Senhouse Roman Museum Press Releases and Other News Items

Press release: National Lottery Heritage Fund grant announcement 

Senhouse Roman Museum grant announcement, HF APPROVED NQ (1).pdf

Senhouse Roman Museum background

The Senhouse Roman Museum (opened in 1990) cares for and displays the Netherhall Collection and other collections of Romano-British objects from West Cumbria.

The museum is operated by the Senhouse Museum Trust (registered charity 516491), the Trust's charitable aims are:

-The education of the public regarding the history of the Romano-British period in general and West Cumbria in particular by the establishment of a public museum in Maryport

-To care for and exhibit in the museum the Netherhall Collection and any other artefacts or documents relating to the Romano-British period, archaeology in general and West Cumbria in particular

-To promote research into the Romano-British period in general and West Cumbria in particular and to publish the useful results thereof.

The Museum meets these objectives through continually developing permanent and temporary exhibitions, a growing public engagement programme of events and activities for the general public, specialist groups and education groups, and a proactive research programme into the collection and the site it was recovered from.

The Netherhall Collection

Research excavation at the Roman fort and civilian settlement at Maryport goes back to the 16th century and John Senhouse.

As lord of the manor and an educated man John Senhouse started the collection now known as the Netherhall Collection. William Camden, the famous Elizabethan antiquarian, stayed with him when he was writing his Britannia, published in 1599. This is the first written record of the existence of the collection.

The largest altar in the collection found its way into the British Museum and is now a major attraction in their Roman Britain gallery. Subsequent generations of the Senhouse family added to the collection up to the present day, all from the Roman site at Maryport.

The Netherhall Collection is housed and made accessible for all at Senhouse Roman Museum thanks to a long-term loan agreement with the collection's present owner, and descendant of the Senhouse family, Joe Scott-Plummer and his family.