Welwyn Roman Baths, Hertfordshire

The baths were found in the 1960s by the local archaeologist Tony Rook, who upon seeing tiles protruding from the bank of the River Mimram set up a dig and began to excavate the site with a local group. One find led to another with the discovery of a Roman villa firstly then the bath house. Further excavations revealed the true extent of the find with four buildings of the Roman villa being excavated. The collective is known as Dicket Mead villa.

However, just after the villa was found, plans to build the A1 directly through the site were accepted. Fortunately, The Department of the Environment agreed to fund the preservation of the site and thus a steel cage, built within the motorway embankment, was erected to protect the ruins. Further funding was raised to finance extra fixtures and fittings to create the superb exhibition seen today.

The baths were used by the residents of Dicket Mead villa and so were for private use only. The hypocaust is clearly visible, as are the individual rooms, labelled by a series of small markers. The visitor is able to follow the bathing routine by walking along the raised walkway, tracing the various stages of the process.

(Four stages taken directly from the given leaflet with my own pictures added)

I. Firstly we go into the cold room (frigidarium), take off our clothes and put on wooden-soled sandals to protect our feet.

II. Then we go into the warm room (tepidarium), sit back and relax, talk or perhaps play a board game. As we begin to perspire we rub oil on our bodies.

III. Now we go into the hot room (caldarium) where the floor is too hot to stand on without our sandals. Here we scrape our skin clean with a curved knife called a strigil. We then wash in the hot bath.

IV. Then we walk back to the cold room, stand in a bath of water and have more cold water poured over us to cool us down. Then we dry ourselves dress and return to the villa.

The site was surprisingly extensive and more intact than I had originally thought they may be. The extra display of pottery, broaches and other items found on site was very informative and a welcome addition to what could have been an ordinary set of ruins. The information given on site was excellent and thorough, explaining the process of uncovering the ruins, how the baths were used and even a model showing how the villa would have looked originally.

A model figure feeding the lead furnace which once lay there.

The site is open from January to November; Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays from 2pm – 5pm and cost £1.50 entry. The address is as follows: Welwyn Bypass, Welwyn, AL6 9HT, Hertfordshire, England and is relatively easy to find using the sign posting.

Pictures taken 25th August 2008.