We wouldn't be here if . . .

. . . we knew.
 
Amazing how one thing links to something else and then to something else . . . if you are just a little bit curious.
 
A while back now I discovered a Future Learn online 6 week course about the Roman Wall. We know bits and pieces and have visited and read quite a bit about the Wall, over the years. But this sounded really interesting and it was free, so we both signed up for it. The start date was yesterday and I skimmed some of the Introduction whilst we were travelling home. I found out that it was a Newcastle University course and the leader of the course was Ian Haynes, Professor of Archaeology at Newcastle University and that he was currently Project Director for the Roman Temples Excavation 2015 at Senhouse Roman Museum, Maryport. This being a place we hadn't been to for a very long time, (actually I don't think I've ever been there before), we put it on our visit list.
 
This morning I looked up the museum to find out opening hours and discovered that there was a talk by Ian Haynes this very evening. So we abandoned everything and set off for Maryport, to visit the museum and stay for the talk. We arrived there in the afternoon and were fascinated by the Altars that had been found and were on display. But better than that, we discovered that we were just in time for a guided tour of the excavation site. Without much ado, four of us were taken by one of the archaeologists to the site and had it all explained to us. It was really interesting to watch all the people involved with the dig.
 
You can see here the digger that is on site for just a short time to take off the top layer of soil, its movement closely watched and recorded so nothing is lost. Then there are individuals, many volunteers, excavating tiny sections of the huge area. The group on the left are students from Newcastle University, who do three weekly stints at the site as part of their course.
 
We returned at 7.30 and listened to an excellent and well-attended talk about the excavations, both past ones and the current one. It was a highly detailed archaeological talk and I won’t say I understood it all, because I didn’t, but it was just wonderful to hear about the work that goes on and the findings that are painstakingly made.
 
This is already too long, so I'm not about to explain all about Senhouse. This link will give you more information, if you want it. Suffice to say that it was a huge and very important Roman settlement, both military and civilian, including a large fort and temple. Around forty altars have been found in the area and it is questions about why they were here that the whole dig is about. So, when one of our group asked why they were all there, he was given the answer I started with!
 
The extra photos, only if you are interested, are:
     *One of the Altars.
     *A view of part of the site, showing the outline of the Fort and the
      Temple site in the distance.
     *A view of the Solway from the watchtower - you can just make out 
      Criffel across the water.
 
What a day and at 7.30 this morning it was planned as a quiet day at home!