Guest author: Robbie Cheadle – The Roman Bath, York

I am over at Sue Vincent’s blog today with a post about the Roman Bath, York. What an amazing piece of history to visit. Do pop over and read about it and have a look around Sue’s lovely blog while you are there. If you are lucky, you will see a post from her dog, Ani …

The Roman Bath, York

In the city of York, beneath The Roman Bath Pub, are the remains of a caldarium, or steam bath, from the Roman city of Eboracum. This city was built by the 9^th Legion Hispana in 71 AD and occupied by the Romans for nearly 350 years.

During our recent trip to York, we went to visit this fascinating historical site. The bath house complex was historically a favourite place for the Roman soldiers to socialise as well as a place to get clean. The complex was open from dawn to dusk and offered a health spa, food, drink and toilets with running water. There was also a gymnasium and it is speculated that there may have been a swimming pool. Various rooms offered different grades of heat from cold to very hot.

The caldarium was a hot and steamy room heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system using tunnels with hot air and heated by a furnace tended by slaves. We could see the remains of the pillars which supported the floor. In the caldarium, there would originally have been a plunge bath of hot water sunk into the floor.

The soldiers would have applied olive oil to their bodies to cleanse themselves and removed the excess using a tool called a strigil which was designed for removing dirt, perspiration and oil from the body.

Continue reading here: https://scvincent.com/2019/09/09/guest-author-robbie-cheadle-the-roman-bath-york/