Description of The Wall
The wall, an impressive example of standing Roman walling, is nearly 2000 years old. It measures 23 metres (75 ft) long, 8 metres (26 ft) high and 2.5 metres (8 ft) thick. It is the second largest piece of surviving civil Roman building in Britain (the largest being the "Old Work" at Wroxeter). The structure comprises alternate bands of Roman brick and coursed masonry. In the centre of the wall are two large arched openings about 3 metres (10 ft) wide and 4 metres (13 ft) high; there are further arched alcoves on the eastern side.
The wall lies to the west of St Nicholas' Church, which includes in its late Saxon and early medieval fabric much re-used Roman brick and masonry.
The remains of the town's public baths, lying immediately west of the wall, were excavated in four seasons from 1936 to 1939 by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and date from approximately 160 AD. The wall and some of the foundations of the baths are now laid out to public view. They are adjoined by a building housing the Jewry Wall Museum and Vaughan College, which stands on the remainder of the baths site (including the site of the three furnaces). The museum contains excellent local examples of Roman mosaics and wall plaster.
The site is in the guardianship of English Heritage.
Read more about this topic: Jewry Wall
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