Having once decided that the building we have thus explored, is the public baths, another equally interesting question arises out of it. The public baths of the Roman towns in Britain are not unfrequently mentioned in inscriptions commemorating the repairing or rebuilding of them; but it is a circumstance of some importance that this building is combined with the basilica, or town hall. Both seem to have participated in the same accidents, and to have undergone decay together. Thus an inscription found at Lanchester in Cumberland (supposed to be the Roman town of Epiacum) speaks of the baths and basilica (BALNEVM CVM BASILICA); and at Ribchester, in Lancashire, the baths and basilica (BALINEVM ET BASILICAM) were rebuilt after having fallen into ruin through age. We are therefore, I think, justified in concluding that the two great public buildings, the baths and the basilica, usually joined each other; and I think we may venture further to assume that the large building to the north of the Old Wall, the remains of which are now covered up, was the basilica of Uriconium. The proportions of this building are rather extraordinary, and cannot be easily explained; but it is probable that in a provincial town the basilica served a variety of purposes. An inscription found at Netherby in Cumberland, speaks of a basilica for practice in riding (BASILICAM EQVESTREM EXERCITATORIAM.) We may now proceed a little further in identifying the topography of the ancient town. The line of the buildings we have traced parallel to the Watling Street Road is at some distance within the hedge of the field; and I believe that, when the farm buildings were erected on the opposite side of the road, what appeared to be the front of buildings facing the opposite direction, were found likewise at some distance within the field. This, with the road, would make a very wide space; very much wider than either of the two transverse streets. Moreover, a glance at the plan will shew that, beyond the transverse street to the south, this wide space became considerably narrowed; and in fact it seems to have been reduced to the width of an ordinary street. It is my belief that this wide space was the forum of Uriconium; and in that case it is rather remarkable that the basilica held here exactly the same place, in regard to the forum, as at Pompeii. We have thus already brought to light a very interesting portion of the ancient Roman town, and have learnt something more than we knew before of the character and economy of the Roman towns in Britain. The basilica, as we have seen, came up to the front of the street, and formed the side of a transverse street; but this was not the case with the baths, for a space of some width between them and the forum was occupied by other buildings, which I have already described.