Built of best-quality Kentish stone, it once comprised several wings but is now confined to one but on two storeys. The downstairs rooms are connected by an open portico.
The main rooms boast mosaic floors and well-designed underfloor heating served by the furnace for the house with built-in ducting in the walls to give all-round warmth.
The portico with lean-to roof is open on one side and has a plain red tessellated floor. Both buildings are well-roofed with ceramic tiles – the bath-house has the customary vaulted roof.
The bath-house, although of separate construction, is connected to the reduced northern wing by a covered porch. It comprises three rooms: the main frigidarium with cold water cistern, the tepidarium with built-in seating and the all-important caldarium where you can sweat away present-day stresses.
All rooms in the bath-house have tessellated floors, the frigidarium being plain red. An additional furnace keeps this bath-house well heated. Complete with plastered walls and tessellated floors, this bath-house is the height of luxury.
The house most recently has been used as a local hostel serving visitors arriving at Londinium and would suit anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit. It is now open to offers with vacant possession and no ongoing chain.
FACTFILE
These house and bath remains are important in understanding the fate of late Roman London. This house is only one of a few recorded buildings to continue in use into the 5th century and is an important indicator as to the fate of Roman London.
For further information about the remains, see House and baths at Billingsgate.
