York - Roman baths and contemporary art with an archaeological twist

While on a trip to York yesterday (to celebrate my mum's birthday no less), I managed as always to get some heritage sightseeing in.

The first place was the Roman Baths museum, underneath a pub of the same name. I've been to York more times than I could possibly count, and have known about the existence of the Roman remains under this pub for many years but for some reason never gone in. I think it's because I'd always assumed it was a case of a few low walls and the odd bit of hypocaust in a bar amid the daytime drinkers, who you'd have to move aside to be able to see anything. Happily, I discovered that the remains are actually separate from the pub, in a little independent museum in the basement.

The museum consists of the remains of the baths (mainly the semicircular outline of the caldarium with numerous pilae) and a variety of scattered displays about the Roman army and some ceramic finds from the baths. Without wishing to be unkind, the museum displays are rather disjointed and not put together with a high budget or any great overarching interpretational strategy, however it is clearly a labour of love and deserves praise for that alone.

The panels attempt to put the bath's remains into the topographical context of Eboracum, and also into the wider social system of Roman bathing. Some elements of the display are rather incongruous though. Although admittedly a legionary bathhouse, this is taken to extremes in the amount of display taken over with replica military equipment - there are no less than five complete suits of lorica segmentata in the museum! Granted, the ability to try some on will definitely go down well with many visitors though.

A bit of the display also inexplicably refers to the worship of Mithras, which I'm pretty sure has no connection to the baths as the known Mithraeum in York is on Micklegate. The label was too far away for me to read though, so I might be mistaken...

Although again I'm not entirely sure why it was relevant to the remains, the little mock shrine (complete with 30p votive candles) was cute.  The Goddess the shrine was dedicated to was interesting though.  Named as 'Uberitas, Goddess of Plenty', I confess this is a deity I've never heard of.  Surely Ops, Pomona or Abundantia would be better Goddesses of plenty and abundance?  I'd be delighted to hear if anyone can enlighten me!

My second cultural adventure of the day was at St Mary's Church - a lovely venue now successfully used as a contemporary art gallery. Their new exhibition is called 'The Matter of Life and Death', and consists of ceramics created by artist Julian Stair alongside archaeological ceramics from the Yorkshire Museum collections. The overall theme is of death, and in particular the containers that people's earthly remains have been placed in, from the Bronze Age, Roman, Anglo Saxon and Medieval periods as well as ancient Egypt juxtaposed with Stair's own modern ceramics.

The exhibition is of particular interest to me as my own museum has recently had a contemporary art exhibition which has involved archaeological objects from the collections I curate.

Of course, my interest is in the historic objects more than the contemporary ones, but Stair's ceramics were of good quality, interesting form and juxtaposed well with the archaeological material, all of which was cleanly displayed and wonderfully not behind glass.  It was a risky approach, but one that has paid off as the connection that a visitor can get from an object without 8mm of safety glass in the way is extraordinary.

I was particularly interested to see that a group of Roman cremation urns still had cremated remains within them.  During our aforementioned exhibition in Lincoln, one visitor commented that they felt it was disrespectful for us to display cremated human remains as they are in storage - in sealed plastic tubs.  I would be very interested to know, in all seriousness, if that same visitor felt that displaying them within the urns they were discovered in increased the respectfulness - bearing in mind that they were on open display, and could have been touched (and, heaven forbid, even had bits removed) had a nefarious visitor so wished.

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Museums under attack - the recent spate of thefts from British museums

As the media report the news of Britain sliding back into recession, heritage crime has also received some attention.  Metal thefts in particular, often directly damaging historic buildings, monuments and memorials, have hit the headlines and rightly caused outrage.  However, another crimewave seems to be affecting the nation's heritage, but with less media coverage overall - thefts and attempted thefts from museums and galleries.


Now, the metal theft issue is doubtless on a much larger scale, but despite national media coverage of a few high profile individual thefts, the quantity of recent incidents doesn't seem to have attracted much attention as a whole.


For those readers who haven't been following the issue, recent incidents have included:

• The theft (and thankfully subsequent recovery) of two Chinese artefacts - a jade bowl and a porcelain sculpture valued at almost £2 million, from the Durham Oriental Museum (see their news page here).  This theft occurred when thieves smashed through an outside wall and then into a display case after the museum had closed.  The objects taken suggest that the theft may have been 'to order'.

• In February, two 19th Century Buddhas were stolen from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in broad daylight by three men armed with baseball bats.  They smashed the glass of the display case and made off with the two objects.  As far as I am aware, they have not been recovered.

