Gerry Brooke answers your questions about Romans, the Robert Opie collection and the Ridings School name

Was there a Roman farm at Roman Farm Road in Hengrove?

Maurice Garrett. Knowle.

Archaeologists have discovered that there was a Romano -British farm established here, in Hengrove, between the 1st and 4th centuries, but it’s all a bit vague.

The nearest big villa, as far as we know, was in Brislington but there were also Roman settlements at Inns Court and Filwood (Knowle West)

There is no doubt a lot more to be revealed about the Bristol area in Roman times.

Some historians, for instance, think that the whole Avon valley was part of a huge Imperial estate.

Can you tell me the whereabouts of the Robert Opie collection of Packaging?

It used to be in Gloucester docks.

R.Smith. Kingswood.

Robert Opie was forced to leave his warehouse home in Gloucester Docks in 2001 because it was being converted into waterside apartments.

The popular museum, which had been there for 17 years, contained over 500,000 items.

His Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is now based in London, in Notting Hill.

The address is: No. 2 Colville Mews, Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2AR. Phone: 020 7908 0880.Email: info@museumofbrands.com

The first item in the collection was a “Munchies” pack bought by Robert on Inverness railway station in 1963, when he was 16.

It was followed by bottles, tins, labels, signs and many other sorts of promotional and advertising material.

By 1975 there was enough for Robert to be invited to stage a one-man show at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This encouraged him to set up a permanent museum, which he did in Gloucester Docks in 1984.

He then decided to extend it further with toys and games, comics, magazines and newspapers – every facet of daily life in fact, including souvenirs from exhibitions and coronations.

What does the “Riding” in Ridings High School at Winterbourne mean?

Brian Long, Yate.

The term, which came into the Saxon language via the Vikings, means a division of some kind.

It is related to the word farthing, of which there were once four to a penny.

Gloucestershire was once divided into four farthings, or ridings.

But Yorkshire, which was settled by the Vikings, was divided into three – East Riding, West Riding and North Riding.

The commons around Chipping Sodbury were known as The Ridings, so I assume that they must, at some time, have been part of that division of land.

Some historians have suggested that the word may be a corruption of “Reevings” but stress that it has nothing to do with horse riding.