Wall

Letocetum was a Roman Staging Post on the great Roman road called 'Watling Street', which extended from East Kent to North Wales. These 'staging posts' afforded travellers full facilities, a change of horse and overnight accommodation.

The site seen today was excavated in 1912-14 by the North Staffordshire Field Club, and the land owner. Although a relatively small site, comprising two main buildings, a Bath House and a Mansio (hostel), it is believed that Wall developed into a reasonably sized community in Roman times, as a result of various businesses being set up to cater for the needs of the travellers. However, before the full extent of this settlement can be properly ascertained, a considerable amount of additional excavation work needs to be undertaken. Bathing was a great social activity of the Romans, and was a process that involved several different facets, making the Bath House floor plan quite complex to interpret.

This has been further complicated by the fact that the building underwent several alterations and additions throughout its lifetime. Despite this, there are several distinct areas: a hot wet room, a tepid room and a cold room; a hot dry room; and a cold plunge area. All these rooms were arranged around other areas designated as changing and massage rooms. These rooms would have been entered in a specific sequence to achieve the full bathing process. Outside there was a courtyard, which allowed users to 'warm up' prior to entering the bath complex. A hypocaust - basically, a floor suspended on tile piles, with a furnace built at one end - warmed the heated rooms from beneath. This hypocaust still survives, although it has been backfilled to protect it from frost damage and, therefore, cannot be seen by the visitor at present.

The Mansio is believed to have originated as a timber construction, but the remains visible today are from a later, stone building cAD120. Fronting Watling Street was a Colonnade with a tiled roof, beyond which was an entrance hall. The building was almost certainly two storeys high, as evidenced by the substantial foundations, and would have been rectangular in shape around a central courtyard. This courtyard also had a colonnade running along its perimeter, giving covered access to the individual guestrooms, and may well have extended to an upper storey balcony for the same reason. The building was destroyed by fire around AD165 and there is little evidence of further occupation after that time.

A short walk down the lane, is the Wall Museum containing many of the artefacts found , together with detailed information about the site. Access is available at most times from the custodian, and is really worth a visit.