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In the first half of the 20th century, two young women walked the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall. Each travelled alone, recording her endeavours in notebooks and drawing what she saw. The first was Jessie Mothersole (1873-1958) who, in May 1921, made her epic journey from the east to the west while, in her own words, ‘resisting offers of a lift’. Then, 30 years later, Brenda Swinbank (later Heywood; 1929-2022) walked the Wall in the opposite direction in 1949/1950.
Love of the Wall
Jessie’s ensuing self-illustrated book, aptly called Hadrian’s Wall, was received very enthusiastically by the public and academics alike when it was published in 1922. The stalwart of Romano-British studies at that time, R G Collingwood, praised it evocatively as a publication that ‘goes straight to the heart of all who love the Wall and the Wall country; to read her is to see distant views and to hear the wind again.’ But Jessie was not trained as an archaeologist; she called herself a ‘lady artist’, having been trained at the Slade School of Fine Art in London under Henry Holiday, a painter of historical scenes and landscapes and a stained glass artist. Brenda, in contrast, was one of the earliest female professional archaeologists in the UK, and only the third woman in the UK to be awarded a PhD in Archaeology (see CA 396).
Brenda painstakingly recorded the state of the Wall, and the Vallum in particular, in her notebooks during her travels. Her attention to detail is only matched by Elizabeth Hodgson (1855-1935), another female archaeologist who was involved in excavating the western part of the Wall in the 1890s. Elizabeth had no archaeological training, learning instead by doing, but if you look at her watercolours of the excavations, the level of detail of archaeological features is impressive – exceptional for the state of archaeology in the late 19th- to early 20th century.
Jessie, Brenda, and Elizabeth are not the only women who shared a passion for Roman walls, however. Anne S Robertson (1910-1997) walked the entire length of another frontier, this time further north: the Antonine Wall in Scotland. One novelty of her walk was the use of a cinecamera, filming two gentlemen inspecting the route of the Wall from the Forth to the Clyde in the 1950s.
Women in Archaeology
These four women, along with seven others, are the focus of a pop-up exhibition Women of Romano-British Archaeology, on display in the Hellenic and Roman Library at Senate House in London. Curated by Tatiana Ivleva, the display forms part of our ongoing initiative to increase the visibility of women who worked in Roman archaeology in the 19th and 20th centuries. Our goal is to highlight the history of these female pioneers, reinstating the contributions of both famous and lesser-known figures in the field, principally by sharing their individual biographies.
The traditional narrative of the early days of the archaeological discipline depicts it as being dominated almost exclusively by men. But is this really so? There are many ‘fathers’ of archaeology in different generations, but no-one refers to any ‘mothers’. This is partly an issue of perception, as well as a lack of opportunities for women at that time, but over the last three decades more and more research (see ‘Further reading’ below) has demonstrated that women have played an integral role in this field since its inception. They took on various roles, including conducting and leading their own excavations, working in and even establishing museums, and undertaking research trips. Many also published in prestigious journals and were well-known and respected figures in archaeological circles of their time, standing on equal footing with their male counterparts.
Despite these achievements, however, access to archaeology was not equal for all women. Wealth and social status represented a significant barrier (something that was also true for men). Many early archaeologists are referred to as ‘amateurs’ not due to a lack of professionalism, but because they were unpaid for their services. Having the means and the leisure time to pursue their archaeological passions was a privilege, and these ‘amateurs’ were often solid members of Britain’s intellectual aristocracy. For example, Elizabeth Hodgson was born into an upper-middle-class academic family and married a very wealthy Cumbrian landowner who was a Cambridge alumnus. But while wealthy women, at least, were able to participate in archaeology, the doors of academia remained stubbornly shut for much of the early 20th century. The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act came into force in 1919, yet its effect was not immediate. Some universities (for example, Edinburgh) allowed female undergraduates from the 1890s; at others, such as Oxford and Cambridge, women were allowed to study but not graduate. Oxford finally awarded degrees to female students in 1920; Cambridge was significantly later, in 1948. Despite these barriers, determined women of means attended lectures and courses, often through the departments of Classics and History, as Archaeology was still a new discipline. The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland admitted ‘Lady Associates’ from 1870, but no ‘Lady Fellows’ until 1901, while the Society of Antiquaries of London only started to admit female fellows in 1920 – potentially driven to conform to the 1919 Act because their premises, Burlington House, was government-provided.
