Publication Account

Date 1985

Event ID 1016614

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016614

RCAHMS: Exploring Scotland's Places - The Clyde Estuary and Central Region, 1985

The Antonine Wall fort at Bearsden (also known as New Kilpatrick) was largely obliterated by housing in the last century and was thought to be lost to archaeology, but redevelopment of part of the site in the 1970s gave the opportunity to investigate the remains. The Victorian builders had done far less damage to the fort than had been anticipated, largely because the site was on a slope and much levelling up had been undertaken, thus preserving the Roman remains. Consequently, it was possible to recover much of the plan of the buildings within the fort. The most spectacular find, however, lay in the annexe attached to the east rampart. Here, the excavators uncovered the remains of a bath-house which has proved to be one of the best surviving examples in Scotland. Bath-houses were essential installations at Roman forts, filling a vital role in the social life of the troops rather than simply serving as an ablutions block. They were normally sited outside the fort, well away from the timber buildings, because of the risk of fire from the furnaces. Although the area of the bathhouse was scheduled for building, the developers (Woodblane Developments Ltd) have generously agreed to its preservation.

The bath-house is a long rectangular building with three projecting wings, one on the north and two on the south. The west half which was used for changing and relaxing in, was built of timber, stone only being used where essential in the heated section of the baths on the east. (The position of the timber wall-posts are now indicated by short wooden uprights.) The bathing suite consisted of three elements: a hot, dry room, which projects from the north wall of the main building; a hot steam range, comprising the three rooms (increasing in temperature from west to east) leading directly off the entrance hall with a hot plunge bath opening off the hottest room; a cold plunge bath, which projects from the south wall opposite the hot/dry room. Thus the bather had the choice of a hot/dry bath followed by a cold plunge or he could move progressively through the hot/steam range to a dip in the hot plunge bath before returning to fimsh with a cold plunge. The bath-house was so well-preserved that it retained many interesting constructional details including hypocaust floors and walls, stoke-holes, wall plaster and even the remains of stone benches. Finds from this site are on display in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).