Third-century bathhouse with pilae stacks, which are tiles built up into pillars supporting the floor as part of heating system.
BILLINGSGATE ROMAN HOUSE AND BATH
One of the most spectacular set of Roman remains in London – a house and bath at Billingsgate – is rarely open to visitors. It is necessary to check the Open House weekends scheduled in London during September to see if public access has been granted to the sub-basement of a certain office building in Lower Thames Street.
Victorian workmen found the remains while digging the foundations for the New Coal Exchange in January 1848 across the road from where the first Billingsgate market building was about to be constructed. Below the ruined old Dog Tavern, at a depth of 12 ft (3.5 m), they uncovered the ground plan of a Roman house, with walls remaining up to 3 ft (90 cm) high in places. At the centre was a small chamber mounted on pillars: a hypocaust, which was an ancient heating system. The remains were protected and arched over when the Coal Exchange was completed.
Third-century bathhouse with pilae stacks, which are tiles built up into pillars supporting the floor as part of heating system.
From the start the ruins benefited from a newly enlightened attitude by the City of London authorities. They were immediately recognized as a valuable find, and ranked as a major news story, generating a full page of coverage in the Illustrated London News. The first attempt to further excavate the area came as early as 1859. Under the Monuments Act of 1882, the Roman house and bath became one of the first scheduled monuments in London. They remained housed in the basement of the Coal Exchange until that building was demolished in 1963.
There have been further phases of excavation, and it has taken more than a century to develop a fuller picture of what the site represents. Archaeologists have calculated that it is a riverside house built in the second century, with a bathhouse added in its central yard during the following century. The house seems to have comprised two wings. It is not clear whether it was an expansive private villa or some kind of lodging establishment. Analysis continues, but the house would not have survived long after the end of Roman occupation, which came in AD 409–410. In the east part of the house a hoard of copper coins was found that included the image of Emperor Honorius, indicating a date later than 395 for continued Roman habitation. A Saxon brooch found in debris was disposed in a way that suggests that the tiled roofs of both buildings had collapsed by the middle of the fifth century.
Further excavations were made in 1967–70 when Lower Thames Street was being widened to become a dual carriageway. It became a main thoroughfare, a forbiddingly busy road. A new office building was being built and the Roman site ended up being hidden, but preserved, in a sub-basement under 100 Lower Thames Street. The concrete foundation piers of the modern building reach down into the ground alongside the delicate stacks of Roman tiles supporting the floor of the bathhouse. In the 1970s some cement capping was applied to the remains, which was found to be suffering from decay; later this work was removed and improved conservation methods applied.
Archaeologists and historians support the idea of full public access to the Billingsgate Roman House and Bath, but say this may only be feasible if major changes occur with the office building above.