Ribchester Roman Bath House

The bath-house at Ribchester (known to the Romans as Bremetennacum) was built in about AD 100. It continued in use for about 200 years. It was designed to serve the needs of the soldiers garrisoned in the nearby fort and later for the local civilian population. However, it was built outside the walls of the fort because of the ever-present risk of fire from the furnaces used to heat the various rooms.

Here visitors would enjoy time spent bathing in hot pools and sweating in steam rooms in order to open the pores and cleanse the skin. Attendants would scrape the sweat, dirt and grime from their bodies before they passed into cooler rooms, and finally a cold-plunge bath. This sealed the pores on their clean and refreshed skin.

For many people within the cities, towns and lesser settlements of Roman Britain a visit to the bath-house was an integral part of their social life. Here you could meet your friends, chat and exchange gossip, make business deals, or take part in other leisure pursuits such as board games or gambling.

Although long disused, it is still possible to see the remains of the sweating room (sudatorium), the warm room (tepidarium), and the hot room (caldarium) in the ruins of Ribchester Bath-House. The lines of flues can also be traced which give an insight into how the underfloor heating system was designed.

Please note: The bath-house is separate to Ribchester Roman Museum for which an admission charge is made.