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Welwyn Roman Baths

3rd-century establishments in Roman BritainAncient Roman baths in EnglandArchaeological museums in EnglandArchaeological sites in HertfordshireHistory of Hertfordshire
Museums in HertfordshireMuseums of ancient Rome in the United KingdomRoman sites in HertfordshireScheduled monuments in HertfordshireTourist attractions in HertfordshireUse Oxford spelling from August 2017Welwyn
Welwyn Roman baths 02
Welwyn Roman baths 02

The Welwyn Roman Baths are a Roman ruin preserved under the A1(M) just north of modern-day Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The baths were a small part of the Dicket Mead villa, which was originally built in the 3rd century AD. The village of Welwyn has been described as being the site of a Romano-British settlement, where a Roman road crossed the river Mimram. There was another Roman villa near Welwyn on the Lockleys estate. The full extent of the Dicket Mead villa was never fully excavated prior to the construction of the motorway, but the baths were only one of at least four buildings in total. The complex was probably part of a farm. It has been speculated that it might have been at least in part the equivalent of a hotel, lying as it does near Roman roads. The ruins were uncovered in 1960 by local archaeologist Tony Rook, and the baths were gradually uncovered over the following 10 years by excavation. Shortly after the excavation was completed, the Ministry of Transport announced the route of a new motorway, straight over the top of the excavation.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Welwyn Roman Baths (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Welwyn Roman Baths
Prospect Place, Welwyn Hatfield

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N 51.8277 ° E -0.2081 °
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Prospect Place 46
AL6 9ER Welwyn Hatfield
England, United Kingdom
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Welwyn Roman baths 02
Welwyn Roman baths 02
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Lockleys Roman Villa

Lockleys Roman Villa is a ruined Roman villa on the Lockleys estate near Welwyn, Hertfordshire. The site was excavated in 1937. This is one of two known villas near Welwyn, the other being Dicket Mead. The excavations uncovered five phases of a Roman farmhouse that flourished from the first to the fourth century AD. The earliest remains date into the first century AD and belong to a round hut, about 4 meter in diameter. Over the hut was found a thick layer of humus that indicates a next building phase. No architectural remains were found, but the excavator assumes that there was a timber building at this place. From about AD 60-70 comes the third building phase. The house was now totally rebuilt in stone. It was oriented North-South and consisted of a row of three bigger rooms, with two smaller rooms on the North side. Around AD 150 the villa was heavily enlarged. On the west side was added a veranda with additional rooms on either short end of the veranda. Due to ploughing the floors of the rooms were never preserved, making it hard for the archaeologist to find datable material in context with the floors In the early fourth century the building was devastated by a fire. After the fire, the house was for a while not rebuilt. Around AD 330 a new villa was erected, ignoring the old walls. Only parts of the new villa were found showing that it was a square house with several rooms, built over the south end of the older structures. At the end of the fourth century, the villa was abandoned.

Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire ( (listen) HART-fərd-sheer or -⁠shər; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it forms part of the East of England region. Hertfordshire covers 634.366 square miles (1,643.00 km2). It derives its name – via the name of the county town of Hertford – from a hart (stag) and a ford, as represented on the county's coat of arms and on the flag. Hertfordshire County Council is based in Hertford, once the main market town and the current county town. The largest settlement is Watford. Since 1903 Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city; Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain's New Towns Act of 1946. In 2013 Hertfordshire had a population of about 1,140,700, with Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans (the county's only city) each having between 50,000 and 100,000 residents. Welwyn Garden City, Hoddesdon and Cheshunt are close behind with around 47,000 residents. Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than 800 feet (240 m) in the Chilterns near Tring. The county centres on the headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne; both flow south, and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural, with much of it protected by green-belt policies. Services have become the largest sector of the county's economy. Hertfordshire is well served with motorways and railways for access to London, the Midlands and the North. See the List of places in Hertfordshire and also List of settlements in Hertfordshire by population articles for extensive lists of local places and districts.