In March this year Manchester Museum took part in the 2014 Manchester Histories Festival – a “celebration of Greater Manchester’s unique histories and heritage” (www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk) – lasting ten days and comprising over 180 events at venues across the city. At the Museum, there was a focus on Manchester’s Roman past; Manchester was a Roman fort, established in 79 AD and called Mamucium. There was a fascinating and entertaining showcase seminar entitled ‘Roman and Dark Age Mancheste’r, delivered by Dr. Andy Fear from the Classics and Ancient History department at the University of Manchester, after which the Museum’s Curator of Archaeology Bryan Sitch gave an object handling session using Roman artefacts.

As a member of the Visitor Services team, I had the opportunity to deliver a guided tour on the subject of Roman Manchester. The tour began in the Discovering Archaeology exhibition, where I showed visitors a slave chain dating to the Iron Age…