Appeal for archaeology help

[52D]

I have message from one of my members on my facebook page appealing for some help with roman archaeology that may have been uncovered during the building of the Riverside branch and other stations. I will make sure he gets any replys. Message below.

Robert Stephenson

A little out of our patch but a request for help from wallquest. The plan is to excavate the site of a recently demolished public house “The Ship in the Hole” in the hope of finding the original Roman bath house for Segedunum. Records from the late 18th & early 19th centuries indicate that some remains were noted when Fawdon/Coxlodge staithes were built. Any suggestions on where to look for further clues would be most welcome. Is it possible something might have turned up when the riverside branch line of the North Eastern Railway was laid out?

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

It would depend on the extent of works to build the railway.

If any serious excavation was required (cutting, deep drainage channels) then it likely that the Roman remains could have been destroyed and, at the time, their value as archaeological remains may well have been overlooked. Progress and all that. On the Continent, quite a few important sites were damaged or even destroyed because they were in the way of the railway. Thankfully, we were more enlightened about known sites. But if the bath house was not known about, then it is possible that it could easily have been wrecked. It is unlikely that the newspapers would have interested at the time.

Don't get me wrong - as a nut on the Roman period, I do hope it exists.

[PGBerrie]

BB is right. The site was probably also used as a useful source of building materials by the locals, so by the time the pub and staithes were built, there would only be more difficult to take stuff around, like the foundations. To give you an idea of the size though, this is one of four pools at the Badenweiler site in Germany. It originally had two pools and was extended later.

On the other side of the pools are steam rooms (round and about 3 m in diameter), changing rooms, etc., so it was quite big. Underneath this lot is another 2 - 3 metres of foundations and passageways. The model gives an idea what it looked like in its full glory:

I don't know what objects were actually found when they excavated this place (the first dig was in 1784). Some lead piping is still in place though, and there a is a two-way brass/bronze tap on display. I think with a bit of luck, you could find at least the deeper foundations.
Peter