It's Bath-Time...

[endlessrarities]

Not long after our brief escape to Northumbria, the thorny question has been raised again: where will we go on our second main holiday of 2011?  We have a short break in the Lake DIstrict pencilled in for some time in Jul-August, and another week to arrange in September. 

The decision has now been made, and once again, there's an oddly Roman theme to this anti-Romanist's next Busman's Holiday.

WE'RE GOING TO SHREWSBURY!!!   WOO-HOO!!!

Now, no doubt all you residents of Wales and the Welsh Marches will be scratching your heads and wondering what the fuss is all about, but...

I've never been to Shrewsbury.  It's the land where Roger de Mumbygumby (or as we know him better, Roger de Montgomery) first set up shop as William the Conqueror's Chief Hired Goon in the West, and there's loads to see:  Wroxeter Roman city, Much Wenlock Priory, and much, much more.  Not to mention Shrewsbury itself, which has got a castle, and abbey and a lovely medieval town centre!!

I digress...

I thought I'd devote today's post to the bath-houses of Herculaneum.  The best preserved of the two is currently closed to the public, but the other is not without its charms.  To the changing rooms of the women's baths, first of all, which has the inevitable ribbed barrel-vaulted roof, and in situ bench for the ladies to place their clothes while they enjoy the baths:-

The floor sports a particularly nice mosaic, featuring Triton, with attendant marine beasts:-

Here's a close-up of the dolphin:-
 

The mens' baths aren't so well-preserved, unfortunately, but the structural remains are still impressive.  Here's the changing area:-

And a view of the hot baths, the calidarium, with its circular stone seating area:-

Lastly, for the technically-minded, here's a detail of the heating system:  I'm used to the raised floors with their hypocaust, but I've never seen one of these before - a series of vertical channels built into the walls which house a series of linked ceramic pipes.  This presumably allows hot air to flow around the walls and warm the interior of the building.

 

And evidently, these buildings are barrel-vaulted so that the moisture condenses and slides back down the walls again, rather than dripping onto the heads of the bathers and causing much irritation.  So said our guide at Vindolanda, and it sounded like a reasonable explanation to me. 

Once again (apart from The Vindolanda Guide, pers. comm. section), all information comes from Herculaneum & Oplontis (Anon, Edizioni Kina Italia)

Comments

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I want to go and brush the dust off the floor where those lovely mosaics are.

Hooray, I can't wait to see your posts from Shrewsbury (and is it bad that I think of cookies when I see that name?).

And thank you for your posts. I appreciate the historic photos and the information you provide in each one.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Someone else who's actually heard of a currant Shrewsbury biccie! :o)

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

Yep! Although I have to say I was ignorant of them until I came to NZ and saw them in the supermarket. But I did find a recipe online I'll have to try sometime!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Sounds nice and thanks for sharing.

Tradionally they're made with currants (anglospeak for dried red grapes) but dried rasberries also sound yummy.

On that sort of thing, I've just discovered dried morello cherries, which are to die for! :o)

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I like currants but my wife doesn't. I love dried cherries, they would be good if I could find them. I also use a lot of (and eat) dried cranberries, which might be nice too. :)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

It was a bit mucky, wasn't it?

It'll be a while before we get to Shrewsbury - but don't worry, there's still more to come from Italy in the meantime.

And Northumberland...