surrounding the bath (measuring the original surface of the upper
floor) is 13ft. 9in. wide on the four sides. This platform was formed
by a layer of large freestone 9in. to 10in. thick, laid on the level
of the top step but one, on a solid bed of concrete. Above this was
another layer of concrete, and possibly on this, when the baths were
first erected, a mosaic of tesseræ; but that, if it ever was there,
has all disappeared, and its place has been supplied with paving,
mostly of freestone also, of inferior thickness to the lower paving.
Very little of this remains, and what there is is much fractured and
worn; indeed not only is this paving much worn, but the lower paving
also where the traffic was the greatest. I have given in the plan
(_Pl. VIII._) almost every detail of these floors, and shall speak
of them again further on. The general appearance of the place is
symmetrical, but there are remarkable variations and inaccuracies
that point to the fact that the juxta-position of this bath with
other buildings, of which we have at present no knowledge, must have
rendered these variations necessary, ultimately interfering with the
completion, architecturally, of the building.

[Footnote 20: The house over the bath having been purchased by
the Corporation, the Antiquities Committee (of which Mr. Murch was
chairman) with a liberal subscription from the Society of Antiquaries,
the Duke of Cleveland, and many noblemen and gentlemen of Bath and the
neighbourhood, bore the expense of the removal of the soil from the
bath and the general opening out of the rains, the arches beneath the
Poor Law Office and the Viaduct supporting Abbey Street.]

On either side, north and south, are three recesses, or _exedrae_,
two of which are circular and one (the centre) rectangular. The south
rectangular one is 17ft. wide by 7ft. deep; the north one is nearly