From The Northern Echo 29/8/14
Binchester,
just outside Bishop
Auckland,
County Durham, has some of Britain's best-preserved Roman remains,
including a bath house with seven-foot walls and painted plaster.
Last year a statue head, possibly of a Geordie Roman
god, was found by an archaeology student helping with the major
excavation works that are being carried out.
The land where the settlement has stood for around 1,800
years is owned by the Church Commissioners. They are selling
ten plots around Bishop Auckland, including two adjoining ones
which cover the Binchester site.
The Auckland Castle Trust, financed by city
philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer and which is aiming to reinvigorate
the local area with tourism by tapping into its heritage, has made a
£2 million bid for the plots.
Although
the Roman settlement itself could not be developed, an old hall on
one of the plots could be, affecting access to the site. Selling the
plots off separately could also hamper archaeologists' w
Mr Ruffer, chairman of the trust, said the £2 million
bid was ten per cent higher than their own valuation of the
site.
"We have done this because there is no one else in
a position to do it and Binchester must be secured by someone who has
a heart for Bishop Auckland and a deep understanding of the site's
importance in a national and international context," he said.
The trust has called for the public to back its bid by
writing to the Church Commissioners.
David Ronn, chief executive of the Auckland Castle
Trust, said: "We need to save the best of Bishop Auckland's,
County Durham's, the North-East's and indeed the UK's past to take
into the future."
Dr
David Petts, lecturer in archaeology at Durham University who has
been project co-ordinator on the Binchester excavation, said:
"Binchester is one of the best preserved Roman archaeological
sites in Britain and deserves to be protected for future generations
to visit."
Only a small percentage of the settlement, which
surrounded a fort on the road north to Hadrian's Wall, has been
revealed so far.
TO HELP PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION
