Surprising find proves rainy British city was once the centre of the Roman Empire

Katherine Fidler
Published Jan 2, 2024, 10:58am
|Updated Jan 2, 2024, 12:21pm

Believe it or not, Rome was not always the centre of the Roman Empire. For a time, that honour went to Carlisle.
Yes, the rainy Cumbrian city a stone’s throw from the Scottish border in north west England was the seat of power for one of the world’s greatest civilisations, according to archaeologists digging up the local cricket ground.

Six years of excavation have revealed it was once home to an Imperial Bath House, built for the Roman emperor Septimius Severus while he was staying in the city around the turn of the third century AD. And wherever the emperor lived was the centre of the empire.

The bath house is thought to be the largest building discovered along Hadrian’s Wall, which once stretched unbroken from Bowness on Solway in Cumbria to Wallsend – then Segedunum – east of Newcastle.

Although almost 2,000 years old, the remains of 34 separate tiles bearing the letters IMP, signature of the Roman Imperial court, were found. These suggest it was either built for or on the command of Severus.

More:
https://metro.co.uk/2024/01/02/this-rainy-uk-city-centre-roman-empire-20050624/