Lydney Park Museum

Small volunteer-run museum on the Lydney Park estate with finds from the Roman temple site and the history of the estate.

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About the museum

Lydney Park Museum is a small, privately run museum on the Lydney Park estate near the Forest of Dean, staffed by volunteers. It keeps finds from the estate’s archaeological site, including more than 3,000 coins and small objects, which have been only partly catalogued; a recent project recorded 570 of them in a digital database.

The finds come from a Roman temple complex built in the second half of the 3rd century AD inside an Iron Age hill fort, probably on an older Celtic ritual site. It grew into a healing sanctuary with a guest house for patients or pilgrims and a bath-house with mosaics. Charles Bathurst began excavating the site in 1805, and further digs took place in 1928–9 and 1999. Notable finds include a curse tablet, the first of its kind found in Britain, as well as objects linked to the god Nodens and a stamp for labelling eye medicine.

The Bathurst family has owned the estate since 1723. The estate’s spring garden and Roman temple site open to the public on selected days, and the museum opens on some of these days.

Highlights

Finds from the Roman temple site dedicated to Nodens
Coins and small objects from the estate’s excavations
Estate history from the Iron Age hill fort to the Bathurst family
Opens alongside the estate’s spring garden days

Permanent exhibition

Finds from the Roman temple of Nodens – Coins and small finds from the excavated Roman temple complex on the estate, kept in a small volunteer-run museum.

Founded: 1937
Operated by: Lydney Park Estate