Extract of Letters from Mr. T. Sympson, to Brown Willis, Esq; Member of the Society of Antiquaries, and to James West, Esq; Member of the Same, and Treas. R. S. by the Publisher, concerning the Remains of a Roman Hypocaustum or Sweating-Room, Discovered Under-Ground at Lincoln, Anno 1739

through Sussex about 10 Years ago. The Storm was succeeded by a profound Calm, which lasted about an Hour; after which the Wind continued pretty high, till 10 o’Clock at Night. To Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. &c. Honoured SIR, Rosehill, Sept. 13. 1741. The above-written is Part of a Letter from my Son Stephen Fuller, Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge; which is so particular an Account of a terrible Storm on Tuesday last, in Huntingdonshire, in which he was present, as may deserve to be communicated to the Royal Society, if you think fit. I am Your most dutiful Son, and humble Servant, J. Fuller. XXIX. Extract of Letters from Mr. T. Symson, to Brown Willis, Esq; Member of the Society of Antiquaries, and to James West, Esq; Member of the Same, and Treas. R. S. by the Publisher, concerning the Remains of a Roman Hypocaustum or Sweating-Room, discovered under-ground at Lincoln, Anno 1739. Mr. Chanter having set some Labourers to dig a Cellar in an Outhouse (belonging to his Mansion) fronting the West End of the Minster, and ad- adjoining to the Chequer-gate; they found Two or Three Stone Coffins, which had probably lain there ever since the Demolition of the antient Parish-church of St. Mary Magdalen, to make way for the Foundation of the Cathedral, and its Appendages: But going lower, about 10 or 11 Feet deep, they found some Building; and at 13 Feet, to their no little Surprize, they struck into the Corner of a Vault. Mr. Sympon took it to be a Roman Hypocaustum: He had the Dimensions of it taken, as in the Plan; see Tab. VIII. Fig. 1. and the Profile, Fig. 2. A. The Praefurnium, [Stoking-place] Entrance or Place, where the Fornacator [the Stoker] stood to manage the Fire. It is 3 Feet 6 Inches square, its Height not certainly known, because of the Rubbish which lay at the Bottom. B. The Fornax, Furnace, or Fire-place, built of Brick, and arched over with the same. Its Length from E to G, 5 Feet 6 Inches; its Height 3 Feet at E, but 4 Feet at F, rising gradually; 3 Feet 6 Inches long from E to F, and 2 Feet wide between E and F; 2 Feet long from F to G, and but 19 Inches wide between F and G. C, The Alveus [or Body of the Kiln], 21 Feet 4 Inches long; 8 Feet 4 Inches broad; and 2 Feet 4 Inches high. The Floor is made of a strong Cement composed of Lime, Sand, Brick-dust, &c. which the Masons of that Country call Terrace-mortar. Upon this Floor stand Four Rows of low Pillars, made of Brick, 11 in a Row; the outside Rows round, the Two inner Rows square: The round ones are about 11 Inches Diameter, the others 8 Inches square: Each standing on a Brick 11 Inches square, as at Fig. 4. and 2 Inches thick; the Shaft 2 Feet high, upon which lies another Brick likewise 2 Inches thick, some 17, 18, and others 19 Inches square, as at Fig. 3. which represents the Profile of Two square Pillars with the square Bricks at Top and Bottom, which make the whole Height of the Alveus 2 Feet 4 Inches. The Pillars, both round and square, are jointed with Mortar, and that very clumsily: The round Pillars being composed of 10 Courses of semicircular Bricks, as at Fig. 4. A, laid by Pairs; the Joint of every Course crossing that of the former at right Angles, as at Fig. 4. C; with so much Mortar betwixt, that the Two Semicircles rather form an Oval, and so the Pillars look at first Sight as if they were wreathed: The square Pillars are composed of 13 Courses of Bricks, as at Fig. 4. B; 8 Inches square, as at Fig. 4. D; these Bricks being thinner than those which compose the round Pillars. On the Top of these Pillars rests the Testudo or Floor of the Sudatorium or Sweating-Room, Fig. 2. HI, which is composed thus: First, there is a Floor of large Bricks, 23 Inches long, and 21 broad, which lie over the square Bricks on the Tops of the Pillars, as at Fig. 3. the Four Corners of each Brick reaching to the Centres of Four adjoining Pillars, as at Fig. 5. where only one of these larger Bricks is represented, as it bears upon Four of the smaller Bricks with their