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There was a change of management on Elderslie by the appointment of Mr. Alexander Gordon. He was a splendid specimen of a man, 6ft. 7in. in height, built in proportion, and most popular. I first met him between Evesham and East Darr Stations. I inquired the distance to the latter station, which he was then managing. He replied, "Oh! a couple of canters and a smoke."
It was long, however, before Captain Baumgarten had satisfied himself upon the point. It was a difficult house to search. Thin stairs, which only one man could ascend at a time, connected lines of tortuous corridors. The walls were so thick that each room was cut off from its neighbour. Huge fireplaces yawned in each, while the windows were 6ft. deep in the wall.
The bath, placed in a great hall 110ft. 4½in. long by 68ft. 5in. wide, is about 6ft. 8in. deep. The bottom, 73ft. 2in. by 29ft. 6in. is formed as described in the last page. This well secured bottom, or floor, appears to have been placed in position, rather to keep the hot water from ascending into the bath from the springs beneath than to make the bath water-tight.
This step was scarcely covered with water, but it is evident the water flowed over it when bathers agitated it. The riser or the step above, 10in. to 12in., completes the flight and helped to keep the water within proper bounds, giving a total depth of 6ft. 8in. to the bath, and from 5ft. 9in. to 5ft. 11in. for the water. At the bottom step, in the north-east corner, was a bronze sluice.
There are now only a few hundred natives in the whole of Victoria, and they are miserable creatures, not to be compared, for instance, with those in the north-west, where in some places the average height of the natives is 6ft.
None of the piers, or pilasters, at present exist to a height exceeding 6ft. to 7ft.
Greater variations exist in the circular recesses; for, commencing in the western one, on the south side, the width is 17ft. 3in., and the depth 7ft. 6in.; the eastern one is 14ft. 3in. wide, and 6ft. 9in. deep; the exedrae vis-a-vis on the north is 17ft. 3in. wide, and 8ft. 4in. deep; the remaining one, to the west, is 17ft. wide, and 7ft. deep.
Whenever the rubbish that covers the eastern wing of the Roman ruins comes to be removed similar Balnea pensilia will doubtless be found. "From each corner of the westernmost side of Lucas's Bath, a base of 68ft., there issues a wall of stone and mortar. These walls I have traced 6ft. or 8ft. westward under that causeway that leads from the Churchyard to the Abbey Green.
Thus then in 1763 the north and south walls of the great Roman Bath had been traced 6ft. or 8ft. west of Lucas's Bath. Furthermore, starting from the centre of the west side of Lucas's Bath, a line had been traced to the east steps of the great Roman Bath.
Within this must have stood a marble on bronze sarcophagus, the base of which was 6ft. 9in. long by 2ft. 5in. wide. This water was not poured in sufficient volume to perceptibly cool the bath, but was provided for the thirst of the bathers. In the modern baths of Bath there is no such provision.
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