The Romans are back in Manchester ….. just as it should be

Now, the news that a bit of Roman road has been found in Manchester is the sort of news I like.

Two very knocked about Romans, 1975

I am and have always been fascinated by Roman history and yes, I fully accept the bits about slavery, conquests, nasty emperors and the exploitation of heaps of people but I remain fascinated none the less.

Down at the dig, 1979

And how much more fascinating to discover new Roman finds in the city.

It comes from an ongoing dig on Liverpool Road and is the missing bit from excavations done on the Roman fort and on the civilian settlement.

The digs in the 1970s were met with a lot excitement and provided a rebutal to the historian A J P Taylor who had dismissed the significance of Roman Manchester.

Indeed like many I made my way down to Liverpool Road and even took a party of students to observe the patient back breaking work of the team of archeaologists.

At which point I could quote from the article, but where would the fun be in that when here is the link.

Artemidorus, Hawara, Egypt, second century

I missed the story when the BBC first announced it so seven days later so here again is the link to the story.

Picture; portrait of Artemidorus, Hawara, Egypt, second century, British Museum, taken from cover image  of the Poems of Catullus, Penguin Classics, 1968, Digging for the Romans in Manchester 1979, and two Romans much knocked about circa 1974

*Roman road discovered in city centre, Angela Ferguson & Mat Trewern

BBC News, Manchester, July 12, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y74246pppo

Looking for Romans in Manchester

Now in one of those silly acts I came to regret I got rid of pretty much all of the books and articles on the archaeological dig down by Liverpool Road.

The excavations of 1972 were covered pretty extensively in the media and led to a flurry of interest in Roman Manchester and were followed up at the end of the ‘70s with another dig and it was this later one which attracted my attention and drew me down to the site.

Once I had an extensive collection of slides and negatives which recorded my visits to the place, but pretty much most were lost a long time ago.

But not quite all because amongst a batch of old negatives dating back four decades I found these two which I took sometime around 1978 or ’79.

Trawling the net I found plenty of references to the 1972 dig but none to the later one, and yet it happened.

Together the digs discovered the extent of the small civilian settlement which stood outside the Roman fort as well as set of furnaces.

I rather like this picture taken close to the fort and looking towards Liverpool Road.

Location; the Roman dig, Manchester,

Pictures; the Roman dig, Manchester, circa 1978, from the collection of Andrew Simpson