Best Archaeological Remains Nearby Walsall Near Me

4worldlovers: Open air site open during any reasonable daylight hours. Museum open on selected days.

Wall in Staffordshire was an important staging post on Watling Street, the Roman military road to north Wales. The road network was crucial to the Romans' control over their empire. At staging posts like Wall weary Roman officials, soldiers and imperial messengers could find lodging for the night and change their horses.


At Wall today you can still see the remains of an inn for travellers and the public baths, with its sequence of cold, warm and hot rooms. The museum provides a fascinating insight into life here and displays many excavated finds.


The site is managed and maintained by English Heritage, and owned by the National Trust.


Opening Times: The open air site is open during any reasonable daylight hours. The museum will be open 11am-4pm on the following days- March 25th & 26th, April 8th,9th,10th,22nd & 23rd, May 13th,14th,27th,28th and 29th, June 10th,11th,24th and 25th, July 8th,9th, 22nd and 23rd, August 5th,6th,12th,13th,19th,20th,26th,27th and 28th, September 9th,10th,23rd and 24th, October 7th,8th,21st and 22nd.

Parking: Free parking is available 50m from the entrance to the site.

Access: There is no wheelchair access to the Roman site, and one step up into the museum building.

School Visits: Booking is essential so that the museum building can be opened up for you; please contact us at freetoenter.sites@english-heritage.org.uk. Click here to access our Hazard information sheet.

4worldlovers: In 1140 a group of Cistercian monks from Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire were granted land in the Arrow Valley by Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan and Earl of Worcester. This enabled the monks to found Bordesley Abbey and turn the Arrow Valley into a place suitable for a monastery. Bordesley means ‘the place where boards were obtained’.

Archaeological evidence show that when the monks arrived the Valley was a very marshy and inhospitable place, unsuitable for the building of a large Abbey – so they dug a complex drainage system and diverted the River Arrow.

Excavations show that the first buildings were made of wood, but within a few years they replaced it with stone buildings. You can see evidence of how the Abbey changed as you walk around – from the early plain green sandstone to the more ornately decorated later red sandstone.

The ‘Night’ stairs are also clearly visible – so called because the monks used these stairs to get into the church for the first service at 2am!

We know that the Abbey had about 20 farms or ‘granges’ in Warwickshire and Worcestershire and the sale of its produce – cereals and especially wool – gave the Abbey much of its wealth. But this prosperity, however was not to last.

In 1538 Henry VIII dissolved the monastic houses and Bordesley was demolished and the estates sold. The ruins remained buried until JM Woodward (tutor to the Bartleet family) first excavated them in 1864. In 1969 the Bordesley Abbey project team began a programme of excavations. Many of the objects and findings of the excavation can be seen in the Bordesley Abbey Visitor Centre.

A birds-eye view of the excavated ruins of Bordesley Abbey. With grateful thanks to (c) John James Photographer/Videographer.

4worldlovers:
The ruins of an exquisite fortified manor house built 750 years ago.


The fascinating ruins of Weoley Castle date back more than 750 years old and reveal the remains of a fortified manor house originally built as a hunting lodge by the Lords of Dudley. Set in the heart of what was once a thousand acre deer park, the grounds extended almost as far as the city centre.


The ruins seen today are believed to date back as far as 1270, making it one of the oldest buildings still visible in Birmingham. As such it was classified as a scheduled Ancient Monument of National Importance in 1934 and a series of archaeological digs in the 1930s and 1950s uncovered a rich collection of historic treasures.


Our education programme offers a wide range sessions both on-site and online.


Plus enrich your lessons with our Museum in a Box loans service and bring our collections into your classroom.


Weoley Castle Ruins can be viewed from the viewing platform which is open every day throughout the year. It is FREE to view the ruins from the platform.


Direct access to the ruins and our visitor centre is available on event days. Charges may apply for some events. See the What's On page for details.