Not only an old boys’ club
Francis Haverfield is often referred to as the ‘father of Romano-British studies’, sometimes alongside three other early-to-mid-20th-century male stalwarts: R G Collingwood, Ian Richmond, and Eric Birley. In 1910, Haverfield co-founded the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (known as the Roman Society) and became its first president. However, he died before he could fulfil his ultimate ambition of establishing a school of Roman-British archaeologists. It was his personal assistant, Margerie Venables Taylor who, with quiet but firm determination, achieved this aspiration. Often referred to by her initials, M V Taylor (1881-1963) was the secretary to the administrators of the Haverfield bequest (including money and his library), which he left to the University of Oxford. She had studied at Oxford in the first decade of the 20th century, though, like other women at this time, was not awarded a degree from there. Instead, M V Taylor was one of the intrepid ‘Steamboat ladies’ who crossed the Irish Sea to obtain a degree from Trinity College Dublin, which, for a brief period, allowed women who had studied at Oxbridge to graduate from there instead. For nearly 50 years, M V Taylor stood at the heart of the British archaeological establishment, serving as a Secretary, then as Vice-President, before becoming the first woman to be elected President of the Roman Society. She was also the first female Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of London. A woman of many ‘firsts’, she also co-founded, together with R G Collingwood in 1921, a special section in the Journal of Roman Studies, of which she became editor. Highlighting recent archaeological research on Roman-period sites in Britain and the discovery of new inscriptions, this section later evolved into Britannia, today the leading journal in Romano-British archaeology.
M V Taylor’s vigour and ambition were matched by another stalwart of the Roman Society and Romano-British studies: Jocelyn Toynbee (1897-1985). Jocelyn studied at Cambridge, completing her undergraduate studies in Classics in 1920, also before Cambridge awarded full degrees to women. She was the mastermind and curator of the Roman Society’s highly successful Jubilee Exhibition of 1961 at Goldsmiths’ Hall in central London, celebrating the Society’s 50th anniversary. It was at that time the most comprehensive exhibition of Romano-British art ever to be assembled, drawing together loans from 59 different institutions and owners, and marked a turning point in the appreciation of Romano-British art, with one visitor describing it as a ‘revelation’. Like M V Taylor, Jocelyn served as Vice-President of the Society and can also be called a ‘woman of many firsts’: in 1951, she was appointed Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge, and remains the only woman to hold this position.
Tessa of all trades
While the Roman Society, with M V Taylor and Jocelyn Toynbee, played an important role in putting Romano-British studies on the academic map, it was the Institute of Archaeology of University College London that played a major role in creating a fruitful ground for future generations of female archaeologists to grow.
Located in leafy surroundings behind a closed gate attended by a stern-looking guard, St John’s Lodge on the Inner Circle of Regent’s Park has a significant archaeological past. Between 1937 and 1959, it was the first home of the Institute of Archaeology. The Institute’s establishment is often connected in the public mind to the greatest archaeological showman of the post-War period, Mortimer Wheeler, but a memorial plaque at Gordon Square, the facility’s current location, tells a different story. His wife, Tessa Verney Wheeler (1893-1936), played an instrumental role, too. The memorial highlights her energy and enthusiasm, which is supported by the views of her contemporaries and her husband. Tessa worked literally tirelessly towards the Institute’s foundation, raising funds for essential repairs to the building. Moreover, her work at the London Museum built a body of students itching to study at the new Institute, which opened in 1937. Sadly, her tragic premature death after a medical procedure (with complications exacerbated by burnout and overwork) meant that she never saw her efforts come fully to fruition.
Tessa also excavated various Roman-period sites, including the amphitheater at Caerleon, Caernarfon fort, and Verulamium, where she was often in charge of the whole programme of excavation. Lexi Diggins’ analysis of archival material held by the St Albans Museum Services demonstrates that Tessa undertook excavations, supervised diggers, handled all administration and budgeting, and conducted public outreach activities and open days during her excavations at Verulamium in the 1930s. These records also contain a photographic field diary created by a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Helen Carlton-Smith, who was present at the dig for three seasons from 1930 to 1932, and who depicts Tessa treating everyone equally and with respect. There was an equal ratio of male and female staff, everyone got their hands dirty, and there was no division of tasks based on gender or class: men washed pottery and women dug in trenches, and their roles could be reversed the next day. Those who knew Tessa commented on how sincere and considerate she was towards everyone. For that she was beloved by diggers and academics alike.
