Central heating Roman style...

How house from 307AD kept warm in UK winter

- By James Podesta

CONSERVATIONISTS are working on Britain's only fully exposed Roman house, complete with a 1,700-year-old central heating system.

It was built in 307AD in Dorchester, Dorset, which was then known as Durnovaria, and rediscovered by archaeologists in 1937.

Two of its six rooms have hypocausts which helped them retain heat in the cold winter months.

A fire would be lit in a pit outside the room and hot air would flow through a hole in the wall.

Once the air started flowing through the system it would "drag" more hot air after it. Inside the room the air flowed through channels under the floor to flues in the walls.