Chesters Roman Fort Collection Highlights

The Clayton Collection at Chesters is made up mostly of Roman finds from multiple forts, milecastles and turrets along Hadrian’s Wall. John Clayton (1792–1890) inherited the fort of Chesters in 1832 and by the time he died he owned five forts in total. Excavating every year for almost 50 years he uncovered some hugely significant finds, as well as enhancing our understanding of the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. For example, the 53 centurial stones he discovered give us the names of soldiers involved in building the Wall.

The collection contains around 11,000 finds along with archive material from Clayton’s time and later.

Most famous is the wide range of inscriptions and sculpture, in particular the religious material, with many deities and religions represented. Certain finds are internationally important, such as the Coventina’s Well material, found in 1876 by the fort of Carrawburgh. However, the collection also holds many hidden gems, such as painted wall plaster from Chesters, delicate glasswork and intriguing graffiti.

The collection is displayed in Chesters Museum, built in 1895 to house the material.

Ex-voto of a Hand

Date: Roman
Type: Ex-voto of a hand
Material: Copper alloy
Place Made/Found: Carrawburgh Roman Fort
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This hand was found at Carrawburgh Roman Fort in 1876 and provides valuable information about religious activities there. Ex-votos are a form of sacrifice, gifts offered to the deity. Anatomical ex-votos were offered in the hope of healing an afflicted part of the body, usually that represented by the model. Usually they were made of terracotta, so this copper alloy hand would have been an expensive offering.

Juno Regina Standing on a Heifer

Date: Roman, 3rd century AD
Type: Statue
Material: Local buff-sandstone
Place Made/Found: Chesters Roman Fort in 1801
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This statue is an extremely Classical design. It shows Juno, one of the Capitoline Triad, the deities who shared a temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. She is dressed in a long-sleeved tunic, mantle and apron with a toothed necklace around her neck. The standard of craftsmanship is unusually high for work carved in the province of Britannia and there have been suggestions that it was the work of an eastern artist.

Centurial (Building) Stone

A Centurial (Building) Stone

Date: c. AD 122–38
Type: Building stone
Material: Stone
Place Made/Found: Built into Hadrian’s Wall near Chesters, found before 1840
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This building stone is one of 53 in the Clayton Collection. They give us the names of centurions who, with their men, built Hadrian’s Wall. Each group would have been given a set length of wall to build, and they often inscribed a stone when they had finished. The centurion Lousius Suavis kept his men busy, as there are four other centurial stones featuring his name from Hadrian’s Wall.

Figurine of a ‘Scotty Dog’

Date: Roman
Type: Figurine
Material: Copper alloy
Place Made/Found: Probably Chesters
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This small figurine catches many people’s eye in the museum. It is extremely lifelike and shows that some dog breeds have changed little in the last 2,000 years. However, it also represents the challenges curators face working with a collection put together over a long period, with poor record keeping. Its provenance is not clear, although a drawing made in 1880 suggests it was found at Chesters Fort.

Thuribles (Incense Burners)

Date: Roman
Type: Thuribles
Material: Clay/ceramic
Place Made/Found: Found in Coventina’s Well, 1875/6
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

These pieces are just two of many items from Coventina’s Well, a votive offering to a mysterious goddess, unknown before this discovery. Unlike the altars, which have been carved with great skill, these items appear to have been made by an amateur – the name of the goddess is spelt differently on each one. Compared with an altar, they represent a less expensive way for a devotee to offer something to the goddess.

Modius (Corn Measure)

Date: Made AD 90–91, but continued to be used after this
Type: Modius (corn measure)
Material: Copper alloy
Place Made/Found: Carvoran Roman Fort, just a few yards north of the north-west corner of the fort, in 1915
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This modius is an extremely rare find. The inscription on the outside dates it to the reign of Domitian and says it holds 17½ sextarii. It can in fact hold 20.8 sextarii, however, so if it was used to measure tax paid in grain, the tax payers were being swindled! Domitian's name has been scratched out, a practice linked with the phenomenon of damnatio memoriae – where the memory of someone was damned, and wiped from record.

Altar to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the other deities and the Genius Praetorii

Date: Roman, 3rd century AD
Type: Altar
Material: Local buff sandstone
Place Made/Found: Vindolanda Roman Fort, in the commanding officer’s house, 1831
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This altar is a prime example of Roman religious ‘hedging of bets’. Quintus Petronius Urbicus was not sure who to dedicate the altar to, so he chose a catch-all ‘other deities’, as well as Jupiter, the king of all gods, and the god of his house (the praetorium). The detail shown here is a crane with a chick, the meaning of which is not clear.

Portrait of John Clayton

John Clayton

Date: 1863
Type: Painting
Material: Oil on canvas
Place Made/Found: Newcastle upon Tyne
Artist: E. Sawyer
Lender: The Trustees of the Clayton Collection

This is one of only three known portraits of John Clayton (1792–1890). He was the town clerk of Newcastle, the head of a large law firm and a keen antiquarian. He grew up at Chesters, with the fort in his front garden, and by the time he died he owned five forts. His excavations revealed much about the construction of Hadrian’s Wall and the museum at Chesters contains many of his finds.