Jeff in Alicante

Hi Jeff welcome to Benidorm!!!

****

kind regards

Ernesto

@spanishartelcampello My Foster father was Curator of Peterborough,  Aylesbury, and Taunton  Museum. He started at Stockport Museum as Assistant  Curator.

Taunton  Museum  is in the Castle that is in the centre of the Town. When I was a kid I lived in the Castle.  I moved to Spain over  21 years ago. Unlike you  made a lot of mistakes , e.g. buying illegal  property in rural area outside Malaga. I was completely  lied to by dishonest English estate brokers and Spanish Lawyers. I was told by the Broker the water was Town water then discovered  it was Well water, but residents of the Community are banned access to it by the President  of the Community. Lots of nightmare  experiences that ruined my retirement  to Spain, but that happens when you put your trust in the hands of unscrupulous  individuals!!! Your Museum  in Cirencester  is certainly  one of the most important ones in the UK.

Sorry, Colchester  not Cirencester  I must have been thinking of excavations  around the area.

Hello Roger,

Thanks for your reply.

Cirencester was an important Roman town indeed. Working in museums was always interesting:  For instance: Colchester had an earthquake about 150 years ago. A boy was killed by stonework that fell from a church in Wivenhoe.

Cunobelin was the late iron age king of Colchester (Old King Coel from the old nursery rhyme), Yes, he was actually real. Very rich, many gold coins were minted with his image. They have never found his grave, they dug up half of Lexden in Colchester in the 1930's trying to find it. All they found was some defensive ditches and dykes. Why were such deep defensive ditches dug?, for fear of a Roman invasion... they knew their rich kingdom would be a target for Rome. They were right.

I had a problem with my visa application. I went back to the UK, the Spanish consulate in London went on strike for over 2 months. I was stuck in hotels for 3 and a half months. I eventually got my visa.

The strange thing is going back to my home town I was not emotional at all. I felt absolutely nothing. When I got the C6 bus into Alicante, I started crying...

Kind regards, Jeff

I tend to think of English History,  in terms of the number of excavations I was involved in as a kid. As the son of a Curator,  I was involved in a lot. My Dad was involved in the Orkney excavations  in the 1930s. In the 1950s  I remember him taking me to a green field in a village called Low Ham in Somerset and telling me that under the green field was one of the most intact  Roman Mosaic ever to be found in the British  Isles. It was fascinating  to excavate it and display  it in the Museum  in Taunton. It tells the story of Aeneas and Dido. It was made for the Roman Villa's bath complex at Low Ham. The Story is depicted  in 5 large panels. My Dad knew about it before it was excavated because it was discovered before the War, but they thought it would be safer to dig up after the War. Sir Mortimer  Wheeler  was involved in the excavation.

Colchester  is certainly one of the most famous  Anglo /Roman sites in The British  Isles. When I had my DNA tested  on the male side (very expensive) it revealed  Viking heritage  which did not surprise  me. The Danes settled all over East Anglia. My French  biological  Ancestors (on my Grandmother's side) originated from the 1066 Conquest and in return for their loyalty  to William the Conqueror, given land in  Norfolk and Essex. Their surname was Bacon. They held very high Offices for Centuries. One of them was Sir Francis Bacon, Lord High Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth 1st.  Sadly, my Bacons were just farm labourers , but still lived in the Essex area for centuries.