Here's History

The tomb of Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome has been found in the Northwest forum, under the senate house. The tomb itself would once have been beneath the”Comitium”, the central meeting place of the ancient city where votes by public assemblies were conducted.

the sarcophagus found in the tomb is empty, but is about 1.4 meters long. the tomb dates to around the 6th century BC. 

"This is not the tomb of Romulus, but is a place of memory where the cult of Romulus was celebrated, a cenotaph," Alfonsina Russo, director of Rome's Colosseum Archaeological Park said, this is the Director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.

Wightwick Manor was owned by the Mander family, who’s wealth was made by manufacturing paint. the manor is located just outside Wolverhampton and is owned by the national trust, although some apartments still remain on the site.

There is huge gardens that surround the property itself, then the main manor house and also a cafe and shop. The house is decorated with a victorian style, with many art pieces hanging from its walls.

The outside of the house has a Tudor style timber appearance and the inside is the height of victorian decor. Upstairs was closed due to conservation work being carried out on the property.

The furnishings of the house are the best that money can buy, with the Mander family having a lot of wealth due to manufacturing paint, I don’t imagine they went without! The house felt quite dark but with our modern lighting, I suppose we are to an advantage.

Guides were in each room, offering a description of the room where they were situated and also information about the family and the history of the objects the room contained.

I recently watched Pompeii New revelations on channel 5, this documentary covers what happened after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and how it affected the people in surrounding areas and how they rebuilt their lives. 

It was explained in the documentary that Pompeii was looted several times throughout history, people dug deep into the volcanic ash to find any treasure beneath. This started happening very soon after the eruption and many times since. Dan snow also explained how people are still digging down and stealing artefacts from the site. Including a local who built a tunnel down under his modern house to find treasure that lay beneath. We may never know what was taken from the site or how it may have given us an insight to the daily life of the person who once called that villa home.

Its scary to think how the people there that day must have felt when the volcano erupted, how they must have tried to flee for their lives. With the ash and pumice raining down around them, they never stood a chance! Even after the initial eruption, many pyroclastic clouds came hurting down the volcano onto the ground below.

 Bodies were discovered in the boat houses on the beach at Herculaneum, they had been killed within seconds when the 6th pyroclastic cloud came down Mount Vesuvius. The sheer heat of the material would have killed the people instantly, with the temperature being around 700 degrees centigrade. The bodies were all huddled together, maybe for support or to try and protect each other from what was about to come.

Pompeii is such a special place, frozen in time by the ash and pumice. A snapshot in time, it shows us how people were going about their everyday lives, showing us what a typical Roman town looked like, with temples, bath houses, villas and many food places. In many ways, they were just like us, having social places to meet, going out for food and working to be able to feed the family and keep a roof over their heads.

Moseley Old Hall is a property located in the West Midlands. During the English Civil War it housed Charles II, who was in hiding from the parliamentarian forces who were trying to track him down. This fabulous house is managed by the National Trust and is currently having its roof restored due to leaks. As well as the main house, there is also some gardens, tea room and also a children’s plays area. Guided tours are offered every half an hour or you can also just walk yourself round the house. 

You first enter the house and look at the kitchen and brewhouse, this introduces you to the story of Charles II’s stay at the house and how he made a daring escape from Boscobel house in Staffordshire. Then you are lead up the stairs into the kings bedroom, the is where he slept when residing at the house, it was the first comfortable bed he had slept in for days! Inside the bedroom is a priest hole where Charles had to hide when parliamentarian soldiers arrived at the house. Charles being 6ft 2, it must have been a tight squeeze! 

As you move through the house, you get a sense of just how close Charles came to being caught. The owners of the house, The Whitgreaves, were catholics, a time where being a catholic was a crime. The family already risked a lot by following the old faith and then to hide Charles, who was seen as a fugitive at the time, it must have been a scary place!

After his stay at the house, he made his way down to Bristol to try and get a ship to France, this was risky as the ports were being watched. Unable to get a ship from Bristol, he then headed for Brighton and managed to get across, he lived in exile for 9 years. On the death of Oliver Cromwell, he was invited back and the monarchy restored! 

The people who helped Charles make his daring escape and who helped hide him during his time as a fugitive were handsomely rewarded when he became king. He never forgot the people who had helped him evade capture!