Well l never.
Excavations beneath the National Trust’s Bath Assembly Rooms have uncovered a network of Roman ditches along with pottery, coins, glassware and a fragment of a military helmet, revealing substantial activity in an area previously unexplored for Roman settlement.
Experts say the finds expand the known extent of Roman occupation and suggest that further remains are likely to survive beneath neighbouring Georgian streets and properties that have never been investigated archaeologically.
Bath’s Roman Baths and temple complex are among Britain’s best‑known archaeological sites, and Roman activity has long been recorded beyond the second‑century walls of Aquae Sulis, particularly to the north along Northgate Street and through the Walcot area following the Fosse Way.
These new discoveries now extend that picture westwards, into ground historically inaccessible to archaeologists because of the grand Georgian buildings above, indicating that Roman occupation may have continued across a wider area than previously understood.
The finds were made during the National Trust’s £20 million restoration of the Assembly Rooms, one of Bath’s best-known 18th-century landmarks.
“This is a significant discovery for Bath and so wonderful to find Roman remains under our Georgian building,” said Tatjana LeBoff, National Trust Project Curator at Bath Assembly Rooms.
“Discovering evidence of Roman history is big news in Bath, which is famed for its Roman heritage. The items uncovered tell us a great deal about the people who lived and worked here nearly 2,000 years ago. Future research into these objects and the wider landscape of Bath will give us greater understanding of how people across the centuries have lived.”
Archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology uncovered several substantial Roman ditches dating to the second to third century. From a single ditch, they recovered almost 60 fragments of Roman pottery alongside glass vessels, animal bones, roof tiles, three Roman coins and a limestone tessera which may once have formed part of a mosaic floor.
Among the most intriguing finds was a fragment of a Roman military helmet. This is further evidence that military personnel were involved in the construction of the city and the Roman roads radiating from it, with some probably living out their retirement in the villas close to the city and the surrounding countryside.
Marek Lewcun of Wessex Archaeology described the excavation’s discoveries.
“Having previously uncovered parts of Roman Bath and helped piece together the area of Roman occupation, it was exciting to find evidence of Roman activity below Bath Assembly Rooms,” he said.
“It’s not every day you get to explore the ground below a Georgian building. This was the first opportunity to go up to a metre below the Rooms to see what history lay beneath.
“What we don’t know is exactly what was happening here in the Roman period. Perhaps future work involving neighbouring streets and properties will tell us more.”
The Assembly Rooms are due to reopen in 2027 following their restoration and transformation into a new visitor attraction.
For more information, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/bath-assembly-rooms
