This note considers a Late Roman bath building recently discovered in Durrës, Albania (ancient Dyrrachium), near the presumed Roman city center. This discovery is particularly interesting given our limited knowledge of the urban layout and of bathhouses during this important phase of the city. Despite the limited scope of the excavations, the layout of the complex, as well as certain architectural characteristics, suggests the use of design principles based on Imperial baths. The exclusive use of bricks is significant for this area in Late Antiquity. The imposing monumentality of the structures is comparable to baths in cities with Imperial authority. In the absence of stratified layers linked to this structure, moldmade marks on the bricks and decorative features from the marble facing provide a chronological window between the last quarter of the 4th c. and around the middle of the 5th c. CE for its construction.

Excavations in Insulae II, III and XIII in the southern half of Verulamium demonstrated the absence of occupation prior to the late first century and the relatively late development of the street grid in this area. This forced a re-evaluation of the date of the 1955 ditch, suggesting it was not dug until the Flavian period. The excavations also demonstrated that Watling Street had never bisected Insula XIII on the south-eastern side of the Forum-Basilica, thus negating a major argument for the presence of a Claudian fort under the centre of the later town. A restricted excavation in the northern corner of Insula XIII revealed evidence for the location of the town’s baths, while excavation in Insula XIII revealed a long sequence of industrial and domestic occupation stretching from the late first to early fifth centuries. Evidence for continued occupation into the fifth century or beyond was recovered from Insula II, and to a lesser extent, in Insula XIII.

Excavations by MoLAS at 30 Gresham Street and 12 Arthur Street in the City of London in 2001 have led to a complete reassessment of the provision of Roman London’s water supply. Four massive first- and second-century wells contained remains of two types of mechanical water-lifting machines or bucket-chain systems. The discoveries allowed identification of a similar bucket-chain from the Cheapside Roman baths, found 50 years earlier by Ivor Noël Hume of the Guildhall Museum. Archaeological and engineering analysis has revealed the water-lifting capacity of the machines, which could have supplied a significant proportion of the town’s population with clean water.