Public Buildings & Works

The Legionary Bath-House In Cathedral Close

The most impressive discovery of Roman Exeter has been the legionary bath-house found under the Cathedral Green in 1971-6. About half this grand structure, which was built around AD 60, was excavated. It consisted of three large halls placed side-by-side: the cold room, tepid room and hot room of the bathing suite. The discovery is of national interest, since this bath-house must have been amongst the earliest stone buildings ever erected in Britain and is one of the first two or three major monuments in the story of architecture in Britain. The bath-house was the central element of a complex of buildings, which would have included changing rooms and an open-air swimming pool, covering an area of about 4000 sq m (about an acre) near the centre of the fortress.