April 2013 (issue 129) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Excavations
BARCOMBE ROMAN BATHS
BARCOMBE ROMAN BATHS
Excavations
Research
Reflections on a Cold Plunge
Reporting on the final year’s dig in Church Field at Barcombe
In October 2012 the bathhouse
excavations at Barcombe were
filled in, thus ending five seasons
of excavations in Church Field
and a total of 14 years of fieldwork
for the Barcombe Roman Villa
Project. It also marked the end
of practical field archaeology at
the University of Sussex whose
Centre for Continuing Education
(most recently, until its demise:
Community Engagement) CCE - had
joined the Project as partners of the
Mid Sussex Field Archaeological
Team (MSFAT) in 2006. Over the
years many intriguing features have
been exposed at both the villa and
bathhouse sites. This article reports
upon some of the most interesting
discoveries and outcomes of the
final, very wet, fieldwork in 2012.
The Bathhouse:
Cold plunge room
During the five seasons of
excavations starting in 2008 a
rectangular room, approximately
9m by 5.5m, had gradually been
unearthed at the extreme western
end of the complex. It was named
Fig.1 WR2 at the end of 2011.
Photo: D Millum
West Room 2 (WR2) and consisted
of three outer flint walls 700mm
wide to the north, west and south,
all of which had a substantial 1m
wide chalk wall abutting them
internally (Fig.1). On the eastern
side was a shallower 600mm chalk
internal wall adjacent to what
appeared to be a corridor. The flint
wall had scattered tegula lying on
its surface which were interpreted
as part of the wall, rather than fallen
roof tiles, as tegula were found, in
situ, in a lower string course. An
evaluation trench dug to the outside
of the northwest corner showed
a well-built structure with quoins
made from dressed sandstone and
paludina limestone (Fig.2).
Fig.2 The NW corner. Scales: 250mm.
Photo: D Millum
Initial theories as to the room’s
function included speculation that
the strength of the walls could
suggest a two-storied structure
or even a watermill. Indeed,
geoarchaeological work by Dr Mike
Allen, and geophysical surveying
by David Staveley, suggest that a
water course passed the structure’s
western flank. However, Ernest
Black felt that the room was a cold
plunge pool and this seemed more
convincing than a counter proposal
of a large latrine.
A priority in 2011 and 2012 was
to investigate the interior of the
room, especially the inside faces
of the walls. As the southwest
quadrant was excavated a scatter
of loose debris on the surface was
resolved into a partition wall across
the room. The walls were taken
down internally to their foundations
and a distinct plinth was uncovered
at the base of both the south and
north walls.
Fig.3 Opening in the SW corner. Photo: D Millum
Even more intriguing was the
small square opening at the base
of the extreme south west corner
(Fig. 3). Was this a drain outlet or
water inlet for a cold bath; or did the
plinths imply a suspended floor with
the partition wall merely a sleeper
for bearing joists and the opening
a vent to keep the under-floor area
dry, by drainage and/or ventilation
The fuller excavation of this feature
in 2012 recovered part of a copperalloy
spatula and this and a pair of
copper-alloy tweezers from outside
WR2’s southern wall are items
which often form part of Roman
toilet sets. In the north of the room
a black sooty fill to the western side
gave way to a pink opus signinum
layer, with a compacted chalk layer
beneath. Finally the western half of
the partition wall was removed and
distinct differences between the
fills on either side were observed,
with a significant absence of
the opus signinum layer in the
southern area. By the end of the
2012 season, although the interior
of WR2 was fully excavated there
was no evidence that the structure
had been capable of holding water.
However, with so much material
obviously robbed from this building,
possibly within the Roman period,
this lack of evidence could not be
taken as proof that this was always
the case. Another possibility is
that only the smaller southern part
of this room (i.e. the area with the
drain) functioned as a small plunge
pool, whilst the northern part with
its opus signinum floor functioned
as an apodyterium or changing
area.
A bronze ‘wolf and twins’ coin
of c. AD 330-340 was found in the
surface layer of the south east corner
but no datable items were found in
sealed lower contexts. Although this
suggests that WR2 was filled with
sediment by the early 4th century,
it is equally possible that the coin
was a secondary deposition as
part of later sedimentation. The
black sooty fill in the northwest
corner suggests that this presumed
once recreational building was
subsequently used for a more
industrial purpose.
Fig.5 Temperature zone diagram.
Figure 5 aims to explain a
possible temperature zoning for
the bathhouse and shows WR2
placed at the extreme cold end of
the complex and therefore in an
ideal location for a cold wet use
such as a plunge bath. It should be
noted however that we now think
that there may have been at least
three major phases of building at
this site and that the whole building
may not necessarily have been in
use at one time.
Possible Saxon Remains
Earlier in 2012 David Staveley
had undertaken a new geophysical
(magnetometer) survey of
Church Field. The most intriguing
discovery revealed was a strange
‘m’ shaped anomaly upslope
from the baths, much nearer to St
Mary’s Church. This anomaly was
further investigated last summer
and a large part of it was exposed
by mechanical excavation (Fig. 6).
Although unfortunately the site has
been badly truncated by ploughing
(many of the features found were
thus very shallow), discoveries
included: a linear south-west northsouth
orientated ditch; two possible
‘wall trenches’ aligned parallel to
the ditch and some 3.5m apart with
one measuring approximately 8m
in length; a large pit filling the gap
between the northern ends of the
two ‘wall trenches’; another large
pit; three postholes and a drain of
probably later date. Some of these
Image: D Millum
features, i.e. the ‘wall trenches’
and the three postholes, may have
formed parts of a timber building.
The strange ‘m’ shaped anomaly
thus proved to have been caused
by a combination of some of the
above listed features. Finds, except
charcoal, were few but included
pottery sherds which have been
provisionally identified as Mid
Saxon. It is hoped that C 14 dating
of some of the charcoal will help
to resolve the age of the remains
exposed. Was there perhaps a
shift in settlement focus from the
villa and baths to the vicinity of St
Mary’s Church, with a deliberate
avoidance of areas containing
traces of Roman buildings
Fig.6 The North trench after initial cleaning.
Scales: 2m & 500mm. Photo: L Fisher
The Maltese Connection
Another important outcome of
the 2012 season at Barcombe was
the success of a Senior Volunteer
exchange project with Heritage
Malta. This Grundtwig (European)
funded project - Inclusive
Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
- involved sending six English, over
50s, volunteers to Malta to work on
the Roman baths at Ghajn Tuffieha
and in return for Heritage Malta
to send six of their Senior staff to
Barcombe. This exchange project
resulted in a sharing of ideas and
methods and the forming of new
friendships, plus Mario Casha’s
brilliantly apt cartoons, an example
of which is shown below.
David Millum, David
Rudling & Chris Butler
Project Directors Chris Butler & David
Rudling, and Site Supervisor David Millum
would like to thank all who have helped
at Barcombe since 1999; the respective
landowners, St Mary’s Church and the
Stroude Family, for their cooperation and
encouragement.
Church Field has now been ploughed and
returned to agricultural use.
Sussex Past & Present April 2013
www.sussexpast.co.uk www.sussexpast.co.uk Sussex Past & Present April 2013