A Roman bathhouse hidden underneath a London office block will reopen for tours next month having been closed to the public for the past couple of years.
Discovered in 1848, Billingsgate Roman House and Baths, which is managed by the City of London, is home to one of London’s best-preserved Roman remains. It’s also not that well known as it can only be visited on guided tours and those tours only started a few years ago.
Until the pandemic closed everything. But now they are resuming.
Located on Lower Thames Street, close to the Tower of London, the bathhouse was occupied right through to the end of Roman London in the early 5th century A.D. You go in through an otherwise anonymous door and down a staircase into the basement and then peering down from walkways over the site, visitors can glimpse the remains of underfloor heating – an innovation the Romans brought to Britain.
A model of what the bathhouse looked like in Roman times is also on view.
From next month, it will be open for guided public tours on Saturdays, and you can book tickets from here now.
Note, the site is only accessed by a staircase, and is only suitable for children aged 8+
