Digging in the bath

Nearly 2,000 years ago there was a huge Roman presence in Carlisle. One of two forts was north of the river at Stanwix and this was known to have held an ‘elite’ 1,000 strong cavalry regiment. Although the site of the fort has been known for a long time, it has always been a puzzle as to where the bath-house was, the kind that every such fort had. It is a puzzle no longer – it has been found!

The large and elaborate bath-house has lain hidden beneath two tennis courts in a corner of Carlisle Cricket Club. The owners hired archaeologists to carry out an exploratory dig, because they plan to build a new flood-resistant pavilion, the current one having been badly damaged in the last Carlisle floods.
 
After only a few days of digging, the bath-house was found and the find was instantly described as ‘hugely significant’. Today they held an open day for the general public and having seen this in the local paper this morning, we of course set out to visit. Not something anyone would want to miss.
 
What an experience. To see the archaeologists at work and to have the work being described by them was fascinating. The bath-house was massive and was made up of many rooms. It had under-floor and wall heating. They have only unearthed a small section of it, but have been able to find out so much. The guys talking to us were clearly very excited by the whole thing. One of them said it was the best find he had ever witnessed. They were great - talking and answering questions. 
 
They had made a display of some of the huge range of items that have been found – pottery, coins, tablets. They have found 100 coins in just five days of digging, this is possibly because there would have been gambling going on and coins would have been lost.  I have added a extra photo of an amazing stone dedication tablet, looking like it had only just been carved. It felt rather strange to be touching a piece that was made 2,000 years ago. (I have made an Flickr album of some of the finds for anyone interested.) There was so much stuff that the spoil heaps were still full of it. We were invited to look through and I now have a piece of Roman tile!
 
As it was only an evaluative dig, the trenches will be filled in starting tomorrow and what happens then is up to lots of negotiation between the different interested parties and of course money. But this could be a fantastic thing for Carlisle, who many think does not make enough of its Roman heritage.