Discoveries, Our Blog
#ThrowbackThursday Colchester Sixth Form College’s Bath House
Jul
#ThrowbackThursday to the Colchester Sixth Form College’s Bath House⛲
Our excavations took place from April 2005 to March 2006 as the College planned a large expansion. Previous investigations had discovered Roman remains, and 10% of the Roman town lies within the college grounds – so we knew we were likely to find something exciting!
Discoveries included that of buildings such as a mansio – the Roman equivalent of a hotel – and a well-preserved room thought to be a bath-house or (less likely) a nyphaeum – a shrine to the nymphs. Both were constructed in the late 1st or early 2nd century.
The bath-house was a truly spectacular find, but also caused a conundrum – was it a bath-house or a shrine? Fragments of mosaic floor and painted wall plaster along with a shallow pool in the centre of the room (that caused some issues when excavating!) – it could be that the room was the changing room (apodyterium). A gaming token was also found here, suggesting this was a place of social gathering as well as cleanliness – much like a bath-house…🤔
What do you think?
