Читать книгу Old London Town - Will Owen - Страница 5
ОглавлениеThe Roman Bath in the Strand
There would seem to be little connection between the Roman invasion of Britain and a popular drapery firm in New Oxford Street, but it is owing to the courtesy of the latter that we are able to see to-day one relic of that interesting time. The late head of the firm, a distinguished antiquary, purchased the property many years ago, and it still remains in the family.
On the south side of the Strand, opposite the Church of St. Mary-le-Strand, is a narrow turning known as Strand Lane. The name is probably exhibited somewhere, but I have not been able to find it; so, to make all clear, let me say at once it is a tortuous passage alongside Lockhart's refreshment rooms.
A few yards down the passage on the left is an old Roman bath, the last of its race in London. Antiquaries agree that it dates as far back as the reign of Titus or Vespasian, if not Julius Cæsar himself, that strong man of whom it is recorded that he flung three bridges across the Tiber.
The bath is fed by a perpetual spring, and was, no doubt, one of the attractions of a desirable Roman villa.
In quite recent times it has been used by the public, and Dickens is said to have done so frequently. David Copperfield writes of it: "There was an old Roman bath in those days at the bottom of one of the streets out of the Strand—it may be there still—in which I have had many a cold plunge."
