This morning l gazed upon the face of an angel, saw what the Roman version of an ear bud looked like and met a relic from a long-gone pub with a very unusual name.
As Christmas approaches, the first stage of the Abbey’s multi-million pound Footprint Project is more than half way through and talks are underway about how best to start the next part of the plan to lift, stabilise and re-lay the floor. This will probably start in March of next year.
Alongside Emery Brothers – the contractors – members of Wessex Archaeology have been doing rescue work and discovering a real mixture of artefacts through the layers beneath the present church.
Apart from discovering tiled flooring from the great Norman Cathedral that stood on the site up to the late 15th century – they have gone down far enough to discover flints that would have been used by Mesolithic man six to eight thousand years ago.
Bath Newseum got a preview of some of the spectacular finds from Cai Mason who is Senior Project Officer for Wessex Archaeology.
Cai’s talk on Abbey finds will take place on Thursday evening at the BRLSI in Queen’s Square.
Is it true there was once a Gormley statue in the Cross Baths? I have made enquiries as to its whereabouts in both the Thermal Baths and at the Pump Room but so far have drawn a blank. Can you help me locate it, please? Thanks, Lavinia Byrne
laviniabyrne@btinternet.com Tel: 07977 417718
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I especially love the drinking vessel. Do you know approximately when it is from, please? I can see it existing during Regency, but no idea how much earlier or later it might actually have been made. Thank you.
I think Cai Mason was dating it around the 1760’s Donnalee. RW
Thank you for your reply.
I don’t think there’s been a Gormley in the Cross Baths, which were shut for many years. His work is hard to miss so I think I’d have noticed it if there had been one since the baths re-opened. The work of his which I associate with water is his statue in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral.