With plans to dig up Exeter’s Roman baths for a major tourist attraction, Thomas Davies says that we should always remember our history but the nature of poverty in Exeter is also a serious issue.
It’s a well-known secret that underneath Cathedral Green lays a very well preserved relic of the Roman world: the legionary bath house of the Roman fort built at Exeter nearly 2,000 years ago. Now there are calls to dig it up again and put it on public display, an issue that has raised a few complaints from some of the community.
Initially I was for the excavation as I love history and I find it fascinating but it would be of course immoral and wrong to say that we should ignore the criticisms to these plans, some revolving around the Green and Cathedral and what would become of them if the centre is built.
The issue of ,”What’s the point of digging up Roman remains?” is not so much an issue of historical importance but of principle. History is important. It is not an opinion, it is a societal truth. We could not have got where we are today without knowledge of our past and it is always important to preserve that knowledge for the future. It’s like burning books or internet censorship. We avoid those because all knowledge, whether you like or not, is important. Asking should we move on from the Romans is frankly dangerous; we should always remember our history because in not doing so how we can progress as a society without knowing where we’ve come from?
But the biggest attack has been, as it often is, financial. In a letter to the Exeter Echo Andrew and Philipa Hoellering criticized the plans stating that the money would be better spent on food for the hungry and homes for the elderly. It is a good point and one that I’ve tried to wrestle with and honestly I’m not sure what to say to this.
In February this year, Child Poverty UK estimated that in the Exeter region 16-17% of children are living in poverty, that’s an estimated 3451 children. It’s a staggering and shocking figure and one I was keen to investigate further. However, my information on this was fairly limited and so my judgements are based my own feelings than actual facts. It was very unclear if the council doing enough but after having a read of their budget book I’m not entirely convinced. I’m no accountant but nothing struck me as being related to the issue of poverty specifically. There is an effort to create low income housing but that doesn’t help people in poverty directly, it seems like much of it is left to charitable organisations and even there my information is regrettably limited on what’s been done in Exeter. However, the problem to us average students is, I think, not immediately obvious and it’s worth pointing out that Exeter is not even in the top 20 when it comes to child poverty. That’s no excuse of course, but it is something to bear in mind when considering this issue.
But poverty in itself doesn’t mean that this project is necessarily a bad idea, nor that supporting the idea suggests one doesn’t care about poverty. It’s not as if the money is in a pot that will go either to combat poverty or build the centre, if it was that easy I’d support the Hoellerings. My big question is not just what we should spend the money on but what is said money doing currently? Is it designated for such projects by the council or a grant? Is it currently being used for something and if so what for? Is it doing nothing? If so I would rather something done than nothing at all, and is that amount of money worth spending on this venture? It’s also worth acknowledging the economic benefits such a centre could have, boosting the city’s main attraction, culture, to even greater levels. It’s very early days: nothing is formalised and the plans have not even been drawn up yet. We don’t have all the financial and environmental information yet to debate this properly.
I think we can all agree the principle of showing off the Roman baths to visitors and locals is a good one and not one that we can inherently criticise. Equally, the nature of poverty in Exeter is a serious issue and one that has to be tackled by both the council and charities. For me this debate is ongoing, I’m not in possession of all the facts to make a judgement on this just yet. My gut says that the project would be a major benefit to Exeter, but with this other information I’m not entirely convinced that this is the right direction. When the plans are formalised, budgeting is established and more clarity is given on other issues, then I’ll have a more trenchant viewpoint.
Thomas Davies
Should preservation come before charity? What is your gut reaction? Leave a comment below or write to the Comment team at the Exeposé Comment Facebook Group or on Twitter @CommentExepose. In other news, Exeposé Comment are looking to find out who Exeter’s favourite almunus is. Vote below.
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