Bath House Complex at Chesters Roman Fort
Bathing and Recreation for Roman Soldiers on Hadrian’s Wall
May 31, 2009
Chesters bath house was established at the time of the fort’s construction. Whilst all that remains today are the underfloor heating systems, archaeologists have been able to piece together a picture of the facilities on offer to the soldiers stationed at the fort. Chester bath house provided a range of treatments as well as space for recreation and socialising.
The Heating and Water Supply for the Baths
Although situated on the very edge of the River Tyne just outside the walls of the fort, Chesters bath house was supplied with water from the same aqueduct that serviced the fort. The river was used to carry away waste products. The latrines were constructed on the river side of the changing rooms, over a platform that emptied out into the river.
Remains of three furnaces have been found around the periphery of the bath house. These furnaces not only heated the water for the baths but also heated the walls, floors and ceilings. One was dedicated to the servicing of a set of steam rooms not unlike a modern sauna. Chesters bath house was not just warm and comfortable. It was also extremely luxurious.
The Apodyteria or Changing Rooms
The bath house was entered down a flight of stairs. The apodyteria was the first room bathers encountered. The apodyteria was not just a place to get changed. A row of seven niches along the west wall probably held statues to the gods and the remains of an altar to fortune suggest that the soldiers not only disrobed and stored their clothes here, they also probably gambled and chatted with other soldiers before or after their bath.
The bathrooms themselves were above the level of the changing rooms and were accessed up a set of stairs that led up into a small lobby. From here, bathers could access a variety of different rooms. Immediately in front of the entrance were the hot rooms. To the left were the cold rooms, leading off into the warm rooms. To the right were a set of hot dry sauna rooms
Chester’s ‘Sauna’
Serviced by its own furnace, this set of two rooms was also known as the laconicum or sudatorium. The room was heated by a series of vents in the floors and walls. The iron clamps that held these vents in place can still be spotted in the walls of the final, hottest room in the sequence. Sandals would need to have been worn because of the hot tiles underfoot.
Hot rooms
Known as the Caldaria, all that remains of the hot rooms today are the basement areas . The floors of the actual bathing rooms were a metre above ground level. The rooms had their own furnace, situated at the far end of the series of rooms in the bath house’s south wall.
Bathers passed through 3 areas. Initially, they moved through a hot dry room before reaching a steam room with a hot plunge pool to one side.
The caldaria was designed to make the most of the heat available. The ceiling was vaulted, as evidenced from sand stone blocks discovered by archaeologists on the site. It has also suggested that the ceiling was hollow, with ducts hidden behind a skin of external tiles. This would have allowed not only the walls and floors but the ceiling to be heated, cutting down on condensation and making the steam treatments more effective
Cold and Warm Rooms
To the east of the hot rooms were the frigidarium or cold rooms and the tepidarium or warm rooms. Bathers would first enter a room with a central basin for washing. They then had the option of entering a later second room containing a cold plunge pool.
The runoff from the cold rooms was used to flush out the latrines.
The warm rooms were accessed via an entrance way in the first cold room. These rooms were heated with steam and under floor heating serviced by a stoke hole in the eastern wall.
A trace of a threshold at the top of one of the remaining walls shows it was possible to access the hot rooms from the suite of warm rooms, meaning that bathers could enjoy a sequential bathing experience as well as try each set of bathing rooms as separated treatments.
Sources
Chesters Roman Fort, Northumberland, by J S Johnson. English Heritage. London
