Temple of Janus now known to be part of city’s baths

Our occasional series on the Story of Leicester, with words and pictures from the city council, continues with the history of Jewry Wall, one of Britain’s largest pieces of Roman masonry

TODAY, the only visible reminder of Leicester’s Roman past, in situ, is the Jewry Wall.

At 23m long, 9m high and 2.5m thick, it is one of the largest pieces of Roman masonry still standing in Britain.

Since the medieval period, when it was commonly believed to be part of a Temple to Janus, there has been much discussion about what the Jewry Wall may have been.

It was not until it was excavated in the late 1930s by the pioneering archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon (coincidentally in preparation for the building of a swimming baths) that its role as part of a substantial bathing complex was demonstrated, and not the town’s forum as previously thought.

Kenyon’s excavations were the first large-scale archaeological investigation of Roman Leicester and paved the way for 80 years of archaeological discoveries.

Bathing was an integral part of cultural and social life in Roman towns regardless of who you were.

Bath houses were not just places to get clean: customers would also exercise, relax, eat, socialise and conduct business.

They would now be considered similar to community centres, combining all the facilities provided by gyms, spas, libraries, shopping centres and restaurants.

Built in the mid-2nd century CE, the bath complex did not change much and probably remained in use until the 4th century.

Access to the baths is thought to have been through arches in the Jewry Wall.

This was the west wall of a large, aisled basilica on the eastern side of the complex, most of which now lies beneath the Church of St Nicholas.

This was the palaestra, the exercise hall, where men could meet, box, wrestle and play ball games.

The central focus of the baths themselves was the tepidarium, the warm room heated from under the floor through a hypocaust, where bathers could assemble and relax before moving on to the hot or cold baths – the caldaria or the frigidarium. Bathers would cover themselves with oils and use a tool called a strigil to scrape off the dirt and oil.

The hot rooms were maintained at a temperature of about 40C – this made them very humid, much like a modern sauna.

The final step was to plunge into a pool of cold water, to close the pores and refresh the body.

Bathing was not the only way to relax in Roman Leicester.

Recent archaeological excavation on the corner of Highcross Street and Vaughan Way found parts of a substantial Roman public building, most likely the supports for the curved seating of a theatre, built in the early 3rd century behind the town’s macellum (market hall).

Traces of other public entertainments and Roman culture enjoyed by Leicester’s populace have been found on other sites, including a small graffitied sherd of pottery bearing the names Verecunda the actress (or female gladiator) and Lucius the gladiator, and a mosaic depicting the story of Cyparissus from Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses.

Kenyon’s excavations were the first large-scale archaeological investigation of Roman Leicester