MagBazWords
  • Introduction
  • Brexit Explored
    • Where Are You Really From?
    • 19 becomes 25
    • As Others See Us
    • It's Only Just Begun
  • Travels in 2025
    • Journey through Central Europe
    • Images of our Central European Journey
    • Our YouTube Cycling Videos
    • The Passing of Two Hewitt Bicycles
  • Travels in 2024
    • On the Journey to Greece
    • On the Road in Greece
    • In the Greek Light Fantastic
  • Travels in 2023
    • Schengen Shenanigans 2023
    • Spring 2023 >
      • Travels in Greece >
        • Margaret's Travel Log Greece
        • The Fligos Family Legacy
        • Photos: Ferry to Greece
        • Photos: A Greek Kaleidoscope
      • Travels in Bulgaria >
        • Margaret's Travel Log Bulgaria
        • On the Road
        • Camping Koukeri
        • Camping Sakar Hills
        • Kapinovski Camping, Resort & 2 Monasteries
        • Madzharovo
        • The Dolmen of Kolarovo
        • Thracian and Roman Kabile
        • Sakar Hills Wine Festival
      • Travels in Romania >
        • Margaret's Travel Log Romania
        • Gypsy Palaces
        • Out and About
      • Return to the UK >
        • Margaret's Travel Log Return to the UK
    • Autumn 2023 >
      • In Sweden
      • In Finland
      • Along the Baltic Coast
  • Travels in 2022
    • Travels in the Balkans >
      • The Journey
      • Greece Photos of Meteora Monasteries
      • Greece Photos of the Climb to Anavriti
      • Bulgaria: Photos of Sakar Hills
      • Bulgaria: Photos of Damascena
    • Travels in Spain & Portugal >
      • The Journey
      • Photos of Spain & Portugal
    • Roman Ribchester
  • Greenmount Storage
    • Greenmount Storage Published Reviews
    • Greenmount Storage Salient Points
    • Greenmount Storage Seventeen Emails
    • Greenmount Storage CaSSOA Complaint
  • Motorhoming & Cycling
    • Our 33 Greatest Bicycle Journeys
    • The Watershed
    • Green Zones in France and Germany
    • Cycling in North Yorkshire
    • Sicily 1998
    • Cycling Near-Misses
    • Land's End 2021
    • Dreaming
    • Greece: Kamping Karpouzi
    • Winter Campsite Brochure >
      • Brochure Pictures
    • Universal Packing List
    • The Greece Beyond Reach
    • On the Road Again?
    • Homes at Home Farm
    • MagBazTravels Stall
  • Here & There
    • Food for Thought
    • Tale of Three Batteries
    • Where are You Really From?
    • Touching Moments
    • The Gunner's Diary
    • Joe's Autograph Album
    • St Andrew's Bicentenary
    • Tragedy and Farce
    • Fleetwood's Boatwave Bill
    • The Live Parrot Sketch
    • A Little Theatricality
    • CCTV Cameras Galore
    • Whatever Happened to MagBaz?
    • Lifelong Learning
    • The Story of a Williamson
  • The Martin Jeffes Corner
    • Martin's Chistmas Letter 2024
    • Martin in Bulgaria and the Balkans
    • Martin in England
    • Martin in Australia
    • Martin in his Land Rovers
    • Grapevines One and Two
    • Grapevine Three
    • Grapevine Four
    • Photographs
  • The Brickyard Lakes Static Caravan Park
    • Review of the Brickyard
    • Critique for New Management
    • Invoice, Bill or Estimate?
  • Campsite Reviews
    • UK Campsites
  • The Reading Corner
    • Books >
      • Friends Recommend
      • Travellers Recommend
      • Favourite School Books
      • Labour and the Poor
      • Russian Affair
    • Poetry >
      • Bicentenary of John Keats
      • Poetry for the Traveller
  • From our Special Correspondent
  • Leasehold Sale: The Email Exchange
  • Images

Visiting Roman Ribchester

Margaret and Barry Williamson    
​January 2023


Just 30 miles from our Fylde Coast base lies the old cotton-weaving village of Ribchester in the Ribble Valley. In the second week of a very cold and wet January we chose a rare fine day to visit Lancashire’s only specialist Roman Museum and excavations there.

The small museum was opened in 1914 on the site of Roman Bremetennacum, an important cavalry fort on the crossroads of military routes to York, Manchester and Carlisle. There was also access to the coast along the River Ribble. Museum entry is £4 (£3.50 for Seniors) and it’s open all year, with a few parking spaces outside the adjacent Church (suggesting donations in the box). Alternatively, there is a well signed Pay & Display car park nearby in the village, next to the Potters Barn Café. Well displayed finds cover prehistoric to Roman times, the star exhibits being a replica of the bronze ceremonial Ribchester Helmet (original in British Museum) and a tombstone showing a Roman cavalryman defeating his Celtic adversary.

Over the road from the museum it’s a short walk along a signed riverside footpath past the primary school to the excavated Roman bath house, dating from the early 2nd century AD. On this occasion the swollen Ribble made the footpath impassable but a local walker directed us to the other bath house entrance in the village. We learnt that the baths were free for soldiers, children and slaves – and there is still no charge for visitors.

The beautiful St Wilfrid’s parish church next to the museum was also open. We wondered where the stones and columns for this substantial building had originated! Just behind the church you can see the foundations of the Roman granary, freely accessible.

Lunch at the recommended Potters Barn Café was on our agenda but (unusually) it was closed for a new kitchen fitting - which makes a good excuse for a future return to Ribchester. 
Proudly powered by Weebly