Newsletter 32

Angers Special

At last month's meeting Tom Glover gave me a series of French newspaper articles on the archaeological activities in Wigan's twin city of Angers. Although very beautiful and obviously old, this ancient capital of Anjou has for many years been neglected from an archaeological and historical point of view. However over the last ten years a campaign of research and excavation has been undertaken to re-establish Angers' historical and ancient roots.

Fortunately I am presently working with a French student who volunteered to translate the articles for us. Delphine Cunnac is from Toulouse and has done a wonderful job for which I am very grateful. Here is a summary.

Amphitheatre

Juliomagus was the name given to Angers in the Roman era and an extensive amphitheatre dating from this period has been recently excavated in the heart of the city. This huge building in Hanneloup St covers an area of 117m by 110m and was constructed from five concentric walls. These walls would have originally supported terracing. Its oval shape shows that it was a full amphitheatre instead of the usual mixture of theatre and amphitheatre. This makes it quite rare in western France. Finds date its construction to the second half of the 1st century. It was still in active use in the 3rd century and was finally abandoned at the end of the Roman Empire (5th C).

In the Middle Ages it was used as a fortification and later, in the 15th century, it was used by the Cistercian monks of Louroux.

From the 17th century onwards various antiquarians have identified it giving plans and descriptions, but it is only now that a full reconstruction of this important site can be made.

Christian Necropolis

Last year, in Angers, there was a remarkable discovery in the area of the railway station. While carrying out excavation work in advance of a new multi-storey car park a Christian burial site dating to the 6th century was found. At least 3 of the graves unearthed were oriented in the telltale East/West direction, which is indicative of Christian burial ritual. They lie among other graves found in the area dating from the same period but positioned North/South. This suggests a transition period when the population was perhaps being converted from paganism.

This is the second burial site to be uncovered in this area. The first was discovered earlier in the year and dates from the 3rd/4th century AD. Both were positioned either side of the main road in the traditional pre-Christian Roman style.

10 Years Work

The last decade has seen quite a number of other finds in Angers. Here is a selection of some of the more significant ones. Starting with the College of St Martin - this was found to be Carollingian in date (i.e. 9th century). Then, working in the cloisters of the Cathedral of St Maurice they discovered graves dating to the 11th century.

In 1991, near the Cinema, a Roman Road was discovered with buildings on either side. Also in that year, the 12th century chapel of St Lazare was rediscovered. Everybody thought it had been destroyed during the revolution, but it is now to be renovated.

In 1993, under the National School for Arts and Trade in the Doutre district, a Roman Villa was discovered complete with large ornamental pond.

In 1996 the main Roman Road (Decumanus Maximus) leading to Lyon was uncovered together with the 1st Church of St Croix (dating from the Merovingien period, 8th century).

Finally in 1997 during construction work in Chanoine Urseau St, the remains of the main gate leading out to Le Mans and Paris was discovered. Fuller details of the articles will be available at the next meeting.

Next Meeting

Wednesday 5th April at our new venue, the BP Centre (Scout HQ) in Greenough Street, at 7.30 pm as usual. This month we have our special guest speaker Eric Houlder from Pontefract who will be talking about the fabulous treasures discovered in the Dark Age Ship Burials at Sutton Hoo.

Hope to see you at the meeting - B.A.