Monument record MDO18348 - Wollaston Field, Dorchester; Roman Bath House

The remains of a substantial Roman bath house complex was exposed in Wollaston Field during excavations by the Central Excavation Unit in 1977-8. Four major phases of construction and alteration have been recognised, but no secure dating evidence is available for any of the phases of construction. The earliest phase of bath house building follows a simple basic plan with the main rooms forming a central core with smaller ancillary rooms at the east end and an arcaded or porticoed courtyard to the north. This first phase of bath house follows a relatively common plan of bath house and is similar to the military style of bath house.The second phase at least doubles the facilities of the phase 1 bath house with a separate bath block to the east. It is possible that the enlargement of facilities was in response to an increase in both the size of the population and the wealth of the citizens. The third phase comprises the erection of another small building to the south of the main bath house complex and a number of related alterations, which may date to the mid to late 3rd century AD. The final phase appears to represent a gradual contraction of the bath house during the fourth century, some parts of which may have still been used until the end of the fourth century. Other parts of the building may have been reused for other purposes.

Roman building remains consisting of a wall, gully and well, excavated in 1948. SY694905. A large public bath house was located and partly excavated in advance of development of Wollaston House. The first bath house may have been built ca 750100 CE and the area fell into disuse probably 320-60 CE. The remains are to be preserved in situ beneath a concrete raft. <1-4>

The remains of a substantial Roman bath house complex was exposed in Wollaston Field during excavations by the Central Excavation Unit in 1978 <9>. This was not fully excavated – large parts of the building lay outside the excavation area and the decision was taken to remove as little as possible of the archaeological deposits, the fieldwork being limited to elucidating the plan of the structure. The structure was also heavily robbed, a number of walls being completely removed and the majority being reduced to below ground level. The following account is based on a draft summary of the excavations and may have to be substantially revised when (if?) the final report is published.

The bath house complex was built in a coombe and had been terraced into the slope. The long axis of the bath house complex was oriented E-W and faced north towards Durngate Street. Four major phases of construction and alteration have been recognised, but because of the nature of the excavation no secure dating evidence is available for any of the phases of construction.

The earliest phase of bath house building followed a simple basic plan with the main rooms, caldarium (hot room), apodyterium (changing room), tepidarium (warm room) and frigidarium (cold room) forming a central core with smaller ancillary rooms at the east end. Traces of another building were found to the west. To the north of the buildings was an arcaded or porticoed palaestra (courtyard) and the area of the bath house was enclosed by boundary walls to the south and east. The buildings were constructed of Portland limestone set in a hard fine white mortar. The outer faces of the walls, where originally unrendered, had regular dressed facing stones with the core and rendered wall faces having less regular dressed stone construction. The caldarium had a semicircular plunge bath in the south side and had a hypocaust with a simple geometric tessellated floor above, which had largely collapsed. The stoke hole for the hypocaust may have been on the west side of the caldarium. The position of the tepidarium adjacent to the caldarium is conjectural, as none of it was within the excavated area. Only the eastern side of the frigidarium was within the excavated area. It had an opus signinum floor and was originally provided with a tessellated floor above. To the north of the frigidarium was the apodyterium which had a ceramic tile floor. On the eastern side of the frigidarium was a latrine to the north, a cold plunge bath (which originally had stone-panelled walls) and a circular laconicum (hot dry room) to the south. Two small heated rooms lay to the south of the frigidarium and originally had tessellated floors.

This first phase of bath house followed a relatively common plan of bath house and included a circular laconicum, which is often taken to indicate as military style of bath house.

The second phase represents an enlargement of the facilities to the east and a few alterations to the phase 1 structure, which probably continued in used much as before. Most of the second phase of construction was outside the excavated area and the layout of the buildings cannot be as fully reconstructed, but they appeared to represent a duplication of the facilities. Parts of seven rooms were exposed including part of the frigidarium, which was flanked on the west and south sides by a number of small heated rooms. The frigidarium had a ceramic tiled floor with an edging of two rows of small shale and limestone tiles. The southeast corner of the room to the north of the frigidarium was exposed during the excavation of test pits by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 <2> <6> <7>. This building had a tessellated floor. The second phase of building continued eastwards beyond the original east boundary wall and traces of the southern boundary wall extension to the east were exposed. Immediately inside boundary wall was a deep V-shaped drainage ditch. The phase 2 buildings were characterised by a slight change in alignment and by different construction techniques and materials with Liassic limestone ashlar facings to mortared flint wall cores.

This second phase at least doubles the facilities of the phase 1 bath house. It is possible that the enlargement of facilities was in response to an increase in both the size of the population and the wealth of the citizens.

The third phase comprises the erection of another small building to the south of the main bath house complex and a number of related alterations. The new building was a small freestanding rectangular structure with a small square integral stoking area to the east. The walls were heavily robbed and the surviving footings were of pitched limestone. The building had a hypocaust and originally had a tessellated floor over. A small fragment of a barrel vaulted roof survived ex situ. This building was constructed over the original furnace for the phase 1 laconicum and adjacent rooms and also over the southern boundary wall. Another furnace was constructed to the west of the two small heated rooms on the south side of the phase 1 complex. The laconicum itself was modified by the removal of the hypocaust and a new tessellated floor inserted, which is dated to after c. 270-280 on pottery evidence. A doorway was inserted between the former laconicum and the room to the east, which was converted into a new laconicum. It is likely that this phase dates to the mid to late 3rd century AD.

The final phase probably represents a contraction in size of the bath house. On the northern side, between the phase 1 and phase 2 building units, a small heated bath, and a boiler room were built and the laconicum to the south was blocked. A conduit drained northwards away from these insertions. A number of other changes were made to the rooms in the phase 1 and 2 buildings. The dating of these changes are unclear. The bath house appears to have gradually contracted during the fourth century, and some parts may have still been used until the end of the fourth century. Other parts of the building may have been reused for other purposes.

Two coin hoards were recovered from the Bath House. A group of 50 coins was recovered from the stoking area and into the hypocaust of the latest phase of the Roman bath house. The coins were found in the lower deposit in the stoking area and appear to be a coherent hoard dating to c. AD274-286, apart from a single coin of Magentius (AD350-360) which may be intrusive. The other hoard was a group of coins recovered from deposits associated with the last phase of the Bath house, which appeared to be part of a coherent hoard dating to c. AD296.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1949, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1948, 61-2 (Serial). SDO48.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 567 (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1979, Britannia: a journal of Romano-British and kindred studies 10, 327 (Serial). SDO20333.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1980, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1978, 114 (Serial). SDO78.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1980, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1977, 121 (Serial). SDO77.

<6> Woodward, P J, Fletcher, M, and Pearce, P, 1987, Excavations at Wollaston Field, Icen Way, Dorchester, Dorset: Assessment trenches (Unpublished document). SDO9422.

<7> Woodward, P J, 1988, 'Excavations and Observations at Wollaston Field, Icen Way, Dorchester' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 147 (Article in serial). SDO9423.

<8> Bellamy, P S, 1988, Wollaston Field, Dorchester, Excavations and Observations 1987-1988 (Unpublished document). SDO9857.

<9> Wilson, P R, 2002, Roman Bath house Excavations at Wollaston House, Dorchester, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO9412.

<10> Central Excavation Unit, 1977-79, Wollaston Field (Excavation archive). SDO9992.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1410237 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1430915 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 16 2024 10:56AM