Bath Complex

Ratae’s mid-second century bath house was in use for over 200 years. It was not just a place to get clean, but also where business was conducted, people relaxed, socialized and ate.

The complex consisted of a number of rooms which all performed different functions. The palaestra was a sort of exercise hall, while the cold and hot rooms had a variety of hot and cold pools for getting clean. The warm rooms, or tepidaria, were dry rooms where people could relax and play games.

The remains of the baths are the only visible remains of Roman occupation left in Leicester today. The Jewry Wall was originally the wall between the palaestra and the cold rooms and people would have walked through the arches to get from one to the other. The Jewry Wall is now one of the tallest pieces of Roman masonry in the country.