen, forerunners of Trades Unions today. 
They ran  local government, by electing the 78 common councillors, and took responsibility for the welfare of their members and their families, and also put on the Chester Mystery Plays and the Chester Midsummer Watch Parade. Guildsmen had to attend meetings, often in local inns or in the towers on the city walls. No person of any 'arte, mystery syence, occupacion, or crafte' could 'intermeddle' or practice another trade.

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The Ribbon Stall

In Chester Market, behind the Town Hall, is a stall that sells ribbons and buttons and cotton, and just about anything else you might need when creating clothing. Where else can you find such treasures for so little money?

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Grosvenor Park II

Grosvenor Park was given to Chester by the second Marquess of Westminster in 1867, and is increasingly being used for public events. Shown below are the statue of the donor and the Lodge, and you can read more about the park here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosvenor_Park,_Chester

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The Dig in the Park - the Finds

The finds vary from Roman to relatively modern. Shown below is some Samian ware, with a motif of a hunting dog, the top piece of an amphora, some musket balls from the Civil War (incidentally the balls are made from lead, and the makers often chewed them to round off any edges - unsurprisingly, manufacturers of musket balls suffered from lead poisoning),  and a Dee Mineral Water bottle from around the turn of the century.

 

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