Portrait of the past: Ribchester, Romans

__IMAGE1__Ribchester, Lancashire, is an English village on the River Ribble with a history dating back to the Romans. Many of its stone cottages were built in the 1700s. Since a number of those cottages are still standing, one can easily visualize what the village may have been like when Elder Heber C. Kimball and his companion visited Ribchester on Sept. 25, 1837. Although they experienced much success in this general region, the missionaries endured significant opposition to the work in Ribchester. As that opposition grew, Elder Kimball was forced to quietly schedule baptisms on a more individual basis to avoid onlookers and the efforts to hinder his labors. British researcher and author Peter Fagg explains that when "Chester" is part of a British name, it indicates a Roman camp was there. The name "Ribchester" indicates that the Romans established a camp near the River Ribble, top photo. The Romans occupied this area around A.D. 79, and there are some historical ruins of a Roman bath complex still there.