Small world
In September 1945, news reached northern Britain that the Institute of Archaeology, which had closed for the duration of the Second World War, would be restarting courses. Young archaeology enthusiast Grace Simpson hurried to London almost immediately, and after paying a fee of two guineas (£2.10) in lieu of London University Matriculation, she was accepted to the programme. Grace (1920-2007) had been born into an archaeological family: her father, F G Simpson, was nicknamed ‘the Emperor of the [Hadrian’s] Wall’, devoting most of his life to studying the monument. Grace was one of only six students taught by the notable archaeologists Kathleen Kenyon and Stuart Piggott, and in her memoirs about the years spent at St John’s Lodge, she recalled once sitting during a lunch break next to the Egyptologist Dr Margaret Murray, who was by then nearly 100 years old. In the earlier days of her career (in 1903/1904), Margaret had spent weeks on end transcribing inscriptions and recording tombs at the Egyptian cemetery site of Saqqara, where she was joined by Jessie Mothersole, the ‘lady artist’ of Hadrian’s Wall. In Jessie’s record of this expedition, we learn that the two women frequently stayed up all night to document as much as possible, and that the house purposefully built for them had a floor which was ‘a desert itself’. Margaret in turn taught Tessa Verney Wheeler at UCL between 1911 and 1914, and Lydia Carr’s biography of Tessa emphasises how much Margaret was a role model for her both in education – being personally accessible to her students and providing pastoral care – and in academia, conducting rigorous and careful scholarship, without haste or sweeping narratives.
In its early days, the world of Romano-British archaeology was very small. Jessie had also met Elizabeth Hodgson and F G Simpson, Grace’s father, during the Fifth Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall in 1920 – the event which ignited Jessie’s interest in all things Roman. Meanwhile, the 1949 Pilgrimage (CA 396) was where M V Taylor, Jocelyn Toynbee, Anne Robertson, and Grace Simpson gathered to learn about the state of the monument in the post-War period.
After earning her diploma from the Institute, Grace went on to work as a research assistant to Eric Birley at Durham University, another hub for Romano-British studies, where both the history and archaeology of this period were taught. There she developed her interest in Roman pottery, publishing a monograph on Samian wares from Gaul that is still considered an authoritative volume on the subject. Eric Birley also taught Brenda Swinbank and praised her as an exceptionally competent field archaeologist and excavator. From Brenda’s biography, compiled by her daughter-in-law Suzanne Heywood, we learn that Grace and Brenda exchanged letters discussing all matters relating to the archaeology of the Wall. Grace was also in touch with Jocelyn Toynbee, whom she thanks in the introduction of her seminal book, Britons and the Roman Army.
Stumbling blocks
Despite the glowing appraisal by Eric Birley and being awarded her PhD, however, Brenda was not ultimately able to pursue a career in archaeology or academia. In letters sent between Grace and Brenda, we learn how, after marriage and the birth of her children, the demands of household and family life interrupted this work – in one, Brenda complains how ‘spring-cleaning’ the house and gardening were standing in the way of finalising three archaeological reports.
Similarly, Peggy Birley (born Goodlet; 1910-2000) devoted most of her life to supporting the activities and archaeological work of her husband, Eric. An epigraphist and pottery specialist herself, she was one of the first five students to join Durham University when it started offering courses in Romano-British History and Archaeology under Eric’s guidance. Peggy supported the community of northern Romano-British archaeologists that her husband was creating, colloquially known as ‘the Durham School’, whose members included Brenda and Grace.
It is no surprise that many of the women that we highlight never married, when you see its impact on the careers of individuals like Kathleen Atkinson.
In leaving their careers upon marriage to focus on raising a family, Brenda and Peggy were typical of most women of their generation (Tessa Verney Wheeler was a notable exception). ‘Marriage bars’ restricting the employment of married women in the 19th and 20th century had a significant impact on female potential to forge careers. It is no surprise that many of the women that we highlight never married, when you see its impact on the careers of individuals like Kathleen Atkinson (born Chrimes; 1902-1979). Kathleen was married to the archaeologist Donald Atkinson, and could not secure a permanent position at Manchester University because their regulations forbade wives holding posts in their husband’s departments. Instead, she had an annually renewed special lecturer role before she was finally able to take a permanent role at University College Leicester. Kathleen was an accomplished scholar in her own right, publishing widely on topics including ancient Sparta and Athenian legislation, and excavating at Venta Icenorum (Caistor by Norwich) with her husband. Her election certificate as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London was signed by M V Taylor and Jocelyn Toynbee, amongst others.
