Jewry Wall Museum, Leicester

The Jewry Wall is thought to be the last remaining section of the public baths of Roman Leicester, standing alongside the baths' foundations, which are displayed in front of it. Nearly 2,000 years old, the wall is a rare and significant example of Roman construction. It is the second-largest surviving piece of Roman civil architecture in Britain and is believed to have once separated the gymnasium from the cold room.

The baths' remains were excavated in the 1930s by Dame Kathleen Kenyon and date back to approximately 160 A.D. Adjacent to the ruins is the Jewry Wall Museum, home to an impressive collection of Roman mosaics and wall plaster from the local area. Despite its name, the wall is unlikely to have any connection to Leicester’s Jewish community, which remained small and was expelled from the town by Simon de Montfort in 1231.

Constructed in the 1960s, the Jewry Wall Museum faces the ruins and was originally housed in a building shared with Vaughan College. It displayed artifacts from Leicester’s Iron Age, Roman, and medieval past. When Vaughan College ceased operations in 2013, the city council acquired the entire site, initiating plans for its expansion and enhancement.

Designed by Trevor Dannatt and completed in 1962, the museum building is Grade II listed. Until 2013, it was situated beneath Vaughan College, which was part of Leicester University’s Institute for Lifelong Learning. Today, the museum is managed by Leicester City Council and offers free admission.