Adopt a Stone at the Roman Baths to Support the Archway Project
The Roman Baths Foundation has launched an Adopt a Stone scheme to help raise funds for the building of a state-of-the-art Roman Baths Learning Centre as part of the Archway Project (www.romanbaths.co.uk/archway).
Donors can adopt a variety of stones, which all tell a story about the Roman Baths’ past. Prices range from £100 to £1,000 depending on the stone’s size and historical significance. The special stones, which are not yet on display, are currently lying in an undercroft, which will soon be transformed into the new Roman Baths Learning Centre.
Following a grant of £3.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the £5m Archway Project has now secured more than 95% of its total funding. The Adopt a Stone project will help raise the final £250,000 needed and enable work to start in 2017.
David Beeton, Chairman of the Roman Baths Foundation, a charitable company set up to raise funds for conservation and education work at the Roman Baths, said: “These stones are truly magnificent. Adopting a stone will help the Roman Baths to discover and share each stone’s fascinating past with the young people who will visit the Learning Centre when it opens in 2019.”
Donors will be thanked for their support in a variety of ways depending on the size of the donation. This might include invitations to special events, opportunities to see the conservation of their chosen stone in progress, and acknowledgments on-site at the Roman Baths Learning Centre and/or in launch publicity materials.
Adopting a stone will support conservators to clean, move and display some of these unique stones for young people to investigate in the new Roman Baths Learning Centre and Investigation Zone.
Situated above the former spa laundry in Swallow Street, the new facilities will increase the space dedicated to education at the Roman Baths by 400%. Two new classrooms will enable the Roman Baths to develop formal and informal learning programmes, engaging a wide range of communities and audiences.
The new Learning Centre will be connected to the Roman Baths by an undercroft that passes through Roman remains beneath York Street. An underground Investigation Zone will provide hands-on access to Roman remains through facilitated learning sessions.
