Name: Dorchester Roman Festival
Start: 2025-04-12T10:30:00+01:00
End: 2025-04-13T16:00:00+01:00
Location: Maumbury Rings

Experience Roman life (and death?!) in a real Roman Amphitheatre!
Imagine sitting in a real Roman amphitheatre, hearing the roar of the crowd around you, and witnessing Roman gladiators fighting in the area.
You can experience this for free this Easter at Dorchester’s spectacular Roman Festival on Saturday 12th and 13th April 2025 from 10:30 am to 4 pm each day.
This amazing, unmissable new festival will be hosted in the iconic Roman amphitheatre of Maumbury Rings, visitors of all ages will get to train like a gladiator, witness gladiator fighting, make mosaics, take part in Roman ceremonies, march with Roman soldiers, see real Roman finds and interact with Roman Living Historians.
In addition to the activities in Maumbury Rings, there will also be Roman Dorchester guided walks, tours and talks to book over the weekend, including on Friday 11th April. There will be a fee for joining in with these additional activities but they all really will bring to life Dorchester’s Roman history.
A full festival schedule is online here: https://discoverdorchester.co.uk/dorchester-roman-festival-2/
As part of the festival you can expect two live, hour-long gladiator shows each day. The afternoon show will include fake blood, the morning one will have no fake blood for those who are a bit more squeamish!
It’s not all fighting and marching though. There will be a Roman God and Goddess area where you will be able to make flower crowns, dress like a Roman god or goddess and play Roman Games.
There will be food and drink stalls on site and real Roman treasure to take a look at.
The festival is being coordinated by Dorchester Joint Heritage Committee and Dorchester Tourism Partnership with funding from Dorchester Town Council.
The festival co-incides with the fantastic new Gladiator exhibition at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery. This exhibiton runs from 25 January to 11 May 2025 and showcases iconic objects like the Colchester Vase, depicting a real gladiatorial battle, and the Hawkedon Helmet, the only confirmed gladiatorial armour from Roman Britain. These artefacts, along with others, reveal the violent spectacles that entertained the public and underscore the significance of gladiators in Roman culture. The exhibition also features finds from Maumbury Rings in Dorchester.