Archaeologists excavate two hidden Roman baths beneath the streets of Bath

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Two hidden Roman baths are excavated in Bath as part of a new Roman Baths learning centre

A photo of archaeologists carrying out an excavation of roman baths in the archway centre

In a dark passage below Bath, archaeologists have been excavating two hidden Roman baths for the first time since Professor Barry Cunliffe excavated them in the 1960s.

They thought they had found the floor of one of the baths, but the ground dipped away.

One of the baths will be protectively lined and filled with earth for use as a digging pit for school groups when it becomes an evocative route between the city’s famous Roman Baths and the Archway Centre, a new education centre which is due to open in 2019.

The new development will include The Roman Baths Learning Centre above the former city laundry in Swallow Street and a World Heritage Site visitor centre at 10 York Street - adjacent to the Roman Baths site.

Stephen Bird, of Bath and North East Somerset Council, points out that there is an urgency to the work on the recently re-excavated baths.

“What’s important to note here is the bad condition – this is an uncontrolled environment, we have moss growing on the Roman stonework. This is why we need to do this project now,” he says.

“We've known it’s been here for over 100 years, so it’s a unique opportunity," he adds. "This space, in a sense, will be at the crossroads of the whole project.

“You can imagine school groups coming from the learning centre, through this tunnel, through this mysterious back of house area to this wonderful Roman doorway.

"I think what I’m most excited about is the prospect that people are going to go away fizzing with excitement about what they’ve found here – both about the World Heritage Site and the Roman baths."

Archaeologists will continue to investigate the condition of the Roman masonry in a space that was first excavated by City Architect, Major Davis during the 1880s. It will form part of the Access and Investigation Zones in the new learning centre.

The Archway Centre development will allow daytime visitors to the Roman Baths to walk through spaces beneath York Street and to see parts of the Roman Baths that have never before been open to regular public access.