IV Saintes (Mediolanum Santonum)
Visited August 2005 & 2008
Status – Top grade
What3words location – coasted.lift.atoms
Date - 50AD
Capacity - 15,000
Saintes 2005
Lots of people with young children take them for summer holidays in France. Its attractions include being relatively easy to get to with a car full of stuff, decent weather, cheese, wine, space etc. We found ourselves in the 2000s in the Charente Maritime (South of Cognac, inland from La Rochelle) wandering around Saintes. First clue was the spectacular Roman arch standing beside the river in the centre of town, Second clue, a small wooden fingerpost pointing up an alleyway stating ‘Amphithéâtre gallo-romain’.
Five minutes later we were in the middle of a hidden gem. It exhibits all the characteristics you come to expect in an Imperial amphitheatre. Use of the topography (in this case a deep valley) to assist in the shape, and save on stonework. Limited subsequent destruction and/or quarrying leaving plenty to see and marvel at, and that ‘just out of town’ location. It’s a big one. Estimated to have seated 12-15,000. A personal favourite.
Merseybeat Meets the Roman Empire (Part I)
When researching something unrelated, I found an old photo of two dodgy looking proto punks, and recognised the location. They turned out to be Alan Ernest Caldwell and Johnny Byrne aka ‘Rory Storm’ and ‘Johnny Guitar’. They played in a band with a drummer called Richard ‘Ringo Starr’ Starkey, before he joined a more successful group. What they were doing in Saintes was not exactly clear, but at least one website said they toured American Airbases in France in the 1960s, so maybe they spent a day off following fingerposts… carrying a guitar? Read on…
Merseybeat Meets the Roman Empire (Part II)
Further information harvested from ‘From a Storm to a Hurricane’ - Anthony Hogan (Amberley Publishing 2016). Not a great work of literature (Too many grocers’ apostrophes) but many facts and photos.
During the ‘Cold War’ (Google it younger readers) the perceived threat of Russian aggression led to the construction of a number of NATO military bases throughout mainland Europe. From 1950 until 1967 Base aérienne 129 Saint-Jean-d'Angély-Fontenet was home to the United States Airforce.
Overseas airbases operated like self-contained small towns with their own shops and entertainment venues, for which variety acts and dance bands were booked to entertain the troops. The Enlisted Members club at Fontenet Airbase hosted the Liverpudlian Rock & Roll act Rory Storm and the Hurricanes for a month long residency in April 1962, from which they would move to a further stint at a base near Orleans. The band, together with singer Vicki Woods, left England at the end of March, returning via Orleans in order to start their summer season at Butlins Skegness on 1st June.
19 miles and 30 minutes south-west of Fontenet lies Saintes. The photograph therefore must date from April 1962. Further pictures show more posing around the Saintes arena. One has band members Ringo, Rory, Ty, Bobby and Johnny on the steps next to the west entrance. Four months after the photo was taken, Ringo went on stage at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight for his first gig as a Beatle.
Fontenet Airbase was closed in 1967 and is now a solar energy farm (Google it older readers…).
Rory and Johnny... brought up during rationing?
Ringo (left) April 1962