Jewry Wall
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox ancient site
The Jewry Wall is a substantial ruined wall of 2nd-century Roman masonry, with two large archways, in Leicester, England. It stands alongside St Nicholas' Circle and St Nicholas' Church. It formed the west wall of a public building in Template:Lang (Roman Leicester), alongside public baths, the foundations of which were excavated in the 1930s and are also open to view. The wall gives its name to the adjacent Jewry Wall Museum.
Etymology
The origin of the name of the wall (first recorded Template:Circa) is debated. It is unlikely to relate to Leicester's medieval Jewish community, which was never large and was expelled from the town by Simon de Montfort in 1231.<ref>Harris 2008, pp. 128–33.</ref> One theory that has achieved widespread currency is that the name bears some relation to the 24 "jurats" (meaning "sworn men", and roughly equivalent to aldermen) of early medieval Leicester, the senior members of the Corporation, who were said to have met, as a "jury", in the town churchyard—possibly that of St Nicholas.<ref>e.g. Template:Cite book</ref> However, it seems more likely that the name derives from a broader folk belief attributing mysterious ruins of unknown origin to Jews.<ref name=Harris>Harris 2008.</ref> Such attributions are found at a number of other sites elsewhere in England and other parts of Europe.<ref name=Harris/>
Description
The wall is an impressive example of standing Roman masonry. It dates to approximately 125–130 AD.<ref name="HE list wall">Template:NHLE</ref> It measures Template:Cvt long, Template:Cvt high and Template:Cvt thick.<ref name="LCC description">Template:Cite web</ref> It is among the largest pieces of surviving civil Roman architecture in Britain, and is comparable to the "Old Work" at Wroxeter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The structure comprises alternate bands of Roman brick and coursed masonry, of local granite, limestone and sandstone.<ref name="LCC description"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the centre of the wall are two large arched openings about Template:Cvt wide and Template:Cvt high, and there are further arched alcoves on the eastern side.<ref name=anon>Template:Citation: pdf available at Template:Cite web</ref>
The wall lies immediately to the west of St Nicholas' Church, which includes in its late Saxon and early medieval fabric much reused Roman brick and masonry.<ref name=anon/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The remains of the Roman town's public baths, immediately west of the wall, were excavated in four seasons from 1936 to 1939 by Kathleen Kenyon.<ref name=anon/><ref name=Kenyon>Kenyon 1948.</ref> The wall and some of the foundations of the baths are now laid out to public view. They are adjoined by a 1960s building housing the Jewry Wall Museum (and formerly Vaughan College), which stands on the remainder of the baths site (including the site of the three furnaces).<ref name=anon/> The museum contains excellent examples of Roman mosaics, painted wall plaster and other Roman and Iron Age artefacts from sites around Leicester.<ref name=jwm>Template:Cite web</ref>
The wall was taken into state care in 1920 and is now the responsibility of English Heritage.<ref name="HE list site">Template:NHLE</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The wall itself is a Grade I listed building; its wider site, including the adjacent remains of the baths and St Nicholas' Church, forms a scheduled monument.<ref name="HE list wall"/><ref name="HE list site"/>
Function and context
The wall appears to have formed the long western side of a large rectangular basilica-like structure.<ref name="HE list wall"/> The precise character and function of this building has been a matter of much debate. 18th- and early 19th-century antiquaries tended to identify it as a Roman or British temple, sometimes said to have been dedicated to the god Janus.<ref>e.g. Template:Cite book</ref> The ruin was also occasionally identified as "part of a bath".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For much of the 19th century it was widely believed to have been a town gate, though this was suggested by neither its structure nor its location. This interpretation still appeared as fact in the generally authoritative Victoria County History as late as 1907.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The prevailing view in the early 20th century was that the ruin was part of the town basilica.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
When she began her excavations in the late 1930s, Kenyon initially thought the overall site was that of the town forum (of which the basilica would have formed a part).<ref name="LCC description"/><ref name=anon/> Although she modified her views when she uncovered the remains of the baths, she continued to believe that the area had originally been laid out as the forum, with the Jewry Wall the west wall of the basilica, but argued that in a second phase of building, only about 20 years later, the site had been converted to public baths.<ref name=anon/><ref name=Kenyon/> This interpretation was abandoned when, in a series of excavations undertaken between 1961 and 1972, the true remains of the forum were firmly identified a block further east (Insula XXII).<ref>Hebditch and Mellor 1972.</ref> The Jewry Wall was then identified as the wall of the palaestra (gymnasium) of the baths complex, and this continues to be the most commonly accepted view, given in the official scheduled monument descriptions and in the interpretive material on site.<ref name="LCC description"/><ref name="HE list site"/>
There are still a number of unanswered questions, however, and the issue remains open.<ref>Mitchell 2009.</ref>
Jewry Wall Museum
The Jewry Wall Museum faces the Jewry Wall ruins, and houses artefacts from Iron Age, Roman, and medieval Leicester. The building is Grade II listed. The museum is run by Leicester City Council.
After being closed from 2017 for renovations costing nearly £17 million, the museum reopened on July 26, 2025, with a refreshed design, multimedia exhibitions, and fully immersive experiences.<ref>https://www.jewrywall.com/</ref><ref name="Jewry Wall reopening">Template:Cite news</ref>
In popular culture
The Jewry Wall features as the "Old Bathhouse" in the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is in the town of Template:Lang, the form of the name of Leicester that appears in the Domesday Book of 1086.<ref name="dictionary">The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. LEICESTER, LEIRE.</ref>
See also
- Ratae Corieltauvorum
- Roman Britain
- Roman client kingdoms in Britain
- Governors of Roman Britain
- Romano-British culture
- Sub-Roman Britain
- Roman sites in the United Kingdom
- Roman sites in Great Britain
- End of Roman rule in Britain
- History of the British Isles
- Britannia (disambiguation)
- Newport Arch
References
Bibliography
- Template:Citation: pdf available at Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century
- Roman Leicester
- Archaeological sites in Leicestershire
- History of Leicester
- Buildings and structures in Leicester
- Tourist attractions in Leicestershire
- Grade I listed walls
- Grade I listed buildings in Leicestershire
- Museums in Leicester
- Scheduled monuments in Leicester
- Archaeological museums in England
- Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom
- History museums in Leicestershire
- Roman walls in England