Viva Lewes Issue #107 August 2015

photo of the month
paws for thought
Something caught the eye of Newick resident (and semi-pro cartoonist!) Ralph Kidson when he was
walking along to the church to do some drawing. He noticed something he’d not spotted before in
an old wall near the church - one particular brick with an unusual indentation - and thought, “That’s
a bit freaky!” A few days later, he went back to capture it with his “little Samsung digital”. Ralph
emailed this photo with the playful title of ‘Big Cat Evidence’. He tells us, “I think it’s fascinating and
rather poignant. This creature was alive such a long time ago, and you can still see its footprint in the
brick. It made me think of Fishbourne Roman Palace, because they’ve got ancient Roman tiles there
with both animal and children’s paw/footprints in them.” We phoned Fishbourne, who confirmed
that they have large tiles with prints in them in their museum. The tiles would have been laid out in
the sun to dry, and passing naughty children or animals must have scampered over them – which may
have been what happened with a cat and the brick now in the wall in Newick.
Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens in West Sussex is a great place to visit – and they are putting
on lots of events and workshops for kids this summer – from Have a Go at Archaeology, to Roman
Hawks and Helmets, as well as Mosaic Making. For more information, see sussexpast.co.uk
Please send your pics to photos@vivalewes.com. We’ll choose our favourite for this page, which wins the
photographer £20. Unless otherwise arranged we reserve the right to use all pictures in future issues of Viva
magazines.
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