Lydney Park

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Lydney Park is a garden area, the "Lydney Park Estate 'in the county of Gloucestershire heard in England. During excavations there, buildings, pieces of jewelry and coins from the time of Roman settlement were found. William Hiley Bathurst (1796–1877) described the facility in his book Roman antiquities at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, published posthumously in 1879 . Charlotte Bathurst put together a catalog of selected coins. In total, more than 700 large coins were found dating from August 14 AD to Arcadius 408 AD.

Roman buildings

The Roman remains of buildings were located on a hill popularly known as English Dwarf's Hill , Little Hill ' was called. People thought that these were once built by fairies, who are said to have been a short people. In 1723 Benjamin Bathurst (1692-1767) bought the estate in Lydney. The ruins were still overgrown by bushes at the time and rose about three feet above the site. Many large coins and other ancient objects were found in the so-called English Dwarfs' Chapel 'Dwarf Chapel ' . At the beginning of the 19th century, the Roman buildings in Lydney Park were first thoroughly researched by Charles Bathurst (1754–1831), who made detailed plans and drawings of the different rooms and a detailed description of the villa and the temple .

A rectangular temple measuring approximately 80 by 60 feet was erected on the site around AD 364. It was stabilized by buttresses , which were provided with small niches towards the interior, which were probably intended for statues. The entrance of the temple is in the southeast, opposite there were three departments, which were supposed to represent three characteristics of the deity worshiped there. A total of over 8,000 coins, a bronze plaque with a portrait of a woman, over 300 bracelets and pens were found. The fragments of the mosaics show fishermen or a sea god. One bronze object showed a god on a chariot, another a sculpture of a dog.

Drawing of the inscription

The temple is said to have been dedicated to a local deity by the name of Nodens , according to a relief inside that was destroyed. An escape sign found there had the following wording:

DEVO NODENTI SILVIANVS ANILVM PERDEDIT DEMEDIAM PARTEM DONAVIT NODENTI INTER QVIBVS NOMEN SENICIANI NOLLIS PETMITTAS SANITATEM DONEC PERFERA VSQVE TEMPLVM DENTIS '
To the god Nodens. Silvianus has lost a ring. He has given the half part to Nodens. Allow health to none amongst (those) who bear the name of Senicianus until he brings (it) even to the temple of Nodens. (English)
God Nodens, Silvianus lost a ring, he gave half to Nodens. Those who are called Senicianus are denied health until he has brought (them) back to the temple 
Ring of Silvanus

The philologist JRR Tolkien was commissioned in 1929 by the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler , who carried out excavations in Lydney and made a connection between the Ring of Silvanus (found in 1785 in a field near Silchester) and the mention on the tablet of the etymology of the name Nodens. He then wrote the essay The Name Nodens . There was speculation about the possible influence of these finds on the tales of Tolkien, who had visited the excavation site.

The temple is listed as "Camp Hill promontory fort and Romano-British temple complex, Lydney" under number 1017373 in the National Heritage List for England of the English Heritage . It includes the complex with the foundations of a Roman bathhouse.

literature

  • William Hiley Bathurst: Roman antiquities at Lydney park, Gloucestershire. Ed .: Charles William King , Charlotte Bathurst. Longmans, Green and co., London 1879 (English, archive.org - contains: Catalog of coins from Lydney Park from p. 73).
  • SP Oliver: The Temple of Nodens in Lydney Park . In: Nature . tape 20 , no. 520 , October 16, 1879, p. 579-580 , doi : 10.1038 / 020579a0 (English).
  • Harry Mengden Scarth: Roman remains in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire (=  Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society . Volume 6 , part 1, 1881-1882.). The Society, Bristol 1882, OCLC 44833041 .
  • John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman, and Post-Roman site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire . Ed .: Mortimer Wheeler, Tessa Verney Wheeler (=  Reports of the Research Committee . No. 9 ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 1932, OCLC 5866363 , contains Appendix: The Name “Nodens”.
  • Malcolm J. Watkins: Lydney Park gardens and Roman camp . Lydney Park Gardens, Lydney, The Roman Settlement (English, brochure about 1970–1980).
  • Alan McWhirr: Roman Gloucestershire . A. Sutton, Gloucester 1981, ISBN 0-904387-63-1 , pp. 153-155 .
  • John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: The Name “Nodens” . In: Tolkien Studies . tape 4 , no. 1 . West Virginia University Press, Morgantown 2007, ISBN 978-1-933202-26-6 , pp. 177-183 , doi : 10.1353 / tks.2007.0032 .

Web links

Commons : Lydney Park  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Hiley Bathurst: Roman antiquities at Lydney park, Gloucestershire. P. 12 ( archive.org )
  2. ↑ JRR Tolkien and Lydney Park's links with Lord of the Rings. bbc.co.uk, accessed July 5, 2018 .
  3. ↑ What gold ring Tolkien's inspiration? BBC News, accessed July 5, 2018 .
  4. ^ Camp Hill promontory fort and Romano-British temple complex [1017373] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England . Retrieved July 5, 2018.

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 15.2 "  N , 2 ° 33 ′ 28.8"  W.