The military bath house at the Roman fort of Chesters, Northumberland

• Published in: Archaeologia Aeliana Vol. 45; pp. 37 - 117
• Main Authors: Snape, Margaret, Stobbs, Graeme
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2016
• ISSN: 0261-3417

The well-preserved extra-mural bathhouse at Chesters fort on Hadrian's Wall belongs to a small group of Hadrianic bathhouses along the frontier so similar in plan as to suggest the work of the same architect. Four campaigns of excavation and survey at Chesters bathhouse have produced a wealth of data, enabling the building's complex structural history to be deduced. Like the other examples of this group, Chesters bathhouse began not as the simple row-type, but the more sophisticated ring-type in which bathers circulated through a series of rooms without retracing their steps. However, a later period saw a major restructuring: the building was enlarged and new features added, but its highly unusual plan was changed to operate like a simple row-type bath. In late Roman times the building was abandoned for bathing and used for other purposes, before succumbing to stone-robbing and decay. [Publication Abstract]