Look for a long, white timber-framed building with flowers hanging from the windows and a crooked red-tiled roof-The Six Bells stands right along the street, its black beams and old-fashioned sign making it easy to spot.
Now, as you stand here, imagine the centuries melting away under your feet. The Six Bells may look like a cozy English pub, but this ground once rumbled with the sounds of Roman life, for beneath the pub were the baths of ancient Verulamium. Picture the air thick with steam and laughter, until chaos exploded when Boudica’s fiery rebellion swept through in AD 60, leaving the bath house battered and the city in ruins. Years passed, the Romans rebuilt anew, but the echoes of that old spa still haunt these stones. Fast forward to the bustling, timber-framed pub before you-the very name “The Six Bells” rings out from the medieval church nearby, once boasting exactly six bells. Nowadays, the church has even more, but the pub keeps the old name, as if holding onto a secret. Over the centuries, history lovers couldn’t resist; archaeologists dug in both the 20th and 21st centuries, and in 2012, the pub even starred on TV, where fresh trenches were dug in the car park-who knows what ancient ghost might have been disturbed! So listen to the creak of old wood and the laughter inside, and remember: here, every pint is poured over layers of thrilling and mysterious history.
