For our May session we went on a coach trip to Caerleon Roman Fort in South Wales.  Upon arriving at the fort we started out by looking at the remains of the Roman barracks.  These were very well preserved and it was great to see the layout of the buildings so clearly and work out how many soldiers lived in each one.  It must have been quite crowded!  We also saw the remains of the communal toilet which caused the MAYANS much amusement!

After this we split into two groups, one to look around the general museum for the fort and the other to visit the Roman baths which has its own separate museum.  The remains of the baths were amazing and we could walk on platforms above the actual walls and see all the different types of buildings.  There were video projections of Roman people swimming in the large pool which was amazing!

The other museum had many of the artefacts discovered when the site was excavated, including pottery, glass, cremations vessels and beautiful intaglio stones which would have been set into rings.  We were all amazed at how tiny and detailed these were.

We ended the day in the huge Roman amphitheatre which was very impressive, before getting the coach back to Taunton.  A big thank you to MAYA volunteers Chris Webster and Dave Jones who organised the visit and guided us around this fascinating site!