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Saturday, 29 February 2020

Roman Wine Strainer part 2

The Roman wine strainer seen below forms part of the archaeology collection held at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, I had not really considered its provenance and how it came to be in the collection before raising funds for its restoration.Visiting the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre where it is being restored made me consider how amazing it is that it had been preserved in the ground since the 1st Century AD until it was discovered 16 years ago..
 If you click on the Swindon MAG link, it will take you to the archaeology page where you will also be able to go on a virtual tour of the archaeology gallery.

Lots of questions occurred to me about the wine strainer, some of which were answered when I was given access to the documents provided to the museum when it was donated in 2005. It was found by a metal detectorist who was operating on the edge of the site of Durocornovium, a Roman settlement based around the east of Swindon where Dorcan is today built, including Lower Wanborough. It was found along the road from Lotmead farm, and across the road from Wanborough House on Wanborough Road, called Ermin St on the map provided which initially caused a bit of confusion.
 'The Romano-British small town, lying on the flat Kimmeridge clay lands between Stratton and Wanborough, on Ermin Street, to the East of Swindon in Northeast Wiltshire, was first recorded in the seventeenth century'
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The A419, Stratton by pass cut through Durocrnovium, and according to the report:

'Excavations in 1966, conducted for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, followed proposals to build a Stratton bypass and the continued south-eastward expansion of Swindon, which included housing estates and a flood lagoon. Excavations continued within the field known as ‘Nine Acres’ until 1970 then again in 1976, these produced structural evidence on either side of Ermin Street, a major Roman road that extends from London (Londinium) to Gloucester (Glevum)'
'Archaeological observation, salvage excavation and artefact retrieval was undertaken by members of the Swindon archaeological Society during road, housing and lagoon construction, revealed numerous burials, cremations, roads, buildings and a ford across the Dorcan.'

There is concern that when the eastern villages are built, they will be building over a lot more Roman remains, and the hope is that some of them will be salvaged.
There was an Adver article on the 19th of July 2005 on page 23 about the wine strainer which I have been unable to locate, but here are some more concerned articles in the Swindon Advertiser about the land where Durocornovium is situated being further developed:
Adver article 2009 concerned about development of land east of Swindon with archaeologist Bryn Walters explaining the threat to the remains.
 and The Heritage Journal from 2010 also has a link to another Advertiser article with more quotes form Bryn Walters.
 Advertiser article from 2013 this article focuses on information from another local archaeologist, Bernard Phillips.
The author of the report into the wine strainer helped the metal detectorist dig it carefully out of the ground, in answer to the question about how far down in the ground the wine strainer was located and how it was extracted from the ground, the report says:
'Joe and a colleague had excavated a small rectangular pit, revealing at a depth of 0.51cm the bronze vessel lying upside down,'
'The Romano-British small town, lying on the flat Kimmeridge clay lands between Stratton and Wanborough, on Ermin Street, to the East of Swindon in Northeast Wiltshire, was first recorded in the seventeenth century.'
We look forward to welcoming back the Roman Wine Strainer to the archaeology gallery soon.

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