Out of Africa – University of Reading
18 September 2003
Postgraduate students from the Department of Archaeology at the University are carrying out a project to complete a thorough survey of the 'ruins' beside the lake at Virginia Water. Windsor Great Park has many attractions, but one of the most unusual must be the "ruins" beside the lake at Virginia Water. This elaborate folly was designed by the architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville in the form of a Classical ruin and incorporated a number of ancient columns and other antiquities from the site of Leptis Magna, on the coast of Libya, one of the most exciting Roman Cities of North Africa. These were excavated at the beginning of the nineteenth century and transported to London as a gift for the Prince Regent, later George IV, from the local Ottoman pasha. A proposal was made to use the antiquities for the portico of the British Museum but this never materialised and they were set up as an ornament in the park in 1826. It is in order to find out more about this important, little studied collection, that the University of Reading project has been organised . As well as a survey of the site, the team will produce an accurate plan and a detailed inventory of all the items to be seen. They also aim to identify exactly where at Leptis Magna these antiquities originate. Team member, Andrew Lane explained, 'luckily we now know much more about the city and its structures than past excavators and by comparing those fragments at Virginia Water, with those remaining at the site in Africa, it should be possible to identify the buildings in which these well-travelled fragments were originally used'. For more information contact Carol Derham tel:0118 378 8004