BATHS OR BAPTISTERIES? HOLCOMBE,LUFTON AND THEIR ANALOGUES

Summary. Prominent octagonal buildings in the fourth-century villas at Holcombe (Devon) and Lufton (Somerset) have usually been interpreted as bath-suites. This paper questions this view and suggests that they were linked with early Christian ritual, probably baptism. The exceptional character of these structures in the context of bathing is underlined. Their analogues are most evident in early Christian baptisteries of fourth- and fifth-century date in Gaul and Italy, offering support for linkage between Christian communities in late Roman Britain and those in the adjacent western provinces. Other possible sites of baptisteries in Britain are noted.