Thanks to abount £25,000 funding from the borough council and the Friends of Welwyn Hatfield Museums, the ancient site has undergone a host of improvements. And they were unveiled at a special relaunch event last Tuesday.
Museum curator Jenny Oxley said: “We’ve been doing renovation work on the bathhouse site for the last year-and-a-half.
“We’ve improved all the flooring and the barriers all around the site. We’ve also added extra children’s activities and things to make it a more interactive visit.”
Four new display cases give further insight into Roman life, with extra information about aspects such as textiles and building materials used, jewellery and dress, and food and drink.
Among dignitaries and guests at the relaunch were deputy mayor Carl Storer, Cllr Tony Kingsbury, executive member for leisure and community, Welwyn Hatfield Times editor Terry Mitchinson and historian and archaelogist Tony Rook, who first discovered the ruins under what is now the A1(M) in the 1960s.
And, Ms Oxley added, a debate started about whether the site had been used as something else before the Dicket Mead villa’s owner turned it into a bathhouse.
That suggestion was made by Simon West, district archaeologist at Verulamium Museum in St Albans, who came up with the interpretation due to bits of plaster spotted underneath the bathhouse features.
Author: Chris Lennon | Source: Welwyn Hatfield Times [March 19, 2011]