The image below may be instantly recognisible to people who are familiar with the objects on display at Verulamium Museum, or may be completely mysterious to those who aren't! This is in fact a coat of chain mail armour which was discovered as part of an exceptionally rich Romano-British burial at Folly Lane in St Albans.
Folded iron mail armour from Folly Lane burial, c. AD 55.
The excavations at Folly Lane in 1991-2 revealed the burial of a British chieftain who kept on good terms with the Romans and who had been cremated along with a collection of expensive objects, presumably his personal posessions. These included the remains of enamelled horse equipment, a chariot, evidence of ivory imports and the only complete mail armour suit from this time in the country. All these had been placed on a funeral pyre, the culmination of an elaborate funeral ritual. Pottery excavated from the burial dates it to around AD 55. Unfortunately the identity of the decessed is something that will probably never be known for certain.
John Pearson - Reconstruction of the funeral at the Folly Lane Burial Funeral
The Folly Lane chain mail was selected by our curators to be part of the History of the World project, which is a collaboration between the BBC and the British Museum. Museums around the country have teamed up with the BBC in their area and chosen over 600 objects from their own collections that reflect world history from each area's perspective. St Albans Museums is one of three hundred and fifty museums that are already registered on the site.
You can see the Folly Lane chain mail tunic on the BBC History of the World website (this link will open in a new window). Here you can also explore the other objects included in the project and add your own contribution to the project). You can also read more about the objects from Museums in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire featuring in this project on the BBC Three Counties Radio website (this link will open in a new window).
On Wednesday the new Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Reverend Alan Smith, visited Verulamium Museum and got to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes (and in some cases right underneath the galleries!) to keep a busy museum running. When he came to see the museum image library, we thought we should show him some of our oldest images of the abbey, like this one from the 1600s.
The North Prospect of Ye Sometymes Conuentuall Church of St Alban. Drawn and engraved by Daniel King, late 1600s.
On a more lighthearted note, we thought he might like to see this picture of Robert Runcie when he was bishop of St Albans, pictured with his gargoyle - not many people are lucky enough to be immortalised in this way!
Lord Robert Runcie, Bishop of St Albans 1970-1980, with his gargoyle at St Albans Abbey, 1979.
It is always nice to show visitors around the museum, and it is good to be reminded how exciting it is to work in a museum. There's nothing like seeing your work place through fresh eyes! Hopefully our gueses enjoyed their visit as much as we did.