• In the largest single theft of recent times, 18 Chinese objects worth around £18 million were taken from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge after a gang broke in once the museum had closed.  They escaped in a white van that had been stolen in London, again suggesting that this was an organised, well-planned and focused robbery.  The fact that they were inside for mere minutes also says that they knew exactly what they were after.

• Other incidents haven't involved Asian art.  The Norwich Castle Museum has seen two separate theft attempts in recent months.  First there was the attempted daylight theft of a rhino horn (objects themselves subject to a spate of thefts recently) - only thwarted after the display case had been broken, but the thieves were stopped by brave and vigilant staff.  Sadly the second theft, occurring mere days later, saw decorative arts items relating to Lord Nelson and worth around £36,000 taken from a display case.

• In January, a group of 30 Anglo Saxon silver pennies and a silver pin, worth around £12,000, were taken from a locked display case at St Albans Museum.

• Finally, I heard this morning that there had been an attempted break-in at the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath.  Three men knocked on the door of the museum, then pushed past the staff and rushed into the museum.  Thankfully, they fled empty-handed once the alarm had been triggered.

There may be even more that I'm unaware of, but this list is shocking enough, I feel.  The fact that a number of the raids were in daylight is also rather startling.  Of course, these raids inevitably raise the issue of security.  The Ulster Museum theft caused the DUP MLA to openly question the security at the museum, but in all seriousness, what are museum and gallery staff expected to do when faced with potentially armed gangs?  No object is worth as much as a staff member.


Having said that, staff in museums and galleries of all sizes should exercise particular vigilance at the present time, but of course visitors can play a crucial role as well, by being aware of any potentially suspicious activity and alerting staff.  I'm not suggesting that visitors become suspicious snoops, but if we care about protecting the treasures that exist in our museums and galleries, then everyone has a role to play.


The fact that the highest profile thefts and attempted thefts have involved Chinese and Asian artefacts can be far from a coincidence.  Although no link between the crimes has been suggested by police, the enormous prices being paid by Asian collectors for artefacts now housed in the west has certainly created a situation where risks may be seen as worth taking by criminals - not to mention the very likely reality that a number of these items have been stolen specifically to fill a space in someone's personal display cabinet.

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Lincoln City – an absolute shower at Bath…

Let’s face facts – if Lincoln City were a racehorse, they would have been taken round the back of the shed and had their brains blown out by now.  And I can’t shake the feeling that perhaps that would be a kindness…

After being beaten by bottom of the league Bath (giving them only their 5^th win of the season), City now sit level on points with the top relegation place, only staying out of the red zone by goal difference.  Surely by this time next week we won’t even have that luxury as the teams below us continue to do something that seems beyond City’s feckless squad – actually fighting to avoid the drop.

And therein lies the worst thing for me at the moment.  Just like last season, it feels like we’re going down without a fight from the players or the board.  I’m never one to call for a manager’s head, and I have respect for David Holdsworth, but its clear that he doesn’t know how to turn it around and that the players are just not fired up or driven enough under his leadership.  A manager can be unlucky in a single game, but over 30 or more games the lack of improvement is impossible to ignore.  Although having three managers in a season is ridiculous, it’s surely the only way to have any chance of shaking the apple cart and picking up some precious points by fair means or foul.

That's not to say that I hold Holdsworth or even the board as primarily responsible for this mess.  It's the players who draw their wages and are expected to be professionals doing their job who I would feel the most resentment towards should the worst happen.  It's a sad truth of football though that players will always shirk responsibility when the excrement hits the air circulation device, but a new voice controlling the dressing room is one way to try to instil some collective responsibility.

I could rant on for hours trying to find a way to articulate my feelings at the moment, but I’ll end by simply asking ‘does anybody actually take any enjoyment out of following Lincoln any more?’  Can any Lincoln fan say they go because they actually enjoy the experience, or are we all still there out of a misplaced loyalty to a bunch of useless journeymen who couldn’t care less what league we are playing in? Sadly, I find myself more and more questioning whether the money and emotional strain that go into following the Imps are actually worth it any more.

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Lincoln City v Bath City, 1st October 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln 

Attendance: 2,244

Final score: 2-0

Lincoln went into this game against beleaguered Bath City on a hiding to nothing.  A win was expected, a draw or defeat a failure not to be contemplated.  Thankfully, duty was done, if not in quite the overwhelming fashion some might have hoped for.

