Chesters Roman Fort Museum: Reviving Clayton's Legacy

John Clayton, painted by H.T. Wells, 1873 
21st-century standards complement Victorian gentleman antiquarian’s unique collection at Chesters

Forgotten hero of Hadrian’s Wall, John Clayton is back in the limelight after English Heritage today (29 April) re-launched the museum housing his unique collection at Chesters Roman Fort.

Few people today have heard of Clayton yet he is one of the single most important individuals in the history of Hadrian’s Wall.

Clayton was a classically educated gentleman who combined a demanding role as town clerk for the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne with a passion for archaeology and the Roman military legacy in his beloved Northumberland. He lived at Chesters House in the parkland surrounding the Roman fort and was fascinated from an early age by the relics all around him.

From 1834 he began buying land to preserve the Wall, at a time when what is now a World Heritage Site was little understood and being unthinkingly vandalised by quarrying and removal of stones for reuse. He even had some restoration work carried out on parts of the Wall.

Clayton’s enthusiasm helped preserve that central stretch of Hadrian’s Wall that includes Chesters (Cilurnum), Housesteads and Vindolanda. He carried out some of the first archaeological excavations on the Wall and even brought early tourism to the area by displaying some of the finds at Chesters.

The museum housing the Clayton Collection was opened next to the Roman fort site in 1903, 13 years after his death. It is privately owned but curated by English Heritage on behalf of the collection’s trustees and has now been refurbished to bring it up to 21st-century standards of conservation, display and interpretation. However, great care has been taken to respect its character and to retain the feel of a 19th-century gentleman antiquarian’s collection.  

Its internationally important collection includes one of Britain’s most significant collections of Roman stone inscriptions as well as a Modius – a bronze grain measure that uniquely would have weighed out a week’s ration for one Legionary. During the refurbishments a variety of artefacts came to light that were discovered by Clayton in his first archaeological dig at Chesters fort. They are now on public display in a case alongside a notebook in Clayton’s own handwriting noting some of the Roman coins he found at the same time.

Kevin Booth, English Heritage’s Senior Curator for the North, said: “Clayton, and to an extent Chesters Roman Fort itself, has been rather overlooked in the recent past by the general public, who are more familiar with nearby high-profile sites such as Housesteads and Vindolanda.

“Without wishing to take anything away from the importance of those sites, Chesters and the Clayton Collection offer one of the principle insights into Britain’s northern Roman frontier, especially through the inscriptions and sculpture.”

Georgina Plowright, Collections Manager for Chesters Museum, said: “This place houses a remarkable collection with magnificent pieces, and I like to think that if John Clayton were to see it today he would be happy with the care and respect that has been accorded his legacy.”