
Hidden Lindum Colonia – Visit Posterngate
We are excited to include a visit to Posterngate within our new Hidden Lindum Colonia project. The project will eventually showcase twelve sites of Roman Lincoln and form a digital and real tour of the city.
The Posterngate site was uncovered during excavations in the 1970s. It was a gateway that gave access to Roman Lincoln from the river. It is widely thought that the route was used by merchants and traders when Lincoln’s waterside was a bustling port.
For Summer 2022 we are excited to bring you our new guided tours of Posterngate:
- Guided tours will begin with a talk about the Hidden Lindum Colonia project and set the scene for Posterngate in the main gallery of The Collection Museum (10-15 minutes)
- We will then walk to Posterngate on Saltergate (5 minutes away) to enter the hidden gateway
- A talk at the Posterngate site (30 minutes)
- Guided tours will end at the Posterngate site
Please note:
- The tours involve walking from the museum to the site across two roads.
- Posterngate is situated 5 metres below ground level and can only be reached down a stone staircase.
Tour dates for Summer 2022
On the following dates there will be a guided tour at 11am and at 2pm.
Places are limited to 20 visitors per tour.
Tickets are £4.10 and require pre booking online or at the Collection reception
- Monday 24th October
- Friday 2nd December
More dates will follow for Autumn/Winter.
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Get creative this summer!
Join us this summer across the sites for a variety of crafts, creative arts and you can even choose to do your Arts Award Discover mini qualification.
On each of the Get Creative days there will be something different to do linked to the exhibitions and sites e.g. Microworlds exhibition at The Collection and the Our Patch of Earth project at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life!
- Crafts £3
- Arts Award £10 – charge includes the Get Creative Discover Award pack, certificate submission plus one craft
- Free drawing and painting
All events 10am to 3.30pm
All children must have adult supervision
Arts Award Discover
If you are aged 6 to 14 you can complete your Arts Award Discover qualification during the summer.
Get Creative Arts Award Discover packs can be purchased from the learning team on any of the Get Creative event days.
You do not need to do your full award on site with us but may want our help so please pop in on any Get Creative day to find out more and we can help with ideas. You might have a preferred theme from our event days – see below.
You would then need to bring in evidence of your creative arts practice in your chosen art form (e.g. a painting, a song, a dance, a story etc) and have completed the Get Creative Arts Award Discover pack by the end of August. The learning team will liaise with you for your contact details as we will send off for your certificates to Trinity and let you know when they arrive with us to be collected at your convenience.
For each event day there is a slightly different theme for the craft activities based upon different aspects of the exhibitions to ensure that you have lots of options across the summer!
Dates, sites and themes for the Get Creative
- Wednesday 27th July – Get Creative @ Collection Museum – Microworlds and 3d modelling
- Friday 29th July – Get Creative @ Museum of Lincs Life – Our Patch of Earth exhibition, planting and creative arts flowers
- Thursday 4th August – Get Creative @ Usher Gallery – Environments, landscapes and clay tiles (using natural foraged materials)
- Friday 5th August – Get Creative @ Museum of Lincs Life – Our Patch of Earth exhibition, planting and garden creatures and birds
- Wednesday 10th August – Get Creative @ Collection Museum – Microworlds and 3d modelling
- Friday 12th August – Get Creative @ Museum of Lincs Life – Our Patch of Earth exhibition, planting and fantasy garden creatures
- Thursday 18th August – Get Creative @ Usher – Identity and portraits – clay heads and self-portraiture.
- Friday 19th August – Get Creative @ Museum of Lincs Life – Our Patch of Earth exhibition, planting and garden creatures and birds
- Wednesday 24th August – Get Creative @ Collection Museum- Microworlds and 3d modelling
- Friday 26th August – Get Creative @ Museum of Lincs Life- Our Patch of Earth exhibition, planting and fantasy garden creatures

Exciting commissions for Our Patch of Earth project
The Investigate Learning team are looking to commission a Project Facilitator and an Artist in Residence for this fantastic new project at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
This creative arts engagement project will focus upon a range of environment and wellbeing themes linked to the potential future development of a museum garden.
See further details of the project and post in the Project Facilitator and Artist in Residence briefs below.
Deadline for applications is 9am Monday 13th September.
If you would like to discuss this project further please contact the Learning Manager.
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Hidden Lindum Colonia beneath the city
See beneath the city and journey back to Roman Lincoln. We unveiled the seven sites of Hidden Lindum Colonia last week as part of our Festival of Archaeology: Exploring local Places.
Take your students on an interactive trail of Lindum Colonia. Follow the map and explore the hidden city between The Collection Museum and Lincoln Castle.
The trail starting point is the Roman villa that was underneath The Collection Museum!
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Collection Museum Virtual gallery scan
Very exciting news!
During our Festival of Archaeology we launched our new Collection Museum Virtual gallery scan.
You will be able to explore the gallery with your students and develop your own interpretation for the collections. We are now devising new digital learning activities to support you so let us know if there are topics you would like us to focus in on!

