Comments on: At Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse

By: Georgina Briody

Georgina Briody — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 13:01:51 +0000

I went to see this with friends, absolutely fascinating to know it is there and for all the years I have lived in London, as a child and adult, never knew it was there, especially as I remember the area before the new road went in. Also the fact an office block has been built above it and yet it has been saved.

By: Janice Humpage

Janice Humpage — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:27:05 +0000

Wonderful to read this, I had no idea it was there !
I have tried to find the site relating to the Baths, and it appears it is not updated, 2011 !

I wonder why this find isn’t open to the public generally, like a museum — one weekend
free view and visits on appointment seems to be all that is available, so sad,

By: Erica W.

Erica W. — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 08:53:03 +0000

I don’t understand how all these rather intact places come to be covered up and the street level rises with these things still below. I’ve been to several such sites in Italy and France and always come away with this same question! If the place is there, how and why does it get built upon? Does the originally site get filled in with dirt and rubble, and then the new building gets built upon it? And then how is it excavated when there’s a new building on top?

There’s a site in Rome that has a bottom-most layer of a BC Roman temple, then higher up there’s an early Christian church, then on top of all of that is an existing church (Renaissance era, I think). It’s so mysterious. The whole street is the same level, so presumably there is layer upon layer of old buildings underneath.

I’d love to know more about the process if anyone knows!

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 09:29:01 +0000

For Roman remains in Britain this is almost as good as it gets and I wasn’t aware of it. I’ve just come back from a week in Shropshire and a visit to Wroxeter which has a the remains of an immense bath-house suite but apart from the Old Work (a free-standing wall of 15ft in height) there is nothing comparable to this. Thank you for introducing me to this one!

By: Nick Whitsun-Jones

Nick Whitsun-Jones — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 06:42:23 +0000

Brilliant, thank you. I will go to see this. This blog is consistently of a very high standard.

By: Valerie-Jael

Valerie-Jael — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 05:16:20 +0000

How wonderful that these reminders of Roman history have been so well preserved. Valerie