Medieval Mercenary Tour of the Eastgate Chamber

Sir Miles is taking a guided tour of the Eastgate Chamber at the Museum of Gloucester on Saturday 31 October, from 14:00 to 15:00. He's playing the part of a medieval mercenary, and the tour takes you underground into the chamber itself.

If you've spent any time in the museum, you'll know the Eastgate Chamber is one of its more unusual spaces. It's an underground exhibition area that preserves parts of the city's old Roman and medieval gate-towers, along with a section of the moat. The tour doesn't just stick to the history, though; it leans as much on the myths and superstitions that have grown around the site as it does on the actual records. With Sir Miles leading the way, it's as much about the stories as the stones.

It's a good chance to see a part of the museum that usually sits in the background. The Museum of Gloucester occupies a Victorian building that tells the city's story from its Roman origins through the Dark Ages and into the medieval period, and the Eastgate Chamber is one of the few places where you can actually stand among the remains of those early fortifications. The rest of the ground floor holds a Roman kitchen playhouse, a medieval street, and part of the original Roman wall, while the archaeology collection includes the Birdlip Mirror, Roman tombstones, and the Gloucester Tables Set—the oldest complete backgammon set in the world.

Tickets are £7.50 for adults. The tour runs from 14:00 to 15:00 on Saturday 31 October at the Museum of Gloucester, Brunswick Road, GL1 1HP.