We offer guided tours for small parties of 1 to 12 people to view the Roman remains.
Our tours last from 2 hours to 4 hours as well as All day (study tours).
Please contact us to book and payment details. donmacerwright@gmail.com landline 01594 861835 mobile 07598122008
GUIDED TOURS
Option1. 2 hour Tour of the Roman remains including very short walk to Pleasant Stile viewpoint £20 per person for groups of 2 to 6 people maximum. No charge for children under 13. Sample viewing of heads and artefacts. Minimum charge £40 for single person individual tours.
Option 2. 4 hour Tour of the Roman remains and panorama, bring your own picnic lunch and enjoy an exclusive viewing of artefacts £35 per person 12 people maximum 3 people minimum
Option 3. All day Tour bring your own picnic lunch – Roman remains, gloved handling of unique 2,000 to 5,000 year old artefacts, viewing stunning panoramas, experiencing a neolithic/bronze age landscape, hearing extraordinary mythic tales resonating with the archaeological discoveries of Littledean £55 per person 10 people maximum 4 people minimum.
The Littledean site is extraordinary. It has been studied and visited by an academic elite since its discovery in 1984 with a roll call reading like a Who’s Who of British archaeologists.
Professor Barri Jones, one of the great archaeologists of his generation who tragically died in his early 60s, the late Dr Anne Ross, a world authority on the Ancient Celts who spoke both Gaelic and Welsh, Bryn Walters BA, Director of the Association for Archaeology since its inception, recently retired from post, is a specialist in Roman rural architecture, water sanctuaries and villa interpretation, Professor Tony King, the leading authority on Romano – British religion who has published extensively with titles covering the Roman Empire. Graham Saxby-Soffe BA, chairman of the Association for Roman Archaeology, who worked with HBMC and English Heritage as a professional archaeologist for 20 years, the late Anthony Beeson who tragically died recently, a classical iconographer who was Art Librarian at Bristol Central Library from 1972 until his retirement in 2009 and who guided tours throughout the Ancient Classical World, Robin Holley, Archaeological Director of the Bath Archaeological Trust and Neolithic expert is the lead excavator, whose skills with the trowel are stunning Professor Josh Pollard FSA, a leading Neolithic expert who has been involved in the Stonehenge Riverside Project since 2004, with joint Director Professor Mike Parker – Pearson, who came to Littledean in 2005 for English Heritage, Professor Miranda Aldhouse – Green, the doyen of the Ancient Celtic World is included in the “100 major discoveries, developments and inventions”, by academics throughout the UK, to have transformed the world in the last 50 years. Professor Ian Armit, Chair in Archaeology University of York, has obtained a large grant from the Leverhulme Trust to study and report on the stone heads. A post doctoral researcher will study the Dean Hall stone heads at York University and the project is officially called ‘Cults of the Head? The Dean Hall Temple carvings in context’. Dr Lindsey Buster Associate Researcher at York University and a leading specialist in Iron Age studies has inspired a new sphere of study at Littledean. Dr Nick Summerton a specialist and author on Greco – Roman medicine has advised on the medical aspects of the carved stone heads and excavated at the Temple. Michael Grant the Baron de Longueuil has also advised on the medical aspects of the stone carved heads and Professor Mark Hortom of Time Team, Time Flyers and Coast fame, Royal Agricultural University Cirencester, who has global interests and experience is one the most recent to have visited and advised at Littledean, producing remarkable vertical drone photographs taken below and in the trees!
Please contact us for further information. donmacerwright@gmail.com landline 01594861835 mobile 07598122008
A FEW REVIEWS
This was such a wonderful tour. We are so fortunate to be able to sew together our local history in such a sacred way. There is a continuity of worship stretching back from Roman times, through iron age, bronze age, neolithic and mesolithic. Don Macer-Wright showed us round in such detail that we could enter into a deep experience of the place — it’s siting above the Noose, the astrology facing the Pleides at Midsummer, the full moon. The sacred pools that evolved and developed over perhaps 6000 years, all leaving archeological evidence of the people. I found it entirely moving and extraodinary. It feels like ‘our’ temple. Don likes to think the Romans dedicated it to Sabrina and it absolutely feels like a Goddess shrine. His whole story is fascinating. And he has a pile of artifacts to look at and hold — such as some of the 130 stone heads deposited in the pool in the iron age for healing ailments. We loved it and we’ll be going back! Rhogini Bee 17th May 2021
Had the most amazing afternoon at Littledean Temple. Don is so lovely and knowledgeable and really explains everything in such a wonderful way, we were truly captivated. It was such a privilege to be able to get up close to the artefacts found, the objects found and the history of the site made for a breathtaking experience. We will definitely be returning! Kelly Burriss 29th May 2021
We had an amazing visit, Don was a great guide, with an awesome enthusiasm to tell us about the site, definitely a place to visit. We are planning to return at least once more this year if not more. Paula Tales. 29th May 2021
Don thank you so much for showing us around the fascinating Roman Temple site. Starting with the view over the horse shoe bend in the Severn gave context to what followed and we were gripped. What you have done and then shared so well with us was an honour to see and hear. Sorry we kept you beyond the allotted time with our questions and guesses – I was worried the kids might drift but it was a struggle to get them away and they haven’t stopped talking about your stories. I would highly recommend for families if only for the chance to literally reconnect with and touch the past. It is a rare thing to be able to connect with people and artifacts from 50 centuries ago. Don breathing life into it all made it exceptional. Felt we only scratched the surface so will be back. Thank you again Don. 5 stars/10 out of 10/100%. Ever grateful – the Bellwoods. 6th June 2021
I wouldn’t have thought that I could get so close to the imaginings of people from 2000 and more years ago and to actually hold their carved-in-stone images in my hands without years of academia! Don’s stories helped to make sense of the Temple site and found artefacts every step of the way, making relatable these small glimmers from the Neolithic through to Romano-Celtic worldview. It’s one thing to see ancient artefacts isolated within a museum and something entirely different to witness them in their ancient contexts. Thanks so much for sharing! – Dan Edwards. 26th April 2022
Thankyou so much for the visit yesterday. Thankyou for your guardianship of such a powerful and beautiful place. So many thoughts, feelings and connections were stirred for me during the time we were there, I am still processing them. One of the artefacts I loved most was the pecked salmon stone. (I guess you know the story of the oldest animal, the Salmon of Llyn Llyw). – Christine Watkins 20th May 2023
Thanks again Don for our wonderful day at the site yesterday. It’s a very special place and you really brought it to life for me, and gave me a strong sense of its relationship to the landscape. Look forward to returning sometime. – Ruth Parham Mason 29th May 2023
Littledean Roman Temple and Nymphaeum 