Roman Bath
This bath lay to the south of the remains, under what is now the Norfolk Building (formerly the Norfolk Hotel) of King's College London. Since it was also on Arundel land, the tale of construction by the Earls of Essex – whose home in the Tudor period lay further to the east – is fanciful. There is a theory that the baths were built under James I, for use by Anne of Denmark, in 1612. The true origin of the baths is lost in time, but it may be that they were built as cisterns for Arundel House over the spring. They were subsequently lost in the 16th century when the estate was broken up, the area was then built over by row houses, and later rediscovered after a fire in 1774.
The baths are administered and maintained by the City of Westminster, on behalf of the National Trust. The baths are open free of charge on Wednesday afternoons from 6 April to 19 October by appointment only. Appointments must be made one week in advance.
The first written reference to the bath occurs in a 1784 book by John Pinkerton, describing a "fine antique bath" in the cellar of a house in "Norfolk Street in the Strand formerly belonging to the Earl of Arundel whose house and vast gardens were adjacent [to the site]". In April 1792, antiquarian, collector and MP William Weddell died "from a sudden chill" when bathing there.
Charles Knight wrote in London (1842) of the "Old Roman Spring Bath" at Strand Lane, suggesting that it shared a source with the nearby Holy Well, just north of the site of the church of St Clement Danes. Of the water he noted, "it is clearly natural, and not artificial, and sparkles as clear as crystal". In David Copperfield (1849–50), Charles Dickens speaks of the old Roman Bath "at the bottom of one of the streets out of the Strand", in which Copperfield had many cold plunges.
Coordinates: 51°30'42.01"N 0°06'55.37"W
