Kevin Wilbraham

Detail from the ‘Monks Stone’. Possibly part of a shrine panel, the stone dates to C8th or C9th and was found by grave diggers in 1943 at St Laurence's Kirk at Papil in West Burra, Shetland. Now part of the collections at Shetland Museum & Archives. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday

A Roman glass funerary urn that was found during excavations in the Botchergate area of Carlisle. Dating to the 1st century AD, the urn can be viewed in Carlisle Cathedral’s treasury. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #RomanBritain #CarlisleCathedral

The 15th century font from All Saints’ Church at Old Buckenham in Norfolk. 📸 My own. #FontsOnFriday #OldBuckenham #Norfolk

The so-called ‘Draconarius Tombstone’ from Chester (Roman Deva) on display at Grosvenor Museum, Chester. The tombstone is only partially preserved. It shows a Sarmation cavalryman on horseback, wearing a cloak and conical hat, armed with sword, and holding a draco standard. The fabric tube is inflated behind the rider. The portion of stone in the top right corner with the dragon head is missing, as is the lower left portion of the stone with the rear of his horse. The tomb’s inscription is also missing

The Roman military ‘draco’ standard was carried by a ‘draconarius’. The Draconarius Tombstone from Chester (Roman Deva) shows a Sarmatian standard bearer, fighting far from home with the Roman legions.

Grosvenor Museum, Chester. 📷 by me

grosvenormuseum.westcheshiremuseums.co.uk/collections/...

✨ Friday inspiration: The achingly beautiful village of Bosham in West Sussex. King Harold saw the same church tower before he set sail in 1064 to meet William of Normandy who would be his conqueror in 1066. Bosham is named in the Bayeux Tapestry alongside a depiction of the church.

An array of iron and bronze finds in a white museum case

#FindsFriday looking down on a mighty spearhead, chariot fittings & tools 🥰 from the Iron Age votive lake deposit at Llyn Cerrig Bach on Ynys Môn/Anglesey - now on display in St Fagans Museum

Hear about new discoveries on 4 December at the Cambrians Xmas lecture🥳

cambrians.org.uk/cambrians-ch...

A small Roman square glass bottle with a short neck and a rounded rim, featuring a applied handle on one side. The translucent greenish glass is weathered, and the bottle is filled with pale yellow-brown residue. The vessel sits on a dark display surface, with another stone container blurred in the background.

Some archaeological finds may appear unremarkable and ordinary, yet they often are more interesting than any treasure, such as this Roman glass square bottle remarkably containing a rare find – preserved ointment. The waxy mass of fatty acids and glycerine contains plant fibres from...🧵1/3

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#RomanFortThursday with Birdoswald along Hadrians Wall

Corstopitum/Coria began as a Roman military base in a strategic position. A bridge carried the north-south Dere Street. This road met the east-west Stanegate Road at Coria. It became a hybrid place, a town with some military installations, in the later 2nd C.
#RomanFortThursday #Archaeology
My 📸

A close-up of a die made of bone. It is completely preserved.Its surface is porous, yet the detail is clear. Four pips are visible on the top face, one on the front, and five on the side.

A die made from animal bones, found in Burgstein Castle, dating 11th century.
Just like today, opposite sides of a die always add up to 7.
Dice were quite popular among all social classes during the Middle Ages. In the early 10th century, for instance, the scholar Ekkhardt IV of....🧵 1/2

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Image taking in Scotland and part of the island of Ireland.

Áed Finnliath, king of Ailech and Tara, died #OTD in 879. He was survived by his wife Máel Muire, daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, former king of the Picts and Scots. Theirs is the only recorded marriage between an Irish king and a Pictish princess in the historical period. #medievalsky

On a chilly morning such as this, let’s imagine ourselves as a Hadrian’s Wall soldier starting his shift in one of the turrets, checking his section of wall, & then upwards on watch duty.
Filmed Tuesday morning, at fabulous @vindolandatrust.bsky.social before the snow!
#RomanFortThursday

A picture of a twig. On one end (left) a natural sponge has been tied.

Serious question (yes, it can happen):

We all know that a sponge on a stick was used by the Romans for wiping their bums, right? Well, what's the evidence? Seems very impractical to us.

Does anyone know?

My photo shows a Roman bronze dragon’s head from a military standard carried by Roman cavalry. The head is elongated with open jaws. The top and bottom jaws are lined with sharp triangular teeth. The top of the snout has diagonal ridges. It has a single round eye socket. The rear of the head and neck is textured with scales. At the top of the head there is a short, jagged, fin-like, upright crest. The bronze surface is weathered with greenish and gold patches. It is mounted on a dark stand in a museum display case.

Roman bronze dragon’s head standard, AD 190-260.

Originally mounted on a pole, with a long fabric tube attached to the back of the head. When charging on horseback, the wind inflated the tube and the dragon shrieked!

