22ft. Each had a double floor, one of which lay 1ft. 9in. lower than the area round the square bath. On this lower floor stand rows of pillars composed of square bricks of about 1¾in. thick and 9in. square. These pillars sustain a second floor composed of tiles 2ft. square and 2in. thick, over which are laid two layers of firm cement mortar, each about 2in. thick, which compose the upper floor.

(Plate VI.)

"To the northward, separated by a wall of 3ft. 11in., stood the other Hypocaustum, with a door of communication. The floor of this is about 18in. higher than the other. These two rooms are set round with square-brick tubes of different lengths, from 16in. to 20in. in length and 6¾in. wide. These flues have two lateral openings of about 2in. square, 5in. asunder. These open into the vacuum between the two floors and rise through the walls. The north wall of the last stove was filled with tubes of a lesser size, placed horizontally and perpendicularly. The stones and bricks between the pillars bear evident marks of fire, while the flues are strongly charged with soot, which plainly points out their uses.

"Heat was communicated to these flues by means of Praefurnia. In the middle of the northern wall of the second stove, the ruins of one of these furnaces appear. It consists of strong walls of about 16ft. square, with an opening in the centre of about 3ft. wide, which terminates conically in the north wall of the stove 2 ft. wide where part of the broken arch bears evident marks of fire. About the mouth of the furnace there were scattered pieces of burnt wood, charcoal, &c., evident proofs of their use.

"On each side of the furnace, adjoining to the wall of the northernmost stove, is a semi-circular chamber of about 10ft. 4in. by 9ft. 6in. Their floors are nearly 2ft. 6in. lower than that of the next stove into which they both open. The pavements are tesselated with variegated rows of pebbles and red bricks. To the northward of these there appear ruins of two other square chambers of more ordinary work." Thus far Lucas.

Dr. Sutherland goes on to say, "Since the time of his (Lucas's) publication the ground has been further cleared away. There now appears another semi-circular bath to the southward, of the same dimensions exactly with the first. What he calls the Great Bath, with its semi-circular Hypocausta Laconica, &c., forms only one wing of a spacious regular building. From a survey of these, our ruins, we may, with some certainty, determine the nature of these Balnea pensilia.... The Eastern Vapour Baths are now demolishing in order to make way for more modern improvements. Whenever the rubbish that covers the eastern wing of the Roman ruins comes to be removed similar Balnea pensilia will doubtless be found.

"From each corner of the westernmost side of Lucas's Bath, a base of 68ft., there issues a wall of stone and mortar. These walls I have traced 6ft. or 8ft. westward under that causeway that leads from the Churchyard to the Abbey Green. When, as we may suppose, they have run a length proportionable to the width, they compose a bath which may indeed be called Great, 96ft. by 68ft.

(Plate VII.)

"Adjoining to the inside walls of this central bath, there are bases of pilasters, as in Lucas's. Between the wall and the bath there is a corridor paved with hard blue stone 8in. thick.⁶ From the westernmost side of Lucas's bath a subterranean passage has been traced 24ft., at the end of which was found a leaden cistern, raised about 3ft. above the pavement, constantly overflowing with hot water. From this a channel is visible in the pavement, in a line of direction eastward, conveying the water to Lucas's Bath.... Assisted by Mr. Palmer, an ingenious builder, I have ventured to exhibit a complete ground plot of the Roman Baths,⁷ a discovery of no less curiosity than instruction.... This ground plot is exhibited in the plate annexed (Pl. V.) as far as the earth is cleared away. The remainder is supposed and drawen out in dotted lines. The plate exhibits also an elevation of the section of the wing discovered, with references."⁸

Dr. Sutherland published the plan of the bath with this description having "drawen out in dotted lines" the supposed arrangement of the baths. To make the account of these discoveries of 1755 complete, I must explain that the Hypocausta Laconica, or stoves, to the eastward, which he described as each measuring 39ft. by 22ft., were, I believe, the tepidarium and the caldarium. The two semi-circular recesses, or small rooms, to the north, I should consider were each a sudatorium if the floors had not been 2ft. 6in. lower than the adjoining apartment. In the centre was the stove by which the system was heated (the praefurnium). To the north of these, Dr. Sutherland figures, in dotted lines, three chambers omitted in my plan. Although I believe he had some authority for giving them, I am somewhat at a loss to assign a use to these rooms. They might be stoves, as, if the Romans desired to have a bath artificially heated, this would be the correct position for the brazen vessels, described somewhat unintelligibly by Vitruvius, as three in number. If this was the case, each semi-circular recess just described was a calda lavatio, balneum or labrum. [A similar labrum, but of smaller scale, was discovered at Box, near Bath, last year, and I have discovered on the property of Mr. Charles I. Elton, F.S.A., M.P. (author of "Origins of History") a similar one.] The floor being 2ft. 6in. lower than the adjoining apartment points to this belief. These, I have little doubt, were those artificially heated baths, and were cased either with lead, stone, marble, or small white tesseræ, as at Box. To the south of the tepidarium, Dr. Sutherland gives a precisely similar suggested plan as that to the north, but here again I have not copied him, believing he had not sufficient data. In all probability here was an apodyterium (which might or might not be heated with a hypocaust) where the bathers deposited their clothes. Dr. Sutherland thought that to the east of the discoveries which he described there would be found probably at some future day "similar Balnea pensilia."⁹ In