ROMAN PAVEMENT AT WOODCHESTER SIR,—I would like to add some
comments to those of your correspondent Mr. G. E. Whadpole regarding the Roman Pavement at Woodchester. I was fortunate enough to be able to see this superb example of Roman mosaic work—perhaps the finest of its kind in Western Europe—when it was recently opened to the public for a meagre few weeks. It will now be re-covered and it will not be opened again during this decade.
Surely the practical difficulties involved in keeping this fine monument permanently open to the public are not insuperable? As Mr. Whadpole points out, these difficulties have been overcome elsewhere. The provision of a building and heating facilities would naturally involve capital expenditure, but one has to set against this the sums that would be derived from entrance money. When .the pavement has been opened in the past these sums, as Joan Evans acknow- ledges, have been considerable—despite rather make- shift arrangements and lack of publicity. Loans or grants from the Treasury and the Arts Council would most certainly be well spent in helping to keep this pavement permanently on view for the benefit of scholars, students and tourists.
Hill bury, Wells, Somerset
WILLIAM PINCHING
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