Niederbieber fort. Landesmuseum Koblenz. 📷 me

#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology

The remains of the commanding officer’s house at Ambleside Roman Fort in the Lake District. Built during the 2nd century AD, the fort guarded the Roman road from Brougham to Ravenglass, and replaced an earlier 1st century fort. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain

The south transept doorway of St. Augustine’s Church at Hedon in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 📸 My own. #AdoorableThursday #Hedon #Yorkshire

Early Bronze Age bell-shaped beaker which was found at Stanground in Peterborough - an area rich in Bronze Age activity. Now part of the collections at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. 📸 My own. #Prehistory #Archaeology #Peterborough

Scrabo Tower and Hillfort

Grey Abbey

St. Cooey's Holy Well

A view over Portaferry

Back from the beautiful Ards Peninsula in County Down.

Such a stunning landscape, especially when lit with the low November sun. And a whole host of incredible monuments to explore.

Full heads, hearts, and memory cards after that!

Augustus strikes an heroic nude pose while he and a winged Victory attend to a military trophy. The trophy consists of enemy armour attached to a post. Augustus is further distinguished by being attended by an eagle, a classic symbol of Jupiter and Roman military might. Beneath the military trophy is a bound figure who represents those conquered.

✨Augustus and Victory✨

Augustus strikes an heroic nude pose while he and a winged Victory attend to a military trophy. Augustus is further distinguished by being attended by an eagle. Beneath the military trophy is a bound figure who represents those conquered.

#ReliefWednesday #AncientRome

Plaster niche-relief showing Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and sexuality, brushing her hair and gazing into a mirror. She sports bracelets, anklets, and breast ornaments, with surviving traces of the ancient red pigments still showing.

#ReliefWednesday - I'm feeling the love today, so here she is in person, with this beautiful polychrome representation of Aphrodite from Dura-Europos, Syria: ca. AD 200-256. #Love #Archaeology 🏺

Image: Yale University Art Gallery (1935.43). Link - artgallery.yale.edu/collections/...

#ReliefWednesday - A fantastic panel showing soldiers of the Praetorian Guard in parade armour, from the triumphal Arch of Claudius in Rome: ca. AD 51-52. Much restored and embellished, but still rather fabulous! #Roman #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: Louvre Collections (Ma 1079). 📸 My Own

A walk through the stone defences of Mither Tap, Bennachie in Aberdeenshire for #HillfortsWednesday
I believe occupied in the early Middle Ages, don’t know how far it goes back? Whenever it was, I hope it was less windy than now.

Coin of Ecgberht.

Ecgberht, bishop (732-5) and archbishop of York, died #OTD in 766. Brother of Northumbrian king Eadberht (737-58) and recipient of Bede’s letter of 734, which helped shape his reforms. He founded the school whose alumni included Alcuin. Ælberht succeeded him. 📸York Museums Trust #medievalsky

#HillfortsWednesday & We have a brand new episode out on the Hillforts of Exmoor & Devon
& to begin: the wonderful Hillsborough, Ilfracombe

A promontory fort on the North Devon coast with its huge 280m long ramparts

See more of it here >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dATT...

Mynydd-y-fforest Ystadowen
A sub-circular enclosure, c.60m in diameter, set on a S-facing slope and defined by a bank and ditch, counterscarped on the N and NE. A rectangular enclosure lies immediately to the NE.

📸 My own.

#HillfortsWednesday #Wales

#HillfortsWednesday with the spectacular and iconic Mither Tap of Bennachie. Recent digs showed Pictish activity, including a deep well. The hill is visible throughout Northeast Scotland, dominating the skyline.

Aerial view of the Figsbury Ring, Wiltshire. Neolithic and Iron Age site with sweeping views of surrounding countryside. ©National Trust Images/John Miller

It’s #HillfortsWednesday!

Did you know that there are more than 150 hillforts, hilltop and hillslope enclosures recorded on land cared for by the National Trust?

They're amazing archaeological sites, but also real havens for nature. 🧵

The museum image shows a rich purple Roman glass bottle. Free-blown with a spherical body, a flat base, and a narrow, slightly tapering cylindrical neck with flaring rim. 13.7 cm in height. The glass appears to have patchy accretions which have built up over time. The display lighting makes the centre of the bottle glow with a reddish light, as if it contains warm embers. Circa 1st century AD.

Stunning 2,000 year-old #Roman purple glass bottle, probably used for perfume.

📷 Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins

#Archaeology

The grass covered ramparts of an oval shaped Iron Age hillfort from the air, bisected by a modern, tree-lined road

It's #HillfortsWednesday !!

Here's the Iron Age enclosure of Belsar’s Hill #Cambridgeshire, remodelled as a Norman fortress in the early 1070s, before being incorporated into a field system and overlain by a road

It's still impressive however, especially from the air 🤩

📷 Bill Blake CC BY-SA 4.0

A series of rings parching out on a hilltop

It's true 💯 - we're all only here for #HillfortsWednesday 🥳🛖

The remarkable Pentre Camp near Llanfair Caereinion in north Powys is highly concentric with 3 lines of defence: perhaps for prestige or to mark it as a special locale..? 🤔

📷 Mobile phone during #RCAHMW aerial photography, May 2025