Restoring the Lunt Roman Fort in Baginton
With thanks to David Meadows for pluckin' this off the net:<br>
<img src="http://www.history.uk.com/upgrades/1037109597_Lunt-Roman-Fort.jpg" style="border:0;"/><img src="http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/attraction/luntromanfort1.jpg" style="border:0;"/><br>
<strong>£15,000 gift to aid fort reconstruction Dec 15 2003</strong><br>
A mystery donor has given £15,000 towards restoring the Lunt Roman Fort in Baginton - parts of which are closed to visitors.<br>
People cannot currently walk on the ramparts or the gateway after the reconstructed ramparts were declared unsafe in 1999.<br>
City arts and heritage officer Roger Vaughan told the council's Cabinet that visitor numbers dropped from 20,000 a year to 17,000.<br>
He said: "Although a good guided experience of Roman military life is still offered, the closure of this highlight of a visit to the Lunt has resulted in a decline in visitor numbers."<br>
The anonymous donor's generous gift is now helping to pay for remedial work on the fort, which was originally restored using Roman methods and materials.<br>
The city council is footing the rest of the £80,000 bill and hopes to complete the work by spring in order to attract more visitors.<br>
The work will include restoring the ramparts using modern materials, rather than Roman ones, which will be easier to keep in good condition.<br>
The unsafe ramparts will be demolished and rebuilt, and the gateway of the first century fort will be restored to a safe standard.<br>
English Heritage was consulted about the plans, because the fort is an ancient monument. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=vortigernstudies>Vortigern Studies</A> at: 12/21/03 4:11 pm<br></i>
<em>A mystery donor has given £15,000</em><br>
Not a mystery to those in the British re-enactor community, I suspect, who will be putting 2 and 2 together pretty rapidly ;-)<br>
The Reconstructions at the Lunt were built in the early to mid 1970s siting foundation posts in the original post holes and contructing superstructure using methods as closely following the original as possible. Given that it has now lasted for thirty years it has done remarkably well. There is a school of thought which considers that the Lunt reconstructions were done as an experiment in the durability of turf and timber fortifications and many who are of this school sit on Coventry City Council and its associated bodies, including the one which overseas the upkeep of the Lunt fort. These people have been reported as being very pleased with the ramparts at the Lunt as they have fulfilled their purpose and demonstrated that the life expectancy of a turf rampart is about 25 years. So they say at any rate! For a number of years I have been countering this view with the statement that ramparts, whether of turf, stone or steel, last for as long as you maintain them! I do not believe that the so-called experiment with the ramparts is at all valid. I refuse to believe that the Romans would have sat around and watched their defences crumbling away. Where a floorboard in a wall-walk rotted or gave way, the Romans would have replaced it rather than fencing it off and wittering on about experimental archaeology as CCC have done. The reality is that Coventry City Council does not really care about the Lunt, despite it qualifying as one of the best Roman sites in Britain and being a potential money spinner for the council. It should be remembered that the current council is descended from the same council which in the 1930s began the wholesale destruction of what until then had been regarded as the most beautiful city in England. The German Luftwaffe helped the council out in the 1940s by dropping hundreds of tons of incenduary bombs on Coventry and destroying (amongst other things) the cathedral, and then the council returned to destroy most of what was left in the 1960s, with the result that Coventry today is one of the least attractive cities in Britain. With a pedigree like this in the sidelining of history, it is hardly surprising that Coventry City Council have never even attempted to put the funding into the Lunt which was required. It is somewhat telling that the funds which were temporarily secured to rebuild the principia came not from council funds but from lottery grant funds (which were then withdrawn in order to fund yet more football teams).<br>
As the RMRS uses the Lunt as its training base and also does at least two public shows there each year we feel quite strongly about the maintenance and promotion of the site. Over the past three years my good friend John Waite has been running a campaign to get the council to take positive action over the Lunt and gradually he has forced some individuals to see the value of saving it. This has resulted in an Action Plan, developed in conjuction with English Heritage, to be enacted over the next four to five years. We are told that this is to result in the rebuilding of the gate and rampart section, the reconstruction of the principia and the reconstruction of one of the barrack blocks. The only problem has been that, true to form, the council did not put enough money in the budget for the project. Our mystery doner agreed that the Lunt was too good to waste and decided that unless something was put in to kick-start the project the council would never get up off its haunches to do anything. We are, and will remain, extremely grateful for the generosity of the doner (who cannot be named).<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Not a mystery to those in the British re-enactor community, I suspect, who will be putting 2 and 2 together pretty rapidly ;-)<hr><br>
Not a mystery either to some Dutch re-enactors who heard rumors about a member of a certain British group which uses The Lunt on the one hand, and The Lottery on the other..<br>
Hey! TL vs. TL.. Coincidence?<br>
Gashford
I must live with my head in a bucket as I have no idea who the mystery donator is, but good effort all the same, its a shame that they had the need to stump up the cash though as the council haven't bothered to do anything ... maintenance in teh long term would have probably saved this level of disrepair needing repair.<br>
Good luck fellas, it will be nice to see the repairs when they are done.<br>
All the best. <p>Graham Ashford
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Wow, talk about the past.... I visited the Lunt on my very 1st trip over to England, and was actually present when a unit of Royal Engineers were planting the timbers for the gateway! The woman directing the works told me that the biggest hassle they had was finding those lengths of wood. As I remember, they had a hoist-truck on the site, but just for the hell of it the soldiers were going to do everything by hand, just to see what problems the Romans might have encountered. Par for the course for the poor grunts, all this was being conducted in a miserable downpour.<br>
As ever- Ed <p></p><i></i>