Royal opening for Trimontium Museum

The new facility opened its doors to visitors on August 2 last year following a £1.4m transformation, but due to Covid restrictions there has been no fanfare to mark the occasion until now.

More than 5,000 visitors have visited the Museum since then, with rave reviews about the makeover from the old museum space to the stunning modern gallery which houses one of the finest collections of Roman military objects on display anywhere in the UK.

This renovation was made possible thanks to the support and funding from multiple organisations and individuals including, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Borders Council, Live Borders, South of Scotland Enterprise, Scottish Government, National Museums Scotland and Museums and Galleries Scotland, and many years of dedicated meticulous planning, hard work and fundraising from the trust.

The official opening day will be a celebration of Trimontium with the focus of events at Abbey House from 11am.

The Antonine Guard will be marching around Melrose, the Time Bandits living history group will tell stories relating to Trimontium and volunteers from the museum will be on hand to tell visitors more about the history of the site.

There will be artefacts to touch and family activities.

The Trimontium story is always evolving and the trust is looking forward to a programme of exciting and engaging community archaeology events, and are fundraising for a new initiative, H.A.L.O. (Heritage Archaeology Landscape Observatory) which will deliver a state-of-the-art archaeology laboratory, archive and library at the museum site.

This will offer the opportunity for members of the public, specialist groups, students and school pupils to engage with the rich Borders historical landscape, return to the archaeology laboratory and use the latest technologies such as 3D printers, photo-imaging hardware and software, drones and geophysics equipment.

The H.A.L.O. project will enable visitors to develop stronger ties between the interpretation and collections at the museum and the historic landscape, through exploration and investigation at the new laboratory. The stories and footprints from the past will become clearer to all who engage through this exciting new project while creating volunteering opportunities across a range of activities including collections management, front of house, visitor experience and digital interpretation.

The museum is now open daily for the spring and summer with an online booking system, which also allows for drop-in visitors. The Trust runs guided fort and town trail history walks and a series of online talks … more info on this is at www.trimontium.co.uk​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​