Discovered and excavated in 1973/4, the Roman bath house in Vicarage Field, Lancaster, formed one end of a large courtyard house, probably the home of a Roman official. Much of the actual bath part of the building is unfortunately hidden beneath a multi-storey car park, but you can see the base of the walls and the remains of the hypocaust system used to heat the baths.

The bath house was demolished in about 340 AD to make way for a new and massive stone fort. Part of the fort wall, known as the ‘Wery Wall’, can also be seen nearby.

The visible remains are just a small part of the Roman archaeology in this area. If you'd like to find out more:

• Visit Lancaster City Museum where a huge range of Roman objects are on display, including the magnificent Insus memorial stone. 
• Check out the article on Roman Lancaster in the Explore Online section of this website.
• Listen to our podcast, 100 Years, 100 Objects, which has several episodes on Roman history.

• Admission is free and the site is open at all reasonable times. 
• There is an information board beside the bath house but there are no staff on site. Please contact lancastercitymuseum@lancaster.gov.uk with any questions.
• The excavation is in a field, so access is via a short walk along footpaths and over grass.

Find the bath house on Google Maps here.

By Car

The bath house is in Vicarage Field, with access from the footpath linking St George’s Quay to Castle Hill. If you are driving, please DO NOT try to follow satnav directions directly to the site. There is a limited amount of on-street parking close to each end of the access path, on St George's Quay or Castle Hill, but to make your visit as easy as possible we recommend you either choose one of the nearby car parks as your destination or use Lancaster’s Park and Ride scheme to get into the city centre from the M6.

On Foot, by Public Transport or by Bike

The bath house is withing easy walking or cycling distance of Lancaster’s bus and railway stations. It’s accessed via a mown grass path through Vicarage Field from the footpath which connects St George’s Quay to Castle Hill.

• Download a free visitor map of Lancaster city centre (PDF, 929KB).
• Download a free Cycling Map of Lancaster & Morecambe Bay (PDF, 6MB).