It was a place for the elite Roman troops to clean up, relax and socialise after a hard day.

The bath house for the largest fort on Hadrian’s Wall was undoubtedly an important part of life in this most northern outpost of the Roman Empire.

Now, around 1,600 years later, this relic of a bygone era has been unearthed by work to build a new pavilion for Carlisle Cricket Club.
The remarkable and historic find was said to be of ‘national significance’ and involving ‘Premier League archaeology.’

A wealth of weapons, pottery and coins, among other artifacts, will provide archaeologists a fascinating window into the past.

The exploratory dig at the site of a proposed pavilion at Stanwix in Cumbria was not expected to reveal much of interest.

However, it quickly became clear that contractors had unearthed the bath house used by around 1,000 members of the Ala Petriana cavalry – the Roman equivalent of the SAS.

The empire’s most elite troops were paid more than other soldiers, came from across the empire but were made Roman citizens for their deeds on the battlefield. 

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