Roamin' in Caerleon

It has taken a while for me to get around to writing about Caerleon and its Roman Ruins. The publicity machine seems to work for this area more than most of South Wales.  This does not take anything from the sights on offer here. Archaeologists recently found a large port on the banks of the river Usk here.  In Roman times Caerleon would have been an extremely large town, if not a city, as well as a fort with a huge number of soldiers defending Rome's extreme western border from the welsh hooligans.

The Roman Amphitheatre, now grassed over, would once have been a spectacular arena for games, sports, parades and fighting in front of crowds of people. You can stroll around and picnic for free. Please take your litter home.

Just a short distance away are the foundations of the barracks, complete with latrines, and kitchens. Each square is a room, but soldiers would have had to share their space.

The remains of the Roman Baths are now undercover with interesting storyboards and artefacts on display.

There is an impressive museum building with roman pillars outside the entrance. It contains many interesting artefacts as well as souvenirs and books for children.  Roman helmets and swords are always popular.

One of the most fascinating exhibits to my mind is the large quantity of minute natural stone lozenges found  in the drains of the Roman Baths. As you can see, some are very intricately carved and would have been really expensive. But what are they?

They are tiny semi-precious stones which have fallen unnoticed from rings on the fingers of bathers whilst they enjoyed the warm water. Even though the technology existed to carve intricate expensive designs, we are told the only way to hold them in place in a finger-ring would be with wax.  This wax would, of course, have melted with the heat of the water. Hence the number of wonderful stones found down the drain!  Congratulations to the very sharp-eyed finder.