When it comes to calling in the removal men – there is one particular job in Bath that really takes the cake.
Cliveden Conservation were contacted by B&NES to help the Roman Baths to carefully empty their subterranean store below York Street of hundreds of large fragments of Roman Masonry.
This is in order to enable repairs to be carried out to strengthen the structure supporting the York Street carriageway which has been assessed as having inherent weaknesses.
It’s an operation that involves lifting and moving stones weighing up to ¾ of a tonne – 750kgs – and moving them across a specially-created scaffold pathway – laid across the top of important Roman remains – then up through a small staircase and out of the side Swallow Street access to the Baths complex.
The material is being stored at the Council’s Pixash Lane Archaeological Depot in Keynsham until the work is done.
The area being cleared will eventually form part of the Archway Project – an ambitious undertaking, with Heritage Lottery funding, which will create new Learning and World Heritage Centres in nearby buildings – and open up archaeological areas of the Roman complex not previously seen by the wider public.
I asked Andy Hebden from Cliveden Conservation to explain exactly what they were doing.
