Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2009 | Page 38

life

ISLAND HISTORY

it is published, to see how significant a find the

heated the water in the bath suite. It's

'thing in the ditch' turns out to be.

marvellous really – they seem to have had a

As indicated, phase two in the development
story – the 2nd Century bath suite – was the

Lead, of course, was for many centuries the

easiest to pinpoint, despite the post-1880's

favoured material for water pipes. Perhaps

exposure. The suite had been equipped with

the best-known evidence of its use in Roman

three distinct areas – the hot room (Caldarium),

Britain is the lead pipe with a folded seam

the tepid room (Tepidarium) and the cold room

found at the baths in Bath itself.

(Frigidarium), each with their own plunge
pools.
Sir Barry thought the self-standing bath suite

There may not be as much to admire in the
remains of the plumbing area at Brading, but
its discovery is another fascinating pointer to

might have represented the first significant

domestic life at the villa in an early period of

investment by the Romans at Brading, the

the occupation. Long after the free-standing

earliest masonry structure they built there,

bath suite had been abandoned by the Romans

serving the residents of an original timber-built

at Brading – replaced, no doubt, by more

version of the villa.

modern en-suite facilities inside a later version

And the Romans who used each of them
in turn – hot, tepid and cold, in that order –
didn't have far to look if their heating system

of the villa – the South Range site took on a
wholly different appearance and use.
The original Victorian excavators had

developed a fault. There was no need to call for

suggested in 1882 the former presence of a

a plumber, they had one to hand!

rectangular room at the top – i.e. the most

The dig team found a small hearth with the

recent – level of the site's archaeological

remains of a puddle of molten lead about the

remains. However, Sir Barry Cunliffe had his

size of a dinner plate.

doubts:

Sir Barry reckoned this was probably evidence

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plumber on site!"

"I was a bit dubious," he said. Doubts had

of a plumber's working area, "where he would

arisen about the plans drawn by the Victorians

have made or repaired some lead piping –

because Sir Barry's team had been unable

certainly some sort of lead work. Presumably

to locate the expected wall footings for the

this was in association with the boiler which

room in the site's south-eastern corner. There