Alistair Forrest is the author of the action-packed Roman adventures Sea of Flames, Libertas and Vipers of Rome. He is currently working on a new series, The Britannia Conspiracy, set in the period during Caesar’s invasion of Gaul.
A 3,000-year-old skeleton. Photo: David Nash
Every year I climb into old jeans, don an Indiana Jones-style hat, and dash a hundred yards down the road to assist in an archaeological dig.
I live on the island of Alderney, which just happens to have an ancient Iron Age settlement, on top of which is a Roman village. Next to this is one of Europe’s best-preserved Roman forts, which was built to protect trade routes between Europe and Britain.
I’ve got to know both of the lead archaeologists — Dr Phil de Jersey and Dr Jason Monaghan — and confess that I’d like to know what they know, as long as it fits my ideas for a new historical fiction series.
So far I’ve struck lucky.
We know for sure that Iron Age folk lived and loved on this tiny island a few miles off the Normandy coast. We’ve found the skeletons, complete with bronze torcs and jewellery.
Our team, Dig Alderney, is bent (both literally and figuratively) on scraping away aeons of history to find the story behind these settlements. And at every layer we have been able to confirm that the Romans first came to this Channel Island in around 56 or 55BC when Julius Caesar was conquering Gaul and had set his sights on Britain, just across the English Channel.
Artist Doug Hamon’s impression of the Roman fort.
Later, the Romans built a fort which has stood intact since the 4th century. Sadly, the huge central tower has long gone, its stonework no doubt used to build medieval houses in the vicinity, and part of the south wall tumbled onto my local beach who knows when, where its parts can still be seen to this day.
The area is crowded with archaeological features. Some relate to German activity (Alderney was occupied during the Second World War) or Victorian fortifications inside and around the fort. Modern roads partly conceal what we know is an Iron Age cemetery discovered in 2019.
Two skeletons were discovered back then. That’s when I got involved after arriving on the island to write, and I was given backroom jobs like pot-washing, shovelling and making sandwiches. Just to be there was a privilege!
This is now a long-term project to learn more about the Roman and Iron Age settlement on Longis Common, a few yards from my home. How extensive is the Iron Age cemetery, and where was the village in which these people lived?
We hope to discover how far the Roman buildings extend, and if this was the site of an earlier Roman fort that predated the 4th century one, or the vicus municipal administration settlement that grew up close to a fort, or a purely civilian village?
Of course, I already know the answers because they’re in my head, as you would expect from an adventurous historical fiction author.
Alderney’s Roman fort today. Photo: Alan Perks
I know I’m on to a winner. Take this exuberant comment by Dr Monaghan: “Finds include pottery, metalwork, glass, building materials, human bones and food remains including animal bones. The finds need to uncover more about the people who lived and were buried there. We want to learn about their lifestyle and how ancient Alderney was connected to the wider world.”
I’d call it making the facts fit a good story, and I’m already well into book two of The Britannia Conspiracy series. This series begins with coded messages from Julius Caesar to attend a secret conference on this island to plan his expeditions to Britain.
Should it be a full-on invasion, or a trade expedition? Either way, he’s in for some surprises, especially as far as the local Celts are concerned!
