Bath house included: park excavation unearths millionaires’ row from Roman times
AN EXCLUSIVE private Roman bath house which would have been owned and used by society’s elite has been discovered under a public park.
Archaeologists made the “once-in-alifetime” discovery, which is made up of three buildings, underneath Priory Park in Chichester, West Sussex. The remains were first identified using ground penetrating radar equipment and the find was confirmed through a small dig of the area followed by an excavation.
The historians discovered two Roman townhouses, one of which had its own private bath house, believed to have been owned by someone of wealth and importance. James Kenny, Chichester District Council’s archaeologist, said: “What’s remarkable about this discovery is that it has survived over 1,000 years in an occupied city. This is because they are under a park that has never been built on.
“What we’ve found is a hot room from a very small, private bath suite that would have gone with an extremely well-appointed, luxurious town house. It would have been part of a series of rooms, including a changing room, a warm room, a hot room, possibly an even hotter room and then into a room with a cold plunge bath.”
He added that the houses, which probably date to the third or fourth century AD, would be the equivalent to a property worth millions of pounds today.
“Only someone who was incredibly wealthy could have owned a bath house like this and paid for it to be maintained. They would have either made their money out of commerce and trading, or were a member of the local aristocracy.”
Once fully charted, the site will be returned to its current state, with the evidence gained used to bid for funds for future excavations.