Uncovering Roman Carlisle: Volunteers Excavating Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 05/02/2024

In 2017 archaeologists discovered the remains of a third century Roman bathhouse at Carlisle Cricket Club, part of the former site of Stanwix, the largest fort on Hadrian’s Wall. The National Lottery Heritage Fund subsequently funded an 18-month programme named “Uncovering Roman Carlisle” which was run by a partnership of Carlisle City Council, Carlisle 
Cricket Club, Wardell Armstrong LLP, and Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust.Uncovering Roman Carlisle attracted applications from hundreds of volunteers from Carlisle District especially, but also from other areas in Cumbria and Northumberland. Onsite, volunteers excavated the Roman Bathhouse under professional supervision by archaeologists from Wardell Armstrong LLP. Volunteers also led site tours for visitors and supported curatorial and learning staff from Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust. With educational activities and finds handling.

The project set out to enrich Carlisle’s environment for residents and visitors as lockdown was easing and, most importantly, to improve participants’ wellbeing and skills after not having been able to go out, see people, or visit museums and archaeological sites. The urban location close to Carlisle City Centre as well as post-excavation digitisation of the site and selected objects was able to provide ample opportunity for volunteers and visitors to engage with Carlisle’s Heritage, connecting the twenty-first century to Carlisle’s Roman past. Local people, including school groups, families, and adults/young people with additional needs, were invited to take part in onsite heritage workshops and hands on activities provided by Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery and Wardell Armstrong LLP.

After the excavation finished, the newest discoveries were exhibited first at Tullie House (probably the quickest turnaround for objects from site to display in history!), and then as a travelling exhibition at other sites around Carlisle district. In this exhibition, the exciting new finds from Carlisle’s Roman Bathhouse are explored through the stories of the people who 
found them. 

The exhibition also introduces visitors to archaeological processes and post-excavation as well as museum work. Through showing real objects and information panels we see these incredible buildings emerge and find the people who used, worked and visited the 
Bathhouse. 

At the Bathhouse, all the hard labour was done by volunteers from Carlisle and beyond and the exhibition invites visitors to share the volunteers’ onsite experiences. Visitors are very much invited to share the volunteers’ joy of discovery through their eyes and words and join the excitement that was felt by all.

Dr Dot Boughton studied at German and British universities early medieval and prehistoric material culture with a focus on metalwork deposition. While her MSt, MPhil and PhD theses concentrated on Anglo-Saxon and Late Bronze/Early Iron Age metalwork, Dot’s twelve years as Finds Liaison Officer (Lancashire and Cumbria) for the Portable Antiquities Scheme helped her get more familiarised with the Roman, medieval and post-medieval material culture of Northwest England. She is now a freelance small finds specialist and currently works as Assistant Curator at Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust, Carlisle, Cumbria, and Records and Metadata Officer at the Fusilier Museum in Bury, Lancashire.