New Roman exhibition opening on 10th September

The Wood of the Well will feature wooden artworks created by Philip Luscombe, a collection of imagined wooden 'finds' from the site of nearby Coventina's Well. 

The well is a shrine to the Roman goddess Coventina and was first discovered in the late 19th Century and many of its artefacts, altars, coins, pottery and jewellery are already on display at Chesters Roman Fort.

Philip Luscombe, a Lecturer in Design at Northumbria University and woodworker commented: “The location, purpose and real finds of Coventina’s Well have provided inspiration for this project. I’ve tried to create pieces that are evocative of the Roman shrine. 

"By exhibiting this collection alongside the existing Coventina’s Well display, the work will offer visitors a further insight into the site and of its significance.”

None of the wooden artefacts from the well survived and the artist and woodworker Philip Luscombe took this as his starting point. The exhibition Wood of the Well is inspired by evidence of Roman woodworking, as well as the local archaeological record, and explores the purposes and uses of wooden artefacts in this part of Roman Britain.

Whilst woodworking played a considerable role at the time there is little remaining evidence of wood from the Roman period as almost all wooden artefacts have decomposed, meaning we have a gap in the record and our knowledge. 

This project has taken a creative approach to the question of ‘what were wooden things like?’ and instead of making replicas of known artefacts, has offered a plausible, but fictional, response to this question as well as an intriguing opportunity for speculation. 

Dr Frances McIntosh, Collections Curator, Hadrian’s Wall and the North East at English Heritage said: “Coventina’s Well is an enigmatic and fascinating site. This artistic interpretation of the well’s objects, in wood, offers a unique viewpoint for visitors to consider the well’s actual collection.”