Reading - Museum (Silchester gallery)

Excavations at the Roman town of Silchester Calleva Atrebatum have produced a wealth of finds including the famous Silchester Eagle (above). To see this and other key finds from Silchester it is necessary to make the trip to Reading Museum **, where the highlights are displayed in the Silchester gallery and adjoining atrium.

Location and Access

Reading Museum is in the town centre (Blagrave Street - Google maps location here), a short walk from the main station. Opening times are here; the museum is closed on most Mondays. Admission is free, but a donation is welcomed. Although the museum refers to the Silchester 'gallery' (singular), exhibits from Silchester are also displayed in several adjoining rooms on the building's second floor. 

Visiting Reading Museum on the same day as Silchester is strongly recommended. Having the site firmly in your mind sets the museum displays and exhibits in their necessary context, something that is particularly important in this case because the Reading galleries are essentially Silchester's site museum.

It takes just over 15 minutes to drive from the Silchester car park to the nearest park and ride site (Mereoak, off the A33) from where a frequent bus service links to the town centre (details here).  

It is planned to 'refresh' the Silchester gallery, with the expectation that it will be closed from summer 2027 until 2028. As the layout and displays are likely to change, this blog only focuses on some of the most important exhibits.   

Date of my Visit

The photographs in this blog post date from my visit in 2026. 

A few highlights from the Silchester Gallery

The star item is, of course, the Silchester Eagle (below, and at the start of this post). Many of us will have been brought up with Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth; this small bronze statue was the author's inspiration for that story, although it is now thought to have been part of a civilian statue (perhaps of Jupiter, or the emperor portrayed as Jupiter) rather than a legionary standard - which is a bit of a pity. Nevertheless, despite some damage (notably the missing wings) the eagle remains a detailed and evocative sculpture. There's a lot more about it (and Roman eagles - both real and in statue form) in Emma Durham and Michael Fulford's comprehensive paper (link), as well as a short museum blog.

The Silchester Eagle - Reading Museum

Several mosaics from Silchester are of particular interest, all displayed in the atrium outside the main Silchester gallery. The first to draw the eye is a massive black and white geometric mosaic mounted on the wall (below). This was discovered in a large courtyard house in insula XIV, an urban block located between the forum-basilica and west gate. Three other similarly-sized mosaics were found in the east wing of this house, probably dating from the 2nd century CE. Originally, this must have been a high status dwelling, but smoke staining and other damage shows that the mosaic was somewhat neglected in later years. 

Black and white mosaic from insula XIV at Silchester - Reading Museum

Black and white mosaic from insula XIV at Silchester (detail) - Reading Museum

The east wing of Silchester's insula XIV house also produced the colourful hexagon mosaic (below), which is also now wall-mounted. While this allows easy inspection of the details (near the base at least), it removes the mosaic from its proper context - which is obviously the floor. At the time of my visit, light and shade from sunlight streaming through the atrium roof made it difficult to fully appreciate the overall design.

Hexagon mosaic from insula XIV at Silchester - Reading Museum

The mosaic contains nine hexagons in total, eight with floral motifs arranged around a central panel containing a two-handled drinking vessel (cantharus). This is a common image in mosaics, possibly symbolising wine or hospitality and linking to Dionysus/Bacchus. 

Hexagon mosaic from insula XIV at Silchester (detail) - Reading Museum

The third major mosaic in the museum's atrium, known as the 'church' mosaic (below), contains a simple black and white geometric pattern surrounded by red and grey diamond shapes set in a white background. It was discovered in the apse of a building near to the forum's south-east corner which was originally interpretated as being a church. However, the building's likely construction date (early or mid 3rd century CE) would be earlier than other similar examples, while its location within the town walls would be unusual for a church of this date; these were often built over the graves of Christian martyrs outside town boundaries, such as at St Albans. Given that no Christian finds were associated with the building, its identification as a church now seems speculative at best.

