2010年11月25日 星期四

Syon House

大型古羅馬遺跡現形倫敦

羅馬人部分遺骸

在西倫敦的賽恩公園的羅馬人部分遺骸。

考古學家近日在西倫敦發現了古羅馬時期的重要文物，以及當時羅馬人的部分遺骸。

考古學家們在西倫敦的賽恩公園（Syon Park）發現了超過11,000件羅馬時期的文物，這些重要的文物只被埋在距地下半米的地方。

除此之外，科學家們還發現了一部分羅馬不列顛（Roman Britain）最重要的公路。

幸運之極

據初步統計，倫敦考古學博物館的專家們總共發現了11,500件文物、100多枚硬幣，以及一些珠寶首 飾。對此，高級考古學家喬·里昂（Jo Lyon）表示，「能在離地面如此之近的位置發現這麼豐富的羅馬文物，對於我們來說可謂幸運之極。」里昂女士還說，「這些發現告訴我們當時的人們是如何在 村莊中生活、工作，並死亡的。同時，這些文物還得以幫助我們了解當時的朗蒂尼亞姆（Londinium），即今天的倫敦是如何將羅馬不列顛的其他地方聯繫 起來的。」

據了解，科學家們早在2008年就挖掘了此地，然而直到最近才取得了這些重大發現。

古羅馬遺址

10名考古學家花了兩個月時間挖掘這個古羅馬遺址。

科學家們還發現了一部分羅馬不列顛最重要的公路——正是這條路，得以將當時的朗蒂尼亞姆，和位於如今英格蘭南部的羅馬城市西爾切斯特（Silchester），以及泰晤士河的一條古代支流緊密相連。

然而在所有發現中，最讓里昂女士激動的是那100多枚羅馬錢幣。她說，「能一下子發現這麼多的錢幣真是太好了。他們就被散落在羅馬路兩邊，最重要的是這些錢幣來自各個不同的時期。」

諾森伯蘭公爵（The Duke of Northumberland）家族的寓所就在賽恩公園，已有長達400多年的歷史。他說，「賽恩公園有著豐富輝煌的歷史。這無疑將成為古代英國歷史的重要地標。」


Syon House, with its 200-acre (80 hectare/800,000 m²) park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence. The family's traditional central London residence was Northumberland House.

Syon House 2010 West Aspect
Syon House 2010 East Aspect
Syon House Great Conservatory.
Side view of the conservatory
Contents [hide]

History

Syon House derives its name from Syon Abbey, a medieval monastery of the Bridgettine Order, founded in 1415 on a nearby site by King Henry V. The Abbey moved to the site now occupied by Syon House in 1431. In 1539, the abbey was closed by royal agents during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the monastic community was expelled.[1]

In 1541 and part of the following year, Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was brought to Syon for her long imprisonment. In February 1542, she was taken to the Tower of London and executed on charges of adultery.

In the late 17th century, Syon was in the possession of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, through his wife, Elizabeth Seymour (née Percy). After the future Queen Anne had a disagreement with her sister, Mary II (wife of William III, also known as William of Orange), over her friendship with Sarah Churchill, Countess of Marlborough, she was evicted from her court residence at the Palace of Whitehall and stayed at Syon with her close friends, the Somersets, in 1692. Anne gave birth to a stillborn child there. Shortly after the birth, Mary came to visit her, again demanding that Anne dismiss the Countess of Marlborough, and stormed out again when Anne flatly refused.

In the 18th century, Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, commissioned architect and interior designer Robert Adam and landscape designer Lancelot "Capability" Brown to redesign the house and estate. Work began on the interior reconstruction project in 1762. Five large rooms on the west, south and east sides of the House, were completed before work ceased in 1769. A central rotunda, which Adams had intended for the interior courtyard space, was not implemented, due to cost.[2]

Syon Park

Syon Park borders the Thames, looking across the river to Kew Gardens, and near its banks is a tidal meadow flooded twice a day by the river. It contains more than 200 species of rare trees. Although the park and lake were designed by Capability Brown in 1760, their character today is nineteenth century. The circular pool has a copy of Giambologna's Mercury.

The Great Conservatory in the gardens, designed by Charles Fowler in 1828[3] and completed in 1830, was the first conservatory to be built from metal and glass on a large scale. The conservatory was shown in a dream sequence in Meera Syal's 1993 film Bhaji on the Beach. It was also the setting for the music video to The Cure's 1984 single "The Caterpillar", directed by Tim Pope.

Henry Percy, 11th Duke of Northumberland, who was head of the family from 1988 to 1995, was noted for planting many trees in the grounds of Syon.

In 2002, the English poet Geoffrey Hill released a booklength poem, "The Orchards of Syon", to much acclaim. "The Orchards of Syon", focuses on the history of the region and in particular on the orchard of rare trees first planted in Syon Abbey.

Robert Altman's 2001 film Gosford Park was partly filmed at Syon House.

The London Butterfly House was based in the grounds of Syon Park until its closure on 28 October 2007 due to the Duke of Northumberland's plans to build a hotel complex on the land.[4]

In 2004, planning permission was granted for the deluxe £35-million Radisson Edwardian Hotel[5] but was never actually built. Work on a Hilton Hotel started in December 2008 and is expected to open mid-2010.[6]

In November 2010, the results from an archaeological dig made two years before on the site of the new hotel were reported, with the excavations uncovering the remains of a Roman village that existed in what was then the rural outskirts of Londinium. Artifacts uncovered included 11,500 pottery fragments, 100 coins, and pieces of jewellery. Some of finds remain unexplained, such as the discovery of skeletons "buried in ditches placed on their side". Although the skeletons date from the Roman period, this burial practice was said by the senior archaeologist to be "more suggestive of unknown prehistoric rites than Roman practice".[7]

Syon House was one of the wealthiest nunneries in the country and a local legend recalls that the monks of Shean had a Ley tunnel running to the nunnery at Syon.[8]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Syon Park:History. Syon Park:The London Home of the Duke of Northumberland
  2. ^ Field, D. M.. The World's Greatest Architecture Past & Present. p. 207.
  3. ^ "Great Conservatory". Syon Park. http://www.syonpark.co.uk/tour_conservatory.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  4. ^ Brown, Ed; McGrath, Martin and Davis, Matt. "So Crosse As Butterflies Head North". News Associates. http://www.journalism-courses.com/Archive.aspx?Type=&ID=ebd7f936-446d-494f-ac99-2794462e4179. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  5. ^ Malvern, Jack (2005-01-05). "Duke's hotel is a threat to butterflies' historic home". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article407450.ece. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  6. ^ Lyons, Daniel (2008-12-05). "The Hilton comes to Syon Park". The Hounslow Chronicle. http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2008/12/05/the-hilton-comes-to-syon-park-109642-22416150/. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
  7. ^ Entire Roman village is unearthed in Syon Park, Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent, Evening Standard, 16 November 2010
  8. ^ Westwood, Jennifer (1985), Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain. Pub. Grafton Books, London. ISBN 0-246-11789-3. P. 126.

Sources

Further reading

  • Syon House; The Story of a Great House – With a short guide for visitors, and with 4 (colour) plates, 2 endpaper maps (in colour), and 22 illustrations in Monochrome (The illustrations mainly relate to paintings, artefacts and the building). First published by Syon House Estate (UK) in 1950 with 48 pages and no ISBN.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Syon House


張貼者： 於

沒有留言:

張貼留言

訂閱： 張貼留言 (Atom)