Poor Bath City have been having a rather torrid start to the season, having amassed only 3 points from their opening 12 games, but with 2 of those coming from away draws, the Imps could not afford to be complacent, especially on a swelteringly hot day in which possession would be key.

City kicked off, and the tone for the match was almost set in the first minute, when Fuseini was allowed to keep going with the ball to the edge of the Bath box, with defenders backing off him, but could only scuff a weak shot wide of the target.

City continued to look comfortable, though poor passing was leading to possession being given away cheaply, and as the first half passed by, City were clearly the better side, but Anyon had been the busier keeper as Bath were lifting the ball into the box quickly, whereas as City were determined to be more patient with their build-up.

As has become almost expected in recent matches, it was McCallum who stood out as the player most likely to open up the opposition, and he was able to do just that on 19 minutes, when he dinked a chip into the box, to find Smith able to outjump his opponent and head the ball home despite the keeper getting a touch.  Regular readers will know that I have been critical of Smith in recent weeks, and he had talked in the Echo this week about players needing to step up and make things happen.  Despite being fairly anonymous up to that point in the game, strikers are judged by their goals, and this was an important one to settle City nerves.

Rather than spurring the Imps into life though, the goal did little to change the tempo of the game, and if anything Bath enjoyed some better possession.  Fortunately, the Imps were able to score a second goal on the break on 30 minutes.  McCallum received the ball just inside the Bath half and managed to keep ahead of the chasing defender as he entered the box, and put a neat shot over the despairing sprawl of the keeper to score his overdue first of the season.

City were lifted by the goal, and within minutes the keeper also had to make a good double save, first from Power, then from McCallum’s follow up.

Bath proved that they weren’t willing to fold, however, and actually finished the half strongest, first forcing Anyon into tipping a good dipping shot over the bar, then seeing the resulting corner end in a header hitting the outside of the post.

The second half began with the Imps attacking, and shortly after kickoff a superb curling effort from Power rebounded off the woodwork, but Gowling could only stab the rebound back to the grounded keeper.

The remainder of the game actually proved to be a rather more sedate affair, as City dozed in the afternoon heat, doing enough to keep the game safe, and Bath were unable to break their opponents down when they had the ball.

City were ultimately unable to put their opponents to the sword, but considering the heat, that cannot be too unexpected.  The final whistle blew to signal a third unbeaten home game for City, and a performance that, overall, left City fans going home happy.

One thing about the game got me thinking.  There is a general belief among Imps fans this season that we are accurate enough with our shooting, but that we simply don’t get enough shots away.  In essence, we have a lot of the ball in midfield, but can’t convert that possession into cold, hard, chances.  I therefore had a play with some of the statistics from the first 13 games of the season.

The graph below shows the number of shots on target and the number of goals that City have had this season.  Apart from a few blips, the team are actually taking as many shots as they were at the start of the season, and after a few blank games, the goals have returned as well.  In total, City have scored 11 goals from 76 shots on target - a ratio of 1 goal every 6.9 shots.

In contrast, the same figures for City’s opponents show that the ratios are quite similar – confirming that City’s games have all been close run things, as we know.

The telling statistic for me, however, is that our opponents have scored a goal for every 3.9 shots on target (16 goals from 62 shots on target) - twice as good a return as the Imps.

Perhaps its stating the obvious, but contrary to popular belief, it seems that its not the sheer number of shots that City are taking that we need to worry about, but that too many of them are not beating the keeper and ultimately we’re not making our opponents work hard enough for their goals.

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon
13 Tony Sinclair
6 Danny Hone
5 Josh Gowling
3 John Nutter
8 Alan Power
10 Ali Fuseini
27 Jean-Francois Christophe
15 Simon Russell
14 Sam Smith
30 Gavin McCallum
Substitutes
23 Josh O'Keefe for Fuseini 76
19 Bradley Barraclough for McCallum 76
9 Kyle Perry for Smith 90+1
4 Adam Watts
17 Nicky Nicolau

BATH CITY
1 Glyn Garner
5 Gethin Jones
24 Charlie Clough
26 Andy Gallinagh
19 Joe Burnell
21 Alex Russell
11 Lewis Hogg
16 Marc Canham
18 Marley Watkins
23 Ben Swallow
10 Lee Phillips
Substitutes
27 Sean Canham for Phillips 38
7 Scott Murray for Watkins 55
3 Paul Stonehouse for Burnell 61
4 Jim Rollo
15 Mark Preece

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