Woolly says – Having collected Zoe on route we had spent a most enjoyable night with Nanty Carys and Nuncle Les catching up on our news and travel adventures. With only one full day there I had planned it with military precision and the torrential rain that greeted me on the morning hadn’t been part of the plan. With my raincoat in Wales and Alfie the Dog not owning one it appeared that only the women would be keeping dry as we headed off. The roads were waterlogged and Jo’s visibility for driving was limited so our journey to Dorchester took a little longer than expected.
Dorchester is a historic county town in Dorset, England. The area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. The Romans established a garrison there after defeating the Durotriges tribe, calling the settlement that grew up nearby Durnovaria; they built an aqueduct to supply water and an amphitheatre on an ancient British earthwork. I had my paws firmly crossed that it would be a day of all things Roman. Having parked the car we assessed the deluge from the sky which showed no signs of ceasing, there was nothing for it we were going to get wet as we headed to the amphitheatre known as Maumbury Rings.
A Neolithic henge, it is 85 metres in diameter, with a single bank and an entrance to the north east. It was modified during the Roman period when it was adapted for use as an amphitheatre, and the site was remodelled again during the English Civil War when it was used as an artillery fort guarding the southern approach to Dorchester. The monument is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments. We squelched through the gate and tried to take it in through the poor conditions.
Although only grass is now on show the banks provided a good idea of its size and I tried to imagine the romans cheering and clapping the entertainment that they would have once viewed from there, it would have been wonderful. With several quickly taken photographs we raced towards a nearby café to try and dry out a bit before proceeding to our next destination.
As we sat dripping in unison with an ever growing puddle appearing under the table, I sipped my hot chocolate as Zoe checked opening times for the Roman town house that was next on my list only for my hopes to be dashed when we realised that it wasn’t actually open, being used to this situation we googled on and came up with a workable plan before considering the weather through the window. Luckily the downpour seemed to be decreasing and by the time Jo had wiped the excess chocolate off my trunks and I had munched my way through the homemade shortbread that had come free with our drinks it seemed to have stopped. We gathered our wet belongings and headed further into the town.
We arrived at a very fine building known as the keep. The Keep is part of the former county barracks of the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot. The barracks were built in about 1880 and housed various regiments as units were amalgamated. It ceased to be used in 1958 and most of the site was redeveloped in the 1960s, but the keep remained in Ministry of Defence hands and is now used as a regimental museum. Deciding that we didn’t fancy a look inside we wandered down the main street in search of the next exciting place.
The Tutankhamun Exhibition was housed in a former church, and was the first exhibition outside of Egypt to feature an exact anatomical recreation of Tutankhamun’s mummy. The mummy took over two years of research and experimentation to recreate, following x-rays and measurements of Tutankhamun’s mummy. It also promised us lots of information about the excavation that took place
Tutankhamun (1341 to 1323 BC), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ascending to the throne at eight or nine years of age he restored the Ancient Egyptian religion after its dissolution by his father, enriched and endowed the priestly orders of two important cults, and began restoring old monuments damaged during the previous Amarna period. Tutankhamun was physically disabled with a deformity of his left foot along with bone necrosis that required the use of a cane, several of which were found in his tomb. He had other health issues including scoliosis and had contracted several strains of malaria.
The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun’s nearly intact tomb, in excavations funded by Lord Carnarvon, received worldwide press coverage. With over 5,000 artefacts, it gave rise to renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun’s mask, now in the Egyptian Museum, remains a popular symbol. The first part of the exhibition gave us plenty of photographs of the work taken to find the young King and the histories of Carter and Carnarvon.
The next area told us all about the young man and his life and marriage, it included an actual head produced by a forensic team which showed how he would have looked.
Next came the mummified remains that had been produced to the exact details of the find.
As we moved on we found lots more photographs and a display that showed us how Carter and Carnarvon had entered the tomb and the items found.
Lots of display cases held items that had been recovered, with gold in abundance and incredible craftmanship in the making of.
The mask that has formed the centre of all Tut exhibitions had been faithfully reconstructed and was a wonder to behold, hopefully one day we will get to see the real deal.
Letting the panting boy lead the way we headed upstairs to look at all things mummified which was slightly disconcerting even if they were only replicas. From humans to animals the Egyptians had been big on this process and had used the methods of the time to ensure that there history would never be forgotten.
We had all really enjoyed the exhibition and with the rain now gone we wandered along the high street looking at Shire Hall and the lovely building that housed the Dorset museum.
Woolly says – the lovely looking St Peter’s Church took my attention. Dating from the 15th century, with later alterations and extensions over the following centuries. The church has been a Grade I listed building since 1950, built of Portland and Ham stone ashlar, with roofs of slate, tile and lead. The oldest part of the church is the south doorway, which dates to the 12th century, this was the church that the famous writer Thomas Hardy, who was born in the town, would have once worshipped.
The interior was beautifully maintained with a high domed ceiling and some wonderful stained glass windows.
Several monuments caught my eye the most intriguing being the pair of 14th-century effigies of knights in the Hardy Chapel, thought to be members of the Chidiock family, brought into St Peters from a nearby priory during the Reformation, when monasteries were destroyed.
A pedestrianised area took us past the former town pub and some more wonderful buildings. Before arriving at an area known as Brewery Square.
Brewery Square is now a major redevelopment project on the site of the former Eldridge Pope brewery. The Eldridge Pope brewery was founded by Charles and Sarah Eldridge in 1833, and the company built the Green Dragon Brewery in Dorchester in 1837. The existing Brewhouse, on which the redevelopment is taking place, was built and reopened two years after a fire in 1922 destroyed the previous site. The site was sold in 2002, and the brewery closed the following year. The main building was splendid and very striking.
A large dray horse took centre stage with a number of huge boilers that had once been used to brew for the locals.
The large chimney now smokeless still peeked up amongst the buildings which were once part of the production of beer, now instead of providing alcohol for people they house them instead.
The humans decided that enough was enough and that wet boots and jeans meant the need to head inside to the warmth and a late lunch which I had no objections to being soaked through myself, I liked Dorchester though even if it was wet and it hadn’t been all things Roman.