Although she eventually became the first female professor at Queen’s University in Belfast, Kathleen’s struggle for career progression highlights the gender politics that stood in the way of many female archaeologists of her era. Many of the women who were able to work in archaeology at this time focused on small-finds research, or published their contributions in local journals or in excavation reports where others (usually men) were the lead authors, meaning that their achievements have become overlooked; few women were lead excavators on major Roman sites. The sweeping overviews of Roman Britain have been nearly all authored by men, too, ensuring their legacy and continued visibility, while publications authored by their female contemporaries tend to focus on subjects like Romano-British women or pottery, targeting specific audiences. Many names have been forgotten over the years, only remaining familiar in their own specialist disciplines. The jury is still out as to what contributed to this, as gender politics and publishing culture were not the only stumbling blocks that they faced, but we hope that work like ours will help to make some of these individuals known once more.
Inspiring individuals
There is much more to say about these and many other women who made invaluable contributions to the development and promotion of Romano-British archaeology, as well as their personal and professional struggles. This article focuses on women whose biographies feature in the exhibition, individuals who were ahead of their time by introducing novel elements into the discipline, but we must not forget the numerous other women who worked tirelessly in local communities: the regional archaeological societies that are the backbone of British archaeology. Many made vital additions to the archaeological record of their local area (such as Ros Niblett; see CA 209), among them Kate Hodgson, Elizabeth’s daughter, who was the first female president of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society and published profusely in the Society’s proceedings about her own excavations exploring Cumbria’s Roman past. Roman East Yorkshire, meanwhile, was the scholarly domain of Mary Kitson Clark, whose 1935 Gazetteer of Roman Remains in East Yorkshire is still a seminal study of the Roman presence in the north of England. Helen O’Neil played a key excavating role in uncovering Roman Gloucestershire, as did Elsie Clifford, who investigated Romano-British villa sites across that county, while Aileen Fox (Lady Fox) helped to illuminate Roman archaeology across south-west England. The list is endless, but we need more information. We hope that our article will act as a catalyst, inspiring more investigations into the work of lesser-known female pioneers in Romano-British studies, and that this increased understanding of women’s contributions both to local heritage and to the discipline as a whole will help to create a more balanced narrative of how archaeology has evolved since its early days.
Acknowledgements: It seems appropriate to end by thanking all those contributors who created biographies of the individual women who featured on the banners in the exhibition that was led and curated by Tatiana Ivleva: Barbara Birley, David Breeze, Richard Bridgland, Lexi Diggins, Natasha Harlow, Frances McIntosh, Martha Stewart, Catherine Teitz, and Amara Thornton. In this feature, we fill the role of storytellers, summarising the information that they uncovered in archives and from personal accounts.
Further information:
• D J Breeze (2024) ‘Elizabeth Hodgson: a dispassionate recorder of the Vallum of Hadrian’s Wall’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, series 3, 24; 181-202.
• L C Carr (2012) Tessa Verney Wheeler: Women and Archaeology Before World War Two (Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199640225).
• M Díaz-Andreu (2025) ‘The Matilda effect in archaeology: recovering women for the history of the discipline’ (doi.org/10.4324/9781003257530-12).
• A Fox (2000) Aileen – A Pioneering Archaeologist (Gracewing, ISBN 978-0852445235).
• S Heywood (2018) Recollections of a Female Archaeologist: A Life of Brenda Swinbank (Blurb, ISBN 978-1389025303).
• M L Stewart (2023) ‘Margerie Venables Taylor (1881-1963): an unsung heroine of Roman Britain?’ (doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv37mk2fp.14).
• There are various digital humanities initiatives, such as beyondnotability.org; trowelblazers.com; and aktarcha.hypotheses.org (the last features women in archaeology in Germany).
• A cinematic tribute to Anne S Robertson’s work was filmed in 2023 and can be found on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SHxjq-ZjcQ).
• Elizabeth Hodgson’s watercolours have been digitised and can be viewed online: https://collections.sal.org.uk/object-ldsal2024-1-1
• A zine showing all of the banners that feature in the exhibition is available online at https://heyzine.com/flip-book/122ca9f6bc.html. The exhibition’s opening was preceded by the colloquium at the Annual General Meeting of the Roman Society; talks from this event are available online at http://www.youtube.com/c/romansociety.