'Church' mosaic from Silchester - Reading Museum

More easily missed is a small fragment of mosaic now displayed above the stairs leading to the second floor. This is known as the seasons mosaic (below) and was found in a house in insula XXVII in the north-eastern part of the town. Only one panel survives, containing a figure that is now very hard to make out. Detailed study (Cosh, 1997) suggests that the figure represents a season - possibly spring or summer - and that the overall scheme would have included panels showing all four seasons, another common theme for Roman mosaics.

Seasons mosaic from Silchester - Reading Museum

It's easy to get distracted by the mosaics (who doesn't love a good mosaic) but there is a lot more to explore. I will confine myself to mentioning a few personal favourites, the first of which is a stone head of Serapis (below) which was found in a garden near Silchester. It had apparently been used by a local farmer as a weight in his cheese press, which is a bit of a comedown for the bearded Graeco-Egyptian deity. Serapis, also known as Sarapis, originated as a 'merger' of two Egyptian gods (Osiris and Apis), being popularised by the Greek ruler of Egypt at the time: Ptolemy I. The cult of Serapis was one of a number of eastern religions that became popular throughout the Roman empire. Serapis was sometimes portrayed with a grain measure (modius) balanced rather incongruously on his head - interpreted variously as a symbol of fertility, of abundance or (in a more sinister context) of the land of the dead.

Head of Serapis from Silchester - Reading Museum

Considerably less formal, but offering a nice glimpse of daily life in Silchester, is this tile - possibly a floor tile - marked by the paw prints of a dog that walked over it before firing. I doubt whether the tile maker was impressed.

Tile with paw prints from Silchester - Reading Museum

Sticking to the functional side of life at Silchester, I liked this huge wine barrel (below), which is the best preserved of fifteen that were found in the town. It had been re-used to line a well, the resulting damp conditions contributing to its survival. The timber is from Silver Fir, a tree of the Alps and Pyrenees, and the wine was probably imported from what is now southern France or northern Italy.

Wine barrel (well lining) from Silchester - Reading Museum

Sticking to the theme of drink, the Silchester gallery contains a wide range of Roman pottery including this neat flagon (below) which probably dates from the late 1st century CE. Not all Roman pottery is as well preserved as this.

Flagon (1st century) from Silchester - Reading Museum

It is not alone. The scale of finds from Silchester is hinted at by several glass wall cabinets containing a stunning array of well-preserved pottery from the site (below). Given the height of the display, it has clearly been arranged for visual impact rather than close inspection of the contents, but you have to admit that the result is dramatic. 

Pottery from Silchester - Reading Museum

Continuing this theme, I will finish with one of the biggest pieces of Roman pottery that I've seen in Britain (below). Called the Jubilee Pot because it was found on the day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, this is a late piece that dates from the 3rd or 4th centuries CE. This was a home-grown Romano-British product, made in New Forest kilns. If you look carefully it is possible to make out a lattice decoration (see the second image below).

Jubilee Pot (3rd-4th cent) from Silchester - Reading Museum

Jubilee Pot - detail of lattice decoration - Reading Museum

There is of course much more to see in the Silchester gallery, which is best explored at leisure. As a final note (and strictly outside the scope of this blog) it is also worth taking a look at the Bayeux Tapestry replica which can be found on the floor below. Embroidered by a team of women in Leek, Staffordshire in the 1880s, this conveys much of the style and detail of the original, albeit without the genitalia which were covered up to satisfy Victorian tastes! And unlike the British Museum exhibition there's no need to book in advance. 

References

Allen, John Robert Lawrence & Fulford, Michael (2013). 'Early Roman mosaic materials in southern Britain, with particular reference to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum): a regional geological perspective.' Britannia 35, pp. 9-38. - link

Cosh, Stephen R (1997) 'The Seasons Mosaic from Silchester and its architectural context.' Mosaic 24, pp. 8–12. - link

Durham, Emma & Fulford, Michael (2013) 'Symbols of power: the Silchester bronze eagle and eagles in Roman Britain.' Archaeological Journal 170 (1), pp. 78-105. - link

Fulford, Michael (2017) Silchester Roman Town. English Heritage guidebook.

(See also the references in the posts on Silchester and the general References & Glossary).

Text and photographs (c) Mike Hetherington. Visits to sites described in this blog are at your own risk.