For the next RIBA South Conservation Group talk, we are joined by special guest James Kenny - Archaeology Officer from Chichester District Council, to learn more about the Roman bath house in Priory Park, Chichester, West Sussex.
During an annual series of two week excavations, from 2017 to 2021, volunteers from Chichester and District Archaeology Society, under the direction of the Chichester District Council Archaeology Officer, investigated the buried remains of a Roman house and its bath suite in Priory Park, Chichester.
The structures had been identified previously through ground-penetrating radar, geophysical survey, and trial excavation. Results suggested that the house was timber-framed but the bath house was of very substantial masonry. It contained the remarkably well-preserved remains of an underfloor heating system constructed of brickwork and pozzolanic mortar, with evidence of a masonry bath and lightweight rib vaulting above.
Register now to learn more about this well-appointed building and rare example of an urban private bath suite - a dramatic demonstration of extremely conspicuous consumption in a provincial town.
