Shropshire Routes to Roots

2. The letter-cutter

The letter-cutter - provincial or Roman?

There is disagreemant about the status and origins of the letter-cutter who carved the Wroxeter forum inscription. No one disputes the quality of the lettering; it was obviously a highly important and expensive undertaking. But where did the letter-cutter come from?

Read these two differing opinions from specialists in the field, and then look at an artist's impression of how the inscription would have originally looked. Which idea do you agree with and why?

The forum was completed and dedicated in AD 130 as is known from a large and magnificent inscription , most of which was found in 169 fragments following the collapse and demoliton of the monumental entrance. The lettering is of the finest quality, equal to that of a Trajan Column which has beome accepted as the model. It is evident that a master letter-cutter was sent from Rome for this task.

Webster, The Cornovii, p51

..[Dr Webster] in particular has suggested that the forum inscription itself is proof that the Emperor had visited the city during his brief visit to Britain in 121-2, since it is of such quality that only a mason travelling in his entourage would have been able to carve to such a high standard. This conclusion has recently been questioned by conservators working on the restoration of the inscription who have pointed out a number of errors in cutting and laying out which indicate that the work is provincial rather than imperial.

White and Barker, Wroxeter: Life and Death of a Roman City, p78

The Viroconium Forum [Shropshire Archive reference: PH/W/38/2]

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