The Vindolanda tablets are pieces of wood on which Roman soldiers and their families wrote letters to each other. What did they say? Why and how did they write on wood? And how have the tablets survived for two thousand years? In this workshop you will answer these questions by examining Vindolanda tablets and then making your own to take home. You will:

·         consider some actual Vindolanda tablets and then compose a letter that you would have sent if stationed at Vindolanda as part of the Roman army,

·         make the kind of ink used at Vindolanda,

·         learn how to write in the handwriting used at Vindolanda,

·         write your letter in that handwriting using Roman pens and ink.

A vindolanda tablet.

Tickets for this individual workshop are £30, or £50 if combined with Roman magic workshop to make a full day (in which case children will be supervised over lunch).

This workshop is designed for ages 8-16, but older and younger participants may be welcomed on a case-by-case basis. All participants must be able to read, but no other prior knowledge is needed. The workshop will be held in the reconstructed Roman villa at Butser Ancient Farm, admission to which is included in the workshop fee. There will be a lunch break and two snack breaks, for which you can bring your own food or purchase sandwiches, snacks and beverages from the farm’s shop. If the weather is good, you can picnic in the villa garden; if it rains, in the villa itself. Please wear clothes that can cope if you get ink on them: Roman ink does not wash out easily.

Professor Eleanor Dickey in Butser’s Roman Villa

The workshop will be led by Professor Eleanor Dickey FBA. Eleanor did her D.Phil. at Oxford and is now Professor of Classics at the University of Reading. She has published numerous books about the ancient world and its surviving texts and has taught in six different countries.

 This workshop is offered in partnership with the Reading Ancient Schoolroom, an educational charity started at the University of Reading in 2014 with the aim of bringing Roman schools to life and sharing them with today’s children. The Ancient Schoolroom will be in residence at Butser’s Roman villa from 19-25 August 2026, offering a range of workshops and drop-in activities.

If you have any mobility concerns, special requirements, or other practical questions, please contact admin@butserancientfarm.co.uk. For questions about workshop content or participants outside the expected age range, please contact the Reading Ancient Schoolroom at E.Dickey@reading.ac.uk.