The Romans in Topsham and Beyond One Day Symposium - Topsham Museum

Romans in Topsham and Beyond’

On Saturday 2nd March 2024. 9.30am - 3pm at Topsham Museum

Whole Day: £35

Early Booking before 1^st February: £33

Student (with student card): £16

This will be an exciting full day symposium looking at the Roman occupation of Topsham including recent discoveries. The day will begin at 9.30 with coffee and biscuits where you can meet a Roman Soldier! This will be followed by a fascinating programme of talks:

10:15 - 11:15

Romans I: Excavations 1930 to the M5, Topsham School and Exeter Road: Val Maxfield

Dr Valerie Maxfield FSA is a Roman archaeologist and emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She’s a specialist in the archaeology of the Roman army and frontiers and edited the proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society until December 2020. She studied at the British School in Rome and was then appointed as a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She retired from the university in 2008, she is currently an emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter.

11:30 - 12:30

Romans II: Romans in Topsham: Jon Salvatore

The talk will focus primarily on the mid-first century Roman legionary fortress of the Second Legion Augusta and its road link to Topsham. The contemporary civilian settlements which lie alongside this road will also be discussed together with the emerging evidence which suggests that there may have been a local threat to these sites which prompted emergency defences to be erected. Recent research on the tidal reach of the River Exe in the mid-first century and its implications for a suspected Roman ‘port’ at Topsham will also feature. 

12:45 - 14:00: Lunch + a chance to talk with the speakers.

13:45 - 14:00 Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and the Roman Archives, including RAMM loans to Topsham Museum: Tom Cadbury

Thomas Cadbury (Assistant Curator) His main focus is RAMM’s antiquities collection which covers local archaeology and history, numismatics and the archaeology of Egypt, the Mediterranean and Western Asia. And well over one million objects in the RAMM collection.

14:00 - 15:00

Romans III ‘The wider picture - relating to Devon’: Bill Horner

Bill Horner (Historic Environment Manager and County Archaeologist) Bill Horner maintains the Devon County Historic Environment Record, and provides related specialist advice on development management, land management and other historic environment matters. He also works with communities and partners to promote projects that research, record, manage and interpret Devon’s rich heritage.