History of the wall

The Jewry Wall is one of Leicester's most famous landmarks. It is a rare example of Roman walling which has survived for nearly 2000 years.

Originally it was part of the Roman public baths. It separated the exercise hall, which stood on the site of St. Nicholas church, from the rest of the baths. The ruins between the Jewry Wall and the museum were excavated in the 1930s and preserved by the enlightened

The baths were more like Turkish Baths than the swimming pools of today. Bathers progressed through cold, warm and hot rooms and could visit a sweat room. The baths enabled the citizens of Rome to keep clean and gossip with their friends. An exercise hall allowed the young and energetic to keep fit.

The wall is nearly 2000 years old, and is a rare example of Roman walling. The wall is the second largest piece of surviving civil Roman building in Britain (the largest is the 'great work' at Wroxeter, also part of a municipal baths complex). The Jewry Wall would have been the wall separating the gymnasium from the cold room.

The name of the wall does not relate to Leicester's Jewish community, who were expelled from the city in mediaeval times. It is thought most likely that the name bears some relation to the 24 jurats of Saxon Leicester, the senior members of the Corporation of Leicester, who were said to meet in the town churchyard - possibly that of St. Nicholas, just next to the baths and largely made out of Roman building rubble, or in the area between it and the back of the wall.

The remains of the baths were excavated in the 1930s by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and date from approximately 160 AD. The wall and baths are adjoined by the Jewry Wall Museum, which contains excellent local examples of Roman mosaics and wall plaster.