by Andrew Parkin, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Benwell is an area situated in the west end of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne that has a particularly rich history. This history is reflected in the wealth of archaeological material from the area in the collection of Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities. Benwell is perhaps best known as the site of one of the Roman forts built along the line of Hadrian's Wall and the Museum has a substantial collection of inscriptions and other material from this site. However there are also Prehistoric, Saxon and Mediaeval items from the area in the Museum's collection.

In 1997 a local studies group from Benwell visited the Museum and was amazed to discover that their own locality had once been an important place for the Romans and others. In addition they were impressed by the large number of significant artefacts that had survived as evidence of Roman and subsequent occupation of the area. As one of them said, "Benwell really was once the Centre of the Universe". This observation made the Museum staff determined to make the archaeological past of Benwell more widely known.

It was decided that the Museum should build on its expertise with the Internet and work with local school children to develop a Web exhibition. Class 7H1, a group of 11 year olds from West Gate Community College in Benwell, were asked to visit the Museum and chose items that they would like to see in the exhibition. The pupils were provided with access to all of the Museum's collection and particularly enjoyed exploring the stores, which are not normally open to members of the public. They were asked, once they had selected their own favourite artefact from Benwell, to write about their reasons for picking that particular object. In addition the pupils were given the opportunity to develop their ICT skills by preparing the material they had chosen for display on the Internet. Three local councillors from Newcastle City Council were involved from the start and wrote an introduction to the exhibition which put it in its social context. The Museum staff produced the final display and, in association with the County Archaeologist, added further information about the sites and objects.

The project made use of the latest technology to make the past accessible and has produced a resource that is not only a teaching aid for local schoolchildren present and future, but brings the history of a small area of Newcastle to the attention of a much wider audience. It also gave all the participants a sense of connection with the history of their area, as well as introducing them to some of the ways in which a museum collection can bring the past to life. Hopefully the pupils who participated in 'Benwell: Centre of the Universe' will have developed an interest in museums, local history and the potential of the Internet as a means of communicating information.
The methodology developed for Benwell Centre of the Universe has been expanded for a number of subsequent ICT projects undertaken by the Museum of Antiquities. In particular, 'Reticulum' provides a site devoted to the Romans in the North of England.  This is based directly on the work of First School pupils from Northumberland working with the Museum.

Further information

See http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/reticulum
The Benwell Centre of the Universe site is accessible through the Museum of Antiquities website. The URL is http://www.ncl.ac.uk/antiquities/