‘Roman Britain and where to find it’ by Dr Denise Allen and Mike Bryan
(£19.99)
The 256 pages of this book do exactly that. Written by the director of an archaeology tour company (Allen) and a publisher only now studying Roman archaeology (Bryan) the academics will scoff. Turn up the page for Caistor St Edmund and read that the town was ‘founded c AD70’ and that mooring rings were ‘noted still surviving …… in the 18th century’ so that ‘medium-sized ships (my italics) could bring goods to the town’ and you may give up.
But don’t yet. It does not set out to be an academic treatise and should not be treated as though it does. What it does have is a comprehensive description of over 200 sites around Britain set out regionally, including interesting chapters on both Scotland and Wales making it ideal to plan your next staycation or even keep in the car for when we are allowed out again. Sites are graded one to five star (Caistor is 3* but Burgh Castle 4*) and museums are included in the reviews. Every site has a brief write-up (subject to fact checking as mentioned), post code for your satnav and helpful comments on walks and other nearby places of interest. And the authors redeem themselves by spelling Boudica with one ‘c’ throughout.
Available here from Blackwells, also available from other outlets too.
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