A Mystery at Corbridge

On a day off of the excavations we went over to Corbridge.  It was once the most northerly town in the Roman Empire.  Its history since then has been up and down.  The borderlands between Scotland and England have always been a "rough neighborhood" so it has been sacked, razed and generally obliterated several times.  This makes it a little tricky to figure out some aspects of its history.

Should you visit - with peaceful intent of course - in the modern era, you'll find a nicely excavated Roman fort with a very good museum.  And a quaint little town that has become very posh.  High end shops, beauty salons, that sort of thing.

But should you stray to the edge of the upscale High Street, down to The Wheatsheaf pub on St. Helen's street, and peek behind it, you'll see something interesting......

There, up above the dumpsters ( of course they are "skips" in UK ).

Lets take a closer look.....

So what's going on here?  It's a statue, definitely Roman style.  It is probably Abundantia, the goddess of plenty.  Note the Cornucopia.  Whether it is an original, in pretty nice shape, or a very well executed fake, is impossible to tell from this vantage point.  It certainly fits the niche quite nicely, and said niche is not a new addition.  And as we are quite a distance from the Roman fort and community, this gal has certainly traveled at some point.

You may note that the head looks a bit wrong; just a bit too small.  This is actually a point in favor of authenticity as Roman statues were often designed to have changeable heads.  One suspects this was especially useful for depictions of some of the dodgier, short reign Emperors....

As to the building, down the way and over the trash cans (sorry, bins) we see this:

1695.  So this is a pretty old building.  I found one reference to it being a dairy but presumably this was a recent use.  I suppose since we are questioning everything this stone could also be a later addition, but it looks right.

Near our mystery goddess, and being pointed out by a known goddess, we see these guys...

Also Roman, albeit in a sort of crude Celtic style that you encounter up on the frontier.  See also these swell "heads" found over at Carlisle last year.....

So what to make of the Roman statues behind The Wheat Sheaf pub?  I think they are legit.  Oh, as you go here and there you'll run across all manner of antiquities that were scooped up by travelers on The Grand Tour and installed in their manors back home.  But even if you can mentally edit out the trash cans and rewind a few centuries of history, this was not the swank abode of some aristocrat.  

Given the presence of nearby Roman stuff I'd rate it as highly probable that the people who lived here just went over and nicked a few items.  Perhaps at the time of the initial 1695 build or at a later refurb.  It's not easy to tell a 200 year old niche from a 300 year old one.  The two faced corner stone in particular looks out of place and my money is on it being a later addition.