Pillars under them. On this Course of Bricks is a Covering of Cement 6 Inches thick, and upon that is set a tessellated Pavement: The Tessellæ of the Corner uncovered, K, in Fig. 1 and 2. are of a whitish Colour. L and M, in Fig. 1 and 2, are Two Tubuli or Flues, 12 Inches wide and 14 deep, for carrying off the Smoke: The Bottoms of them are even with the Bottom of the Alveus, and they are carried upon the Level about 15 Feet, under another Room by the Side of the Hypocaustum, and then it is presumed they turn upwards. The Walls of this Room were plastered, and the Plaster painted red, blue, and other Colours, and its Floor tessellated white; no Figures discernible in either Painting or Pavement. This Pavement, which is on a Level with the Testudo of the Hypocaustum, is about 13 Feet below the present Surface of the Ground: So deep is old Lindum buried in its Ruins! The Workmen, in digging up this Pavement, struck into the Flue M, 3 Feet from the North-east Corner of the Hypocaustum; and opened it to the very Corner K, which shewed one of the round Pillars, and so the Whole was discovered. In sinking the Hole NK, at 5 or 6 Feet Depth, they came to the Wall, which was dug up by Pieces with the Rubbish, before they came to the Pavement. This had been the Wall of a Room under which the Tubuli ran, by the Side of, and not over the Alveus, but on the East Side of it. Mr. Sympon got a Youth to creep in at the Opening made at K, and take the Dimensions of the several Parts, who, the Alveus being quite black with Smoke, returned like a Chimney-sweeper; but could not take the exact Measures of the Fornax and Præfurnium, on account of Rubbish he found in them: Wherefore, Mr. Sympon, being desirous to inform himself thoroughly of all the Parts of this curious Piece of Antiquity, with the Leave, and at the Expence, of the Pro- Proprietor, caused another Hole to be sunk 16 Feet deep, and by driving a Level OP; see Fig. 1 and 2. he broke into the Middle of the Fornax; and, having cleared it of Rubbish, found its Dimensions as above, and that the Bottom of the narrowest Part between F and G, was raised 18 Inches higher than the Bottom of the Part between E and F. The Praefurnium was covered over at Top with a large flat Stone. The Fornax, and the Two square Pillars in the Alveus fronting the Opening of the Fornax, were greatly impaired by the Fire, which must have been very violent: Some small Fragments of Wood-coal were thrown out among the Rubbish in the Bottom of the Fornax; whence probably it was heated with Wood. At the Conclusion of the Account Mr. Sympon sent to Mr. Willis, he gives us the following Remark upon a Passage in the second Letter from Mr. Baxter to Dr. Harwood, concerning the Hypocausta of the Antients, printed in these Transactions, No 306. "Mr. Baxter says, the Hypocaustis was called Alveus and Fornax: But, with due Deference to that learned Gentleman, (says Mr. Sympon) I humbly apprehend them to have been distinct Parts of the Whole, which was called Hypocaustis: The Ground of my Conjecture is this: In the first Place, it would hardly be possible to make a Fire in that Part of this Hypocaust, which I call the Alveus; much less to come at it, to manage it, being so low, and so crowded with Pillars, as to admit only a slender Person to crawl amongst them, and that not without Difficulty. In the next Place, the Floor does not seem designed for it, nor are there any Appcarances of Ashes on it: And, further, that the Fornax was, where I have placed it in this, appears not only from the Structure of that Part, but from the Bricks being much burnt [and Pieces of Wood-coal being found in it]; whereas in the Alveus, the Bricks are only black with the Steam and Smoak being drawn through it by the Tubuli. But I submit my Opinion to your better Judgment." He might have added, that only those Pillars in the Alveus, which faced the Mouth of the Fornax, had suffered much by the Fire, the others not. That Hypocaust, described in No. 306. above-mentioned, must have been a much hotter Room than this; for, instead of the Flues being carried under another Room, the Walls of the Sweating-room itself were hollow or double, and a great Number of Flues carried up between them all round the Room. A curious Model of this is still to be seen in the Museum of the Royal Society.