ahead of the curve: circus super-model taking shape…

Today (24th February), Trust volunteer Shirley sent us an update about the progress of the circus super-model which she is making for our Colchester Roman circus centre. The model is being hand-made out of balsa wood at a scale of 1:100, and it will be a whopping 4.5 metres long. Perhaps the most challenging part of making the model – apart from its sheer size! – is the curved end of the seating-stand (cavea). However, Shirley’s husband John has come up with a solution and, over the weekend, they started work on the curved end.

The curved end of the circus is not just challenging to model, and an important part of the circus itself, but it is also significant in the archaeological story of the circus. In May 2000, the story began when the Trust uncovered two fragments of Roman foundation on the Abbey Field. In 2002 and on several occasions in 2004, we uncovered further Roman structural evidence in the area and, in early 2005, it was suggested that all these pieces of Roman evidence belonged together in one puzzle and perhaps represented the remains of a circus…  Roman circuses are usually curved at the west end; however, unusually, of course, Colchester’s Roman circus is curved at the east end. We looked for the curve at the west end of the suggested circus site and couldn’t find it. But, in August 2006, we made a breakthrough.

‘… In August of 2006, the surface of Napier Road was removed along its entire length thus allowing any archaeological remains to be recorded in advance of the laying of two very large drainage pipes. The remains of the cavea foundations proved to be substantial and exceptionally well preserved, that of the outer wall being almost completely unrobbed. Of particular significance was the curving nature of the foundations. This left no doubt that we had indeed found a circus and it provided confirmation that, as suggested by the findings in trenches in the grounds of Flagstaff House, its eastern end was semicircular in shape. Developers Taylor Wimpey employed a specialist team to tunnel under the remains in Napier Road so that the new pipes could be installed there without damaging the foundations …’ (from CAT Report 412)

So this is how our discovery of the curve at the east end was significant: it proved that all this Roman evidence that we had found really did represent the remains of a circus! It also defined the length of the circus, at about 450 metres (Roman circuses are, on average, 400-500 metres long), and it established the alignment of the circus, which is, unusually, curved at its east rather than at its west end. This is how the curved end actually looked in the ground:
‘… A well-preserved part of the circus was uncovered in Napier Road in advance of trenching for new services. The inner and outer foundations were as observed elsewhere except that the outer foundation survived intact to Roman ground-level almost across the whole width of the street. A scatter of loose stones from the inner wall lay on the arena surface (of topsoil) and a layer of demolition debris left over from the deliberate dismantling of the outer wall sealed a patchy gravel surface which had existed around the outside of the circus. The base of the earth bank for the seats appeared to survive between the two foundations although it was not possible to distinguish it from the underlying pre-circus topsoil …’ (from CAT Report 412)

So Shirley is translating the hard archaeological evidence into the wooden scale super-model…

Many thanks to Shirley for making the super-model, with help from John, and for keeping us up to date with developments and providing the great images. It’s looking good!

The images show the early stages of the curved end of the circus super-model: the templates which John cut out; John working on a difficult bit for Shirley; the balsa wood cut to size before the final trim; and the curved end of the super-model on the ground…

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