Roman Britain Reimagined in Reading

Reading Museum's Silchester Gallery features amazing finds from the renowned collection of artefacts excavated at the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum. Find out more on the Silchester Gallery webpage.

We are making plans to refresh our Roman Gallery, which explores finds from the renowned collection of artefacts excavated at the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum in modern-day Silchester. We will tell new stories based on the most recent archaeological research by the University of Reading and want to enhance the visitor experience. 

Our consultation has now closed. Thank you to everyone who shared their views and comments.

Our April 2025 blog looks at what you have told us so far

The Reading Museum blog contains many stories about Iron Age and Roman Calleva including:

• Prof Mike Fulford exclusively reveals research into human remains from Iron Age and Roman Silchester, including a man with Spanish heritage in late Iron Age Britain.
• Find out more about the mysterious stone carved in Ogham that was found in the Roman town of Silchester.
• Discover the story behind the Silchester Eagle, one of the most remarkable finds from Roman Britain

Reading Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership's website has a series of guided walks from Bramley and Mortimer stations that link to the Roman town site at Silchester.

See https://readingbasingstokecrp.co.uk/walks/

Find out more about visiting the ruins of Roman Calleva on the English Heritage website 

If we secure delivery phase funding in late 2025, a wider range of people will be connected to Reading’s Roman heritage by reinterpreting Reading Museum’s important archaeological collections, through an exciting new gallery, learning resources and participatory activities. 

The project will redisplay the collection in an exciting and accessible way, supported by community engagement activities and schools’ programmes. A key theme is the parallel between Calleva’s cultural and ethnic diversity and contemporary Reading’s demographic profile.  The new gallery will reflect research by the University of Reading over the past 30 years of excavations on the site, with remarkable discoveries about Iron Age Calleva, Roman diet, international trade religious practices and the diversity of Calleva’s inhabitants who came from the breadth of the Roman Empire.

Ideas for the interpretation and activity programme were tested during the project's development phase by carrying out interviews with stakeholders and volunteers; an online survey; focus groups; consultation with families at outreach events; and teacher interviews and surveys.

The consultation confirmed the inadequacies of the existing gallery but found its subject accessible to everyone. All our consultees had heard of the Romans and wanted to learn about what it was like to live in Calleva and relate it to modern life. Their feedback shaped plans for the project which are detailed in the Interpretation and Activity Plans.

The activity programme has four themes:  

1. Telling the story of the Romans in Reading: through an immersive experience with smells, sounds and things to touch and do.
2. Animating the Gallery: an accessible public programme to enrich the experience including a range of Roman inspired activities and a Roman Festival to launch the gallery. 
3. Creative Calleva: arts, crafts and outreach taking the Museum into the community, working with partner organisations to engage different audiences.
4. Engaging schools: refreshing the Roman sessions for primary schools, focussing on Calleva rather than general Roman life, supported by new resources and teacher CPD; and a Schools’ Takeover Day for South Reading schools.

Partners who will help with delivery are the University of Reading's Silchester team, New Directions College, Jelly Arts, Care4Calais, Autism Berkshire and Berkshire Vision. The project will also benefit from support by Museums Partnership Reading, our strategic partnership with the University’s Museum of English Rural Life. 

A series of three talks at Reading Museum & Town Hall, by Professor Michael Fulford CBE, FBA, FSA, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. Professor Fulford specialises in the British Iron Age, Roman Britain and landscape archaeology. 

The talks were very popular and all sold out, our thanks to Professor Fulford and the Friends of Reading Museum.

Supported by the Friends of Reading Museum.

This small pop-up display in the Welcome Gallery featured finds from the University of Reading excavations at Silchester, complementing our permanent galleries that explore the Roman town of Calleva.

In association with Hampshire Cultural Trust and Professor Mike Fulford, University of Reading.

The display ended on 10 May 2025.

Reading Museum is piloting a series of formal learning sessions for home schooled children on Roman life in 2025.

For information and booking see the schools pages