The Roman Bath is a
public house in
St Sampson's Square, in the city of
York, in England. It is built above an ancient
Roman bath house
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
. The remains were uncovered during building work when the present pub was erected in 1929–31 replacing an inn. The exterior has
Tudor Revival features including applied half-timbering. The pub is however more notable for the Roman remains which can be viewed inside.
The bath house apparently served the military personnel of
Eboracum (Roman York). Not only was the facility in Eboracum's fortress (built in the 1st century AD to house a
legion of about 5,000 men),
but also tiles have been discovered at the bath house site which are marked with the identity of specific legions. The
Ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
may have constructed the facility. The last attested activity of the Ninth in Britain is in AD 108.
Baths dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD have been excavated at
Tanner Row on the other side of the
River Ouse: these are believed to have served the civilian population of York.
Access and conservation
The pub is a
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
building. It was listed in 1954, relatively early for a pub from the interwar period.
[In 2015 Historic England listed a number of interwar pubs at which time it was noted that relatively few such buildings survived unaltered. See ] This suggests that the existence of Roman ruins was the main reason for listing.
The Roman remains may be visited. A fee is payable.
The
caldarium and some other features of the baths are visible.
Some of the other facilities would have been outside the corner site occupied by the pub: much of the baths have yet to be excavated. The site as a whole is protected through its location within the
walled city of York, designated as an 'Area of Archaeological Importance' (AAI) under Part 2 of the 1979
Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act.
See also
There are other examples in the UK of Roman baths serving forts, for example the infrastructure at
Caerleon, also a legionary fortress, where there was a
frigidarium,
tepidarium and caldarium, as well as an open-air swimming pool.
The Six Bells
The Six Bells is a public house in St Michael's Street in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The seventeenth-century timber-framed building is situated within the walls of the Roman city of Verulamium.
History
The pub is built on the site of a ...
in St Albans, is also built above a bath house, but the Roman remains are not on display.
References
External links
{{commons category, Roman Bath York, position=left
Ancient Roman baths in England
Grade II* listed pubs in York
Museums in York
Tudor Revival pubs