Canterbury Roman Museum

The Canterbury Roman Museum stands in the heart of Canterbury, built above the remains of a Roman courtyard house. The building itself is a Grade I listed structure, and the pavement below is a scheduled monument. It was discovered after a World War II bombing and opened to the public in 1946. The museum houses many artefacts from Roman Canterbury, including the Canterbury Treasure, a late Roman silver hoard. Reconstructions of the Roman town bring the past to life, showing how people lived nearly two thousand years ago. The museum reveals the secret city beneath Canterbury’s modern streets. Audrey Williams and Sheppard Frere led the first excavations after the war, uncovering a series of mosaic panels and a hypocaust system. The pavement dates from around 300 AD and is preserved with an air-conditioning system. Excavations have also uncovered household items like silver spoons, glassware, and cavalry swords. Military artefacts include reconstructed harness parts and a pair of spathae from a possible murder victim. Visitors descend through layers of history, each step representing a century of archaeological discovery. The museum features a reconstructed Roman house with a kitchen and a market place with stalls for cobbler, haberdasher, and greengrocer. Interactive displays let visitors handle Roman artefacts and try activities like making mosaics or dressing as Romans. The time-tunnel display explains the end of Roman rule, while a computer screen shows how the pavement looked during excavation. The museum celebrates the archaeologists who uncovered Canterbury’s past since the 19th century.