early winter with the girl in the bathtub

A frigidarium is a large cold pool to drop into after enjoying a hot Roman bath. The Caldarium and the Tepidarium opened the pores of the skin. The cold water would close the pores. There would be a small pool of cold water or sometimes a large Swimming pool.

An octagonal example measuring over 5m across was excavated at Bax Farm, near Faversham, Kent in 2006. This had a large brick conduit for supplying cold water. The walls were originally decorated with painted plaster, and the floors with coloured tesserae. This is the first example to be found in south-east England. It had been suggested that the octagonal frigidarium could have been used for Christian baptism or Jewish sacred bathing (Pitts, 2006).