The Roman Baths museum, Caerleon - geograph

The Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths museum ( cy, Caer a Baddonau Rhufeinig Caerllion Amgueddfa) is a historical site located in the town of

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Near to the city of Newport, it is run by the Welsh historic environment service

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

Background and history

Roman Wales was the farthest point west that the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

extended to, and as a defence point, the fortress at Caerleon built in AD 75 was one of only three permanent

Roman Legion The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period o ...

ary fortresses in

. It was occupied and operational for just over 200 years. The site of the baths was excavated in the late 1970s, and a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

was appointed in 1980 when the site was opened to the public. The Roman Baths Museum lies inside what remains of the fortress of Isca Augusta close to the National Roman Legion Museum. The baths museum has a covered walkway over part of the remains of the military bath house. There was a

frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...

tepidarium The tepidarium was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from t ...

and caldarium, as well as an open-air swimming pool. The baths museum is administered by

, as are the remains of Isca Augusta. Within a short walk of the baths museum are: * The most complete Roman

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

in Britain * Sections of the fortress walls * The only remains of a

Roman legionary The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Repub ...

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

on view anywhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

at Prysg Field There were over 40,000 visitors to the Baths in 2012.

References

External links

Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths
– Cadw {{authority control Roman fortifications in Newport, Wales History of Newport, Wales Museums in Newport, Wales Museums of ancient Rome in Wales Archaeological museums in Wales Caerleon Cadw Roman legionary fortresses in Wales

Background and history

See also

References

External links