Saturday 17 January 2015

The Roman Amphitheatre, Guildhall Art Gallery

Guildhall in the City of London
As a child, I was once given a book for Christmas entitled, A Slice Through a City. The book illustrated the history of London by depicting the city through the ages, page by page. As I leafed through, I saw the city I live in grow, scenes of Saxon London eventually becoming buried under new streets and buildings. For those of you unfamiliar with the capital, what we call the City of London applies the area which was first settled in by the Romans in the 1st century and now serves as a major business and financial area. It is perhaps, the most important place to visit if you want to find examples of London throughout the ages. From fragments of the Roman London Wall, medieval churches, the Guilds, the Barbican and recent developments such as the Lloyds Tower and the Gherkin. 

The Guildhall Art Gallery


The Guildhall Art Gallery which stands today, first opened in 1999, but there has been a gallery at the site to house the City of London Cooperation's art collection since 1885. The collection largely consists of nineteenth century art and is worth visiting particularly for works on display by Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt.

John Everett Millais - My First Sermon (1863)
Given the lengthy amount of time that London was under Roman rule, it seems unsurprising perhaps that there once stood an amphitheatre in the city. It was not until 1988, when building began for the Guildhall Art Gallery, that the amphitheatre was discovered. As a result, designs for the gallery were reconsidered to make way for the display of this important London relic. Before you enter into the Guildhall Art Gallery, take a look around and will notice a large circular outline marked out on the courtyard. This marks how far the amphitheatre beneath your feet extended, which is thought to have measured 100 metres by 85 metres.

The Roman amphitheatre beneath Guildhall Art Gallery
You can reach the amphitheatre by following the signs leading to the basement level in Guildhall Art Gallery. When entering the space, you will find yourself standing in what was the entrance for the fighters about to enter the arena. The ruins of the brick walls which flanked either side of this entrance are visible and still standing within the original layer of sand, showing the contemporary Roman ground surface. This brickwork dates from the 2nd century AD, when the amphitheatre was enlarged and transformed from its original timber structure built in 70 AD.

2nd century brick wall and evidence of the original Roman ground surface
Running in between the remains of these two walls is the original timber drain which was designed to remove excess water from the Thames and a box trap which collected other wastes that would block the drain, our guide informed us that this could, on occasion include body parts lost in the numerous fights against animals which took place in the arena. Although amphitheatres could be used for theatrical performances or religious ceremonies, there is evidence to indicate that animals were used for entertainment in the amphitheatre. The outlines of chambers can be seen, one of which shows evidence of a groove carved into the stone to allow a rolling mechanism to release a trap door. Gladiatorial fights however, would have been more costly and it is not likely that these were a frequent occurrence in the London amphitheatre.


Evidence of the groove required for a trap door


One of the amphitheatre chambers thought to have housed animals prior to their release into the arena
The London amphitheatre reportedly fell out of use by the 4th century, some time before Roman rule ended. As you may have noticed, my knowledge of Roman history is poor to say the least. Therefore, if you are interested in finding out more, I recommend you look into booking a place on the tours of Roman remains offered by the Museum of London or their amazing Londinium app available to download. Writer and historian Peter Ackroyd once advised his readers to tread carefully on the pavements of London for we are treading on skin. Nowhere is this more at the forefront of my mind, than when walking through the city of London and experiencing sights like the Roman amphitheatre buried beneath.