ISO The Baths, Ancient and Modern. 



this also is used as a tank. Both springs are unfortunately 

 hidden from the ordinary visitor. 



The excavations hitherto made have not been of sufficient 

 extent to reach the external walls of the Roman Baths ; but 

 if the south wall of the Abbey Church stands, as it probably 

 does, on the north wall of the Baths ; and if the tesselated 

 pavement preserved in the United Hospital was the floor of 

 one of the rooms in the western Baths ; then these buildings 

 could not have averaged less than from 300 to 350 ft. broad 

 with a probable length of 900 ft. Assuming these calcula- 

 tions to be correct, the area of the Roman Baths — omitting 

 the auxiliary buildings — must have occupied from 6 to 7 

 acres,* and included all the requirements to be found in the 

 grand Baths of ancient Rome, with pleasure ground cover- 

 ing the whole area between the Baths and the river to the 

 south. 



Five grand Baths have already been excavated 



Eastern Wing. . , ^ „ ^ \. , 



m what I must call, for want of a better name, 

 the eastern establishment, the first of these in 1 755, and the 

 remainder within the last five years. The area occupied by - 

 the water of the bath was in the centre of each room or 

 hall ; and, for the sake of brevity, it will be sufficient to give 

 the dimensions of the rooms or halls, rather than of the area 

 covered by the actual water surface. 



The hall of the bath discovered in 1755 was 43 ft. by 34. 

 Shortly after its discovery it was again covered with, if not 

 destroyed by, buildings — which, however, it is now proposed 

 to remove, so that the old Roman remains, however frag-' 

 mentary, may be again exposed to view. 



The hall of the second or great bath (rectangular) is 



* This is assuming that the buildings were, on plan, simply a parallelo- 

 gram, which is hardly probable. 



