Welcome to the Great Roman Britain Challenge! Have a go at our challenging puzzles to complete a map of Britain under Roman rule. The answers are included at the end of this resource.

Although he is more associated with his native Dorset, Thomas Hardy does have a few connections with Bath. In June 1873 he visited Bath with his wife to be Emma Gifford. She was staying in the city with Miss d’Arville who would chaperone them. He was inspired by his stay to write the poems ‘Midnight on Beechen,187_’ (1873), and ‘Aquae Sulis’. In this fact sheet, find out more about the city of Bath and how it inspired some of Thomas Hardy’s writings.

Find out how Romans used weaving to create fabric. Have a go at weaving activities inspired by the Romans. Weave a paper plate rainbow, and create a woven owl inspired by the sacred owl of the Roman goddess Minerva.

Have a go at mindful art activities inspired by collections at The Roman Baths and Victoria Art Gallery. Experiment with colour, line and mark-making. A range of activities suitable for primary, secondary and further education.

Take a look at these Bronze Age axes from the collection at the Roman Baths. Use your art, design and technology skills to make your Bronze Age Axe.

An abbey was built in Keynsham in 1170. The Abbey could own and collect taxes from the surrounding settlements that now fell under its ownership. Keynsham Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries 1536-1541. However , there are some beautiful items from the Abbey in the Roman Baths collection. Be inspired by the tiles to create your own versions.

Bath’s Georgian buildings are built in the ‘neo-classical style’, which was a fashion for using ideas of symmetry, balance and ornamentation from the past, many of which had been used in ancient times by the Romans and Greeks. Top architects of the day designed buildings for Bath using classical principles set out by the famous Italian architect Andrea Palladio in the 16thcentury. In this activity sheet, learn more about the details of Georgian architecture, and have a go at designing and building your own architectural columns.

There are two addresses associated with Mary Shelley in Bath. The first is 12 New Bond Street (adjoining the bottom of Milson Street), and though Mary used this address for much of her private correspondence, she also used 5 Abbey Churchyard and its associated reading room to begin writing. In this fact sheet, find out how the locations, lectures and learning in Bath inspired Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.

Originally written as a series of stories published weekly, The Pickwick Papers is Charles Dicken’s first publication and tells the exploits of a group of men as they travel by coach around England . It has a connection to Bath, and mentions a number of locations and leisure pursuits. In this fact sheet, find out how the locations and past-times in Bath inspired Dicken’s writing.

Be inspired by a Roman cup that features a hunting related design. It was found on the site of a Roman villa at Combe Down near Bath. Have a go at making your own mosaic inspired by Roman design.

Find out how Romans used to measure, and have a go at making your own Roman Ruler.

The Romans Baths looks after objects and archaeology from the area so this means we have things from other time periods not just the Romans. One of our special things is a Viking sword. It was found buried outside the walls of Bath, but we don’t quite know how it got here. Have a go at writing your name in viking runes, and making a viking shield.

The Romans came to Bath nearly 2000 years ago, and they brought with them many strange customs and ideas, some of which we still have today. Staff at the Roman Baths look after these objects that the Romans left us, but sometimes it is difficult to work out what they are. An activity sheet including ‘mystery’ objects to prompt discussion. Answers can be found on the Roman Baths website.

Merels is a board game from Roman times. It is simple to make and play at school or home!

A selection of games which Roman children played. Players use nuts to roll, throw and count or win nuts. Instead of nuts, marbles, wooden balls or counters can also be used.

Use our Roman numerals trail as you visit the Roman Baths. You can also complete some of the questions by taking the virtual tour on our website. This activity trail resource is suitable for KS1 and KS2.

In the 18th century Bath became a fashionable place to visit and spend leisure time, catering for health and entertainment needs. The old walled Medieval town did not have the facilities or the space to house the visitors so the city expanded dramatically. Higgledy-piggledy Medieval buildings and narrow streets were cleared and Bath was transformed into a spacious and beautiful city. Terraces were designed and built in a uniform way using the honey-coloured limestone mined to the south of Bath at Combe Down. In this activity sheet, learn about the designing of the City of Bath as we know it today, and have a go at designing your own town.

Bath has the only hot springs in the whole of Britain. There are three springs in the city centre, with 1.3 million litres of water flowing through every day. This is enough water to fill up your bath tub every 8 seconds! In this activity sheet, find out more about the hot springs, have a go at creating a fizzing bath bomb, and mix a rainbow of paint colours.

Some of the more fancy Roman houses (villas) and public buildings like the Roman bath house had floors decorated with colourful mosaics made from very small tiles called tesserae arranged to show patterns and pictures. In this activity sheet, learn about mosaics and have a go at creating your own monster-themed mosaic designs.

Featuring original footage from the excavations that took place at the Roman Baths in 2018, join us for a behind-the-scenes look at the excavations and meet some of the archaeologists and volunteers that were involved. In this series of videos you will be able to find out more about geophysics, excavating, recording methods, community archaeology and finds, and see some of the exciting discoveries that were made! For further reading, the geophysical report is also included.