New ‘Your Patch of Earth’ Arts Award launched
The Investigate learning team is delighted to launch a brand new Arts Award offer for budding artists aged 5 to 25. Take inspiration from our ‘Your Patch of Earth’ project to earn yourself an Arts Award ‘Discover’ certificate.
Arts Award is a nationally recognised qualification from Trinity College London and ‘Discover’ is the first level. It’s a great way for families to be creative and learn about the arts at home, or a fabulous project for the classroom.
It enables young people to be rewarded for the creative activities they enjoy, or explore new ones, and supports them to connect with their local heritage and arts venues.
To get the award, you need to work through three simple steps and collect evidence as you go:
- Investigate someone who practises an art form – there are many art forms to choose from including sculpture, photography, music, dance, drama and film making!
- Create your own art – again, this can take any form
- Reflect on your experience and share it with others
We’ve got 9 mini ‘Your Patch of Earth’ projects to inspire your art activities. The way you collect and present your evidence is up to you.
You could make a mini portfolio, a poster, a short film, or use web apps like ‘Padlet’. You can download our easy to follow Arts Award Discover – Guide with helpful suggestions and a handy Arts Award Discover – Art Log to fill in too.
Discover at Home is a great option for parents, carers and teachers who may not be arts specialists themselves or are looking for something different to keep children engaged and entertained.
How to get your certificate
Our learning team staff are qualified to check your work and apply for your certificate. There is a small charge of £5 per young person, which covers the cost of the certificate from Trinity College London and postage to you.
Submitting your work by email is the best way:
- Set up an email to Investigate-learning@lincolnshire.gov.uk. In the subject heading write ‘Arts Award Discover: Your Patch of Earth’.
- In the email, you need to add: Your Full Name and Date of Birth, as well as the address that you would like your Certificate to be posted to.
- Attach images/videos/audio files of your Arts Award Discover work to the email. If any of your work is on paper or physical (eg. A handmade masterpiece, or if you’ve printed our Art Log) then take a photo and attach to your email. If you’d like to link us to anything you’ve uploaded online please make sure we have permission to access it.
- Get an adult to add in this bit to the email: “I confirm that my child/name has completed the ‘Arts Award Discover’ evidenced in this email.” And ask them to add their name.
Once you have submitted your Arts Award evidence, we will send you an email with instructions on how to pay the £5 fee.


What a great day on the walls of Lincoln Castle!
Day 1 of our filming with Paradigm Arts and the Investigate Learning team have started production of our new Investigate from the Castle Walls digital project kit.
We certainly learnt a lot about filming in windy conditions and had great fun!! Watch this space for more on this new development in the coming months.
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Go green and get creative with ‘Your Patch of Earth’
Do you enjoy getting creative? Do you want to care for the planet? Well, if you answered ‘yes’ then this project is definitely for you!
‘Your Patch of Earth’ is our new creative arts project, encouraging you to get arty whilst considering environmental themes. All our activities also link to our wonderful heritage sites and collections. Learn how to ‘make do and mend’ with the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, find out how Dennis the Dragon plans to make Lincoln Castle greener, and hear Norse stories about the Gods and the World Tree, Yggdrasil from The Collection.
We want you to get involved by writing stories, making music, painting pictures, taking photographs and using your green fingers. In fact, you can be artistic any way you like!
Every Thursday for 9 weeks (until 3rd June 2021) we will release a new film tutorial to inspire you, as well as highlighting an item or idea from one of our sites. You can access the films from this page, on our site social media pages and on our YouTube playlist ‘Investigate Learning – Your Patch of Earth’.
If you fancy a challenge, you could take part in all 9 activities and receive a certificate from the Investigate Learning team (plus loads of kudos!).
We are also offering the opportunity to achieve your Arts Award Discover qualification with us by doing one of the activities. This is a nationally recognised qualification, suitable for ages 5-25. Keep a look out for more information on getting your Arts Award coming soon!
Dennis the Dragon’s Guide to Going Green – live from 10am 8 April 2021
Create a Dennis the Dragon Storyboard – live from 10am 8 April 2021
Create an Art Deco Sunburst – live from 10am 15 April 2021
Give a Gift to Mother Earth – live from 10am 22 April 2021
Create an Orchard Soundscape – live from 10am 29 April 2021
Make do and mend – live from 10am 6 May 2021
Norse Nature Mythology – live from 10am 13 May 2021
Make a Self-Watering Plant Pot – live from 10am 20 May 2021
Windowsill allotment – live from 10am 27 May 2021
Photographing Wildlife – live from 10am 3 June 2021
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Online Exhibition Learning Project
Online Exhibition Learning Project in response to the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain in partnership with the Imperial War Museum
We are excited to bring you our collaborative digital Exhibition Learning Project that explores, interprets and responds to a selection of art works that reflect the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
Over the next 8 weeks we will showcase the online projects and learning resources created by the Investigate Learning Team. These will be introduced each Friday via the Collection social media.
This Online Exhibition Learning Project was initiated by the Learning and Exhibitions Teams at The Collection Museum, with support from The Mighty Creatives, Arts Council, Imperial War Museum Battle of Britain Partnership and in collaboration with Paradigm Arts and Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire Partnership.
Some schools are piloting our new Arts Award Discover offer using the art works so if you would like to know more about that and other Arts Award projects please contact the Investigate team.
- For more details please visit The Collection website
- Read the blog
- Films released will appear on our YouTube channel
- Film support materials for teachers will appear here
Image credit: Art.IWM ART 17748, Untitled, c.1940, Eileen Agar, Gouache on board © The Estate of Eileen Agar / Bridgeman Images
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