Roman Museum, Canterbury (must see)

The Roman Museum features a Roman courtyard house and a Roman pavement. The museum was initially founded in 1961.

The Romans captured a settlement here in the first century AD. They laid out a settlement on a partial grid and included a theatre, forum, temple, and baths. By the third century, they had also built a town wall with seven gates to defend against barbarians. The Romans occupied Canterbury until about 410 AD.

A World War II bomb exposed the Roman mosaic pavement. The excavation revealed a Roman townhouse that had several rooms, corridors, and mosaics.

The museum aims to show people what Roman city life was like. Because the city has been raised many times since Roman times, the pavement is located under the present-day pavement. Therefore, each step visitors take down to the Roman pavement represents 100 years of the archaeological layer.

Today, visitors can see the three mosaic pavement panels, as well as other excavated artifacts. Household deities are on display. Visitors will find objects such as an ax, dice, spoons, roof tiles, and a calvary harness. Silver from the Westgate Gardens silver hoard is also on display.

The museum features a reconstructed Roman house with a kitchen. A Roman marketplace reconstruction has a cobbler, greengrocer, fast food vendor, and haberdasher.

Visitors can also check out a computer game which also guests to use Roman technology.

Museum hours: Daily 10:00 am- 5:00 pm.