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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 Carollingien 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.
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