The Great Pavement of Woodchester - The Orpheus - Roman Mosaic Floor

A 20th century reconstruction of the Great Roman Pavement of Woodchester. Especially noteworthy for its opulent design comprising approximately 1.6 million individually fired clay tesserae. Researched and made by Robert and John Woodward in the 1970’s.

The original Roman Great Pavement of Woodchester is believed to have been laid in around 325 A.D. It is by far the most elaborate of the several hundred Roman Mosaic Floor s known in Britain and the largest in Europe, north of the Alps.

The Story of Orpheus The Great Pavement depicts the story of Orpheus, the quasi-divine musician and singer of Greek mythology whose music had the power to move trees and subdue wild creatures. Orpheus is seated in the open side of the central octagon on the North/South axis of the floor. He wears a Phrygian cap, a striped tunic and breeches and a flowing cloak which billows from his shoulders. Immediately outside the octagon is a circle of birds including pheasants, peacocks and doves. Outside the bird zone is a band of laurel leaves encircled by a guilloche. The most dramatic feature of the mosaic is the animal circle. This contains eleven beasts stalking around the floor: a Lion, Lioness, Wild Boar, Horse, Elephant, Tiger, Gryphon, Bear, Leopard, Stag and Tigress, then follows the mask of Neptune with lobster claws sprouting from his head. On either side of him are the beautiful acanthus scrolls said to symbolize the waves of the sea. The circles are enclosed within a square border and four pairs of water nymphs are placed in the spandrels. At each corner of this central square is a stone pillar base. Outside the central square are twenty four geometric panels. Almost all the standard patterns used by the Roman mosaicists are to be found in this floor. The Great Pavement of Woodchester is one of some fifty Roman mosaics depicting Orpheus charming wild creatures. These have been found in all parts of the Roman Empire and range in date from the second century to the fifth.

Woodchester export firm tastes success with Queen’s Award

Woodchester export firm tastes success with Queen’s Award

Christie International, based in Woodchester, were presented with the prestigious Queen’s Award for International Trade today, Friday, by Edward Gillespie, the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. Andrew Christie and his wife Shirleen proudly received the Award on behalf of the Christie International team. Andrew and Shirleen Christie (left) with Lord Lieutenant Edward Gillespie and Deputy…

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Some cormorant pics I took while I went to Woodchester - fennell pond. They’ve got loads of cormorants, sometimes herons, they also had a little grebe and some teal and mallards there. And lastly the resident moorhen. It’s a fantastic place to swim and to see wildlife 😊 Was very tricky to photograph, I think a full tripod will be coming with me next time! #cormorants #birds #wildlife #nature #trees #woodchester #feathers #bird #waterfowl https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjz4k8JqzMK/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Piano Tuning in Willenhall, West Midlands. Tuning a british-made 'Woodchester' Upright Piano. Dating from the late 1970s.

www.matthewjamesrichards.co.uk

#piano #pianotuner #pianotuning #Willenhall #Woodchester #music #musician

New to my #etsyshop a #Vintage #Stuart #Crystal #Woodchester Crystal cut #Glass water #Jug #pitcher 5 .25"Tall Signed c.1960s/70s #etsy #crystaljug #vintagecrystaljug #GlassJug #drinkware #eshopsuk #shopsmall #shopsmallbusiness #shopsmalluk #etsysellersofInstagram #etsysellersoninstagram #vintagesellersofinstagram #etsyvintage https://etsy.me/3C52pTU (at Gallery Antiques) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChNkpvJI5_9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Woodchester Plaza, Mississauga, 1971

The Great Pavement of Woodchester - The Orpheus - Roman Mosaic Floor

Kitchen, Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire

TOMATO ATOM, Openings Press Card Series 1, Openings Press, Woodchester, 1968 [Unoriginal Sins, The Old Primary School, Temple, Midlothian]

Orpheus, from The Roman Great Pavement of Woodchester, believed to have been laid in around 325 A.D

source: pazzesco via ganymedesrocks

Chester (placename element)

The English place-name Chester, and the suffixes -chester, -caster and -cester (old -ceaster), are commonly indications that the place is the site of a Roman castrum, meaning a military camp or fort (cf. Welsh caer), but it can also apply to the site of a pre-historic fort.

source: WIkipedia.

I found the book on the English place-names by Charles Whynne-Hammond. Direct quote about fortified places which ended up as the name of cities/towns with suffix (somewhere altered) -cester.

"The most common elements which refer to defensive sites are those meaning army camp, fort or fortified place. The Romans built many a defensive or military base, most of which were taken over by later peoples. The ‘colonia’ was an army establishment, usually a colony for retired soldiers (hence the present name of Lincoln) and a ‘castra’ was a fortified camp or walled town. The latter was very common indeed and most were re-established under the later Saxons, who called them ‘ceasters’ or ‘caesters’. Their walls were rebuilt, their gates and towers restrengthened, their streets resurfaced. The settlements today which began as Roman ‘castras’ are legion. Normally they can be recognised by their suffixes, which derive from the Saxon version of that word. Thus, we have all those places ending in ‘-chester’, ‘-cester’ ‘-caster’ and ‘-xeter’: Winchester, Worcester, Manchester, Doncaster, Exeter and so on. Some of these have prefixes from older Celtic words (sometimes tribal names or physical features), others have prefixes purely Saxon. Rarely, if ever, are the prefixes from a Roman or Latin root."

More examples: Acaster Malbis, Acaster Selby, Alcester, Alchester, Ancaster, Bicester, Binchester, Brancaster, Caister-on-Sea, Caistor, Caistor St Edmund, Casterton (Cumbria), Casterton (Great, Rutland), Casterton (Little, Rutland), Castor (Cambridgeshire), Chester, Cheshire (Chester-shire), Chester (Little, Derby), Chesterfield, Chesterford (Great), Chesterford (Little), Chester-Ie-Street, Chesterton, Chesterwood, Chichester, Cirencester, Colchester, Dorchester, Dorchester-on-Thames (Oxfordshire), Ebchester, Frocester, Gloucester, Godmanchester, Grantchester, Hincaster, Ilchester, Irchester, Kenchester, Lancaster, Lancashire (Lune-caster-shire), Lanchester, Leicester, Mancetter, Muncaster, Portchester, Ribchester, Rocester, Rochester (Kent), Rochester (Northumberland), Silchester, Tadcaster, Towcester, Uttoxeter, Woodchester, Worcester, Wroxeter.

Since there are a lot of "-shire", and it's popular place name all over GB, I'll make next etymology-of-places post about this suffix.

Man arrested following rape of woman in Woodchester

Man arrested following rape of woman in Woodchester

A man in his 50s has been arrested after police responded to a report that he had raped a woman in a hotel room in Woodchester. Officers were called to the hotel at around midday today (Thursday 13 October) by a distressed woman who had been assaulted and raped. The man had left the hotel before police arrived, and following a search of the area with support from the police helicopter, a…

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Woodchester park, Gloucestershire