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| After walking past the birthplace of Guy Fawkes,
executed for his part in the gun powder plot in 1605, and down Stonegate.
We turn left down coffee yard one of York's snickelways (small alleys in the city that join major
streets together, they run for 3.5 miles all within a quarter mile radius
of the Shambles) we walk past the medieval house of Barley hall and onto the Roman bath. It is of course a public house but in 1929 it was called "The Mail Coach INN" when it was decided to put in a cellar during the construction of which the remains of the Roman forts bath house was discovered. |
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The part that you can see in the photo is the floor of the caldarium which was the hot-room and worked rather like a turkish bath. The tiles on the floor would be piled up as columns approximately 1 meter high, level with the top of the stone. On top of these would be placed wooden joists, covered with a wooden floor which in turn would have a mosaic tile finish. Water would then be heated up by a furnace causing steam to build up under the floor. |
| The steam would then rise up through vents into the room above, where the soldiers would be laid on tables having oil rubbed into their bodies by slaves who would then scrape it and all the dirt off.Approximately 40 slaves were needed to keep the baths running. |
| There was also a plunge
pool full of warm water called the tepidarium and a cold room where they
could cool off called the frigidarium. Also on display are actual tiles marked with signs of the sixth and ninth legions, the only two to enter York. |
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I hope you have enjoyed this small sample of the tour and now feel compelled to try the real one! Click for Details |
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