Caerleon Roman Fortress Baths

The Caerleon Roman Baths was one of the weaker CADW sites we have visited. It was interesting enough, but the information on the baths was weak and not presented well. They have a video playing over the bath to show water effects and people swimming (see my videos posted with the review). Looks okay, but could have been so much better with better effects, scaled more human like people, they were about 9 feet tall and had odd body shapes, etc. The wall board says men and women never bathed together and then you turn around and the image of 2 people swimming in the bath is a man and woman. Again, the info wasn’t presented well. Also the staff weren’t great. They were friendly enough but didn’t seem to know much about it and didn’t seem to want to actually talk to anyone. There was an interesting cavern under the pools that was the old drain from the pools. There is water in it today, probably ground water seeping through. The main water for the baths came from 5 miles away, amazing the work they put into the baths. The other thing that is super neat but not explained well is the heating for the hot room. It had a raised floor and they somehow used the hot air and smoke from a fire to funnel through under the floor and heat the room. Pretty amazing those Romans!

The Caerleon Roman Baths was one of the weaker CADW sites we have visited. It was interesting enough, but the information on the baths was weak and not presented well. They have a video playing over the bath to show water effects and people swimming (see my videos posted with the review). Looks okay, but could have been so much better with better effects, scaled more human like people, they were about 9 feet tall and had odd body shapes, etc. The wall board says men and women never bathed together and then you turn around and the image of 2 people swimming in the bath is a man and woman. Again, the info wasn’t presented well. Also the staff weren’t great. They were friendly enough but didn’t seem to know much about it and didn’t seem to want to actually talk to anyone. There was an interesting cavern under the pools that was the old drain from the pools. There is water in it today, probably ground water seeping through. The main water for the baths came from 5 miles away, amazing the work they put into the baths. The other thing that is super neat but not explained well is the heating for the hot room. It had a raised floor and they somehow used the hot air and smoke from a fire to funnel through under the floor and heat the room. Pretty amazing those Romans!

Interesting to visit if you are close by, the Baths built by the Romans and used by them for more than 200 years. Caerleon was one of 3 large Roman settlements in the U.K., the other two being Chester and York. built around AD 75 as part of the legionary fortress of Isca Augusta, home to Legio II Augusta in south-east Wales. They were a large and sophisticated complex, including hot, warm and cold rooms, an open-air swimming pool, and exercise areas, serving both hygiene and social life for Roman soldiers. The baths were used for over 200 years while the legion was stationed at Caerleon, reflecting the importance of Roman bathing culture even in a frontier province. After the legion left in the late 3rd century, the buildings gradually fell into ruin, though their remains were noted in medieval times.