An image of an excavation from the air with a portion of the curving walls of the amphitheatre visible
***Ticket bookings will close on Wednesday 11th March. The programme will be sent to attendees on Thursday 12th March. If you do not receive the emails, please contact the RFG conference organiser Rachel Frame rfgconferences@gmail.com***
This year’s Spring Conference is being held in association with the University of Chester and the Grosvenor Museum on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th March at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester.
The theme is ‘Recent Roman Finds and Research from Wales and the West’ with talks from a range of speakers from across the region. It will be an in-person only event due to technical facilities at the venue, however talks will be recorded and made available after the event via the Roman Finds Group YouTube channel.
Timings and location are: 1pm to 5pm on Friday 13th March, 9am to 3.30pm on Saturday 14th March. Lecture theatre of the Grosvenor Museum, located on the ground floor.
There will be a reception at the museum following the Friday sessions from 5pm to 7pm (included in cost for in-person attendance), and an optional meal later on the Friday evening (meal attendees to pay own meal costs). If you would like to attend the meal, please send a separate email to Katie Mountain KMountain@pre-construct.com.
The RFG 2026 AGM will take place on the Saturday before lunch.
A full programme will be sent to all attendees closer to the conference date, along with a book of abstracts.
Costs:
- £20 for fully paid-up RFG members and students,
- £32 non-members, which includes a one-year FREE membership to the RFG.
The RFG is able to offer a series of small bursaries to members to support attendance at the conference. Further details can be found here: https://romanfindsgroup.org.uk/membership/rfg-conference-bursary-scheme/
Meeting Programme and Timetable
Day One: Friday 13th March 2026, 13.00-17.30
13.00 Registration and Tea/Coffee
13.20 Arrival & Welcome (Caroline Pudney)
Session One – Recent and not-so-recent finds from the West
Chair: Barbara Birley (RFG)
13.30 James Gerrard (Newcastle University) – The Halkyn Mountain Hoard and Westland Cauldrons in Britain
13.55 Teresa Gilmore (Portable Antiquities Scheme) – Polden Hill Brooches and more: Roman Finds recorded in the West Midlands.
14.20 Laura Beckwith (Portable Antiquities Scheme) – Roman Finds in Somerset: Recent finds recorded via the Portable Antiquities Scheme (pre-recorded)
14.45 Coffee Break
Session Two – Finds from public archaeology projects
Chair: Rachel Frame (RFG)
15.15 Norman Redhead (Friends of Castleshaw Roman Forts)– Two unusual metalwork finds from the recently discovered military annexe at Castleshaw Roman Forts, Saddleworth, near Oldham
15.40 Janine Young (National Trust) – Controlled metal detecting on the Attingham Park estate: lessons learnt
16.05 Viviana Caroli (National Trust) – Digging the past to shape the present. Reflections on the significance and potential of a small assemblage from The Weir Garden (Cliff Field), Herefordshire.
16.30 Richard Osgood (Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Ministry of Defence) – Gateway to the Gods (Buckspool and Anglesey)
16.55 Julie Edwards (West Cheshire Museums) – ‘Chester Amphitheatre: An 8000 year story’ – an introduction.
17:20 Wrap up and move to reception
Wine reception and exhibition tour – 5.30pm to 7.30pm
We will have a special access reception at the Grosvenor Museum following the final session. This will include a tour of the museum’s temporary exhibition ‘Chester Amphitheatre – an 8000 year story’.
Friday Evening Meal – (optional, must book separately)
A table has been booked at La Fattoria Italian Restaurant (https://www.lafattoriachester.com/) at 8pm. Please email Katie Mountain on KMountain@pre-construct.com to reserve a place if you would like to join. All to pay their own meal costs on the evening.
Day Two: Saturday 14th March 2026, 9.15-15.30
09.15 Arrival & Welcome
Session Three – Research from the University of Chester
Chair: Carolina Rangel de Lima (RFG)
09.30 Caroline Pudney (University of Chester) – Minting History: A coin’s role in interpreting a Roman villa
09.55 Jo Skerry (University of Chester) – Ceramic Building Material (CBM): assessing to what extent the analysis of CBM can help us understand a conjectural Gallo Roman temple, including the introduction of a new assemblage of geometric ceramic and stone decorative shapes.
10.20 Howard Williams and Caroline Pudney (University of Chester) – Arty-ology: innovating with art in the public archaeology of Roman finds
10.40 Coffee Break
Session Four – Finds and research from North Wales
Chair: Caroline Pudney (University of Chester)
11.10 Chris Matthews (Heneb and University of Chester) – Filling in the gaps: Roman Flintshire
11.45 Evan Chapman (Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales) – Can we identify distinctive north Wales brooch types?
12.05 Michael Marshall (MOLA) – War between two worlds? Recontextualising the spearheads from Four Crosses, Llandysilio, Powys
12.30 RFG AGM
12.45 Lunch Break
Session Five – Finds from counties on the Severn Estuary
Chair: Liz Montgomery (West Cheshire Museums)
13.40 Peter Guest (Vianova Archaeology) – A new find of military equipment from the legionary fortress at Caerleon
14.15 Rachel Cubitt (Historic England) – The Willersey sword hoard: the story so far (pre-recorded)
14.40 Kurt Adams (Portable Antiquities Scheme) – The Gloucester dog: a hoard from a temple at the end of empire
15.05 Carolina Rangel de Lima and Philippa Walton (University of Reading and University of Leicester) – Fresh light on Romano-British religion: recent work on the Roman finds assemblage at Lydney Park
15:30 CONCLUSIONS AND END
Any questions about the meeting should be sent to the RFG conference organiser Rachel Frame rfgconferences@gmail.com.