Following the publication of his new book, Sea Eagles of Empire (The History Press, 2016), PhD student Simon Elliott is to give a talk entitled ‘The Romans on the Medway’ at the Guildhall Museum Rochester on Thursday 6 October at 7pm, for the Rochester Bridge Trust.
From the mid 1st to the mid-3rd century AD, much of the building material used across South East England was sourced from ragstone quarries in the Medway Valley. This involved an enormous industrial enterprise and fully-integrated transport infrastructure, of which the River Medway was a key part. Mr Elliott said: ‘Many people know about the large towns established by the Romans, but what they don’t realise in many instances is where the materials needed to construct these urban developments came from. In the South East, including London, that material came from ragstone quarries near the River Medway.’
Simon is currently completing a PhD in Classical & Archaeological Studies, and his research on ‘Late Roman Kent’ is supervised by Dr Steve Willis.
Further details of the talk can be found at: www.rbt.org.uk/news/free-talk-highlight-roman-use-river-medway/