Roman Bath House, Walls Drive, Ravenglass, Cumbria: Archaeological Watching Brief

Greenlane Archaeology was commissioned to carry out an archaeological watching brief during the course of groundworks associated with the installation of a new interpretation board at the Roman bath house, Walls Drive, Ravenglass, Cumbria. The site is located within the Scheduled Monument area for the Roman fort and bath house, and the archaeological work was carried out as one of the conditions on the Scheduled Monument consent. While the wider area contains evidence for human activity from the last Ice Age onwards, the watching brief was carried out within close proximity to the bath house, locally also known as Walls Castle. The bath house was associated with the nearby Roman fort (lat. Glannoventa) which was established as part of a line of fortlets along the West Cumbrian coast in the early 2nd century. The Roman fort at Ravenglass was built as an important connection point for the Roman fort on Hardknott Pass providing it with access to building materials, food stuffs and other supplies that reached Ravenglass partly via the sea route. The fort at Ravenglass was demolished and rebuilt around AD200 and its occupation continued into the 4th century and possibly later. The Roman bath house associated with the fort was modified in the medieval period so it could be used as a residence; it was then home to the Pennington family from the early 17th century onwards. Likely due to its continued use and upkeep, the bath house remains at Ravenglass are the most complete standing Roman remains in Britain today. The watching brief monitored the excavation of a single hole for the post of the new interpretation board, in the same location as the previous one. It revealed an initial deposit of topsoil above the concrete foundation of the earlier metal post, the base of which was still in situ. Further below was a deposit of dark greyish brown silt, which probably represents intact Roman deposits. Two small and abraded pieces of ceramic building material of probable Roman date were recovered from the topsoil. Although limited in scope, the watching brief revealed that intact deposits probably relating to the use and subsequent demolition of the Roman bath house still remain in situ on the site.