Bath

Updated: Sep 16

City of Bath, city to bath - City of Bath 428; The Great Spa Towns of Europe 1613

What and Why

Bath is the only city in the United Kingdom (UK) that has hot springs and as a result the city has become a major spa site since Roman times, when the Romans built various baths and temples. The city carried the Latin name Aquae Sulis, meaning 'the waters of Sulis' honouring the Roman god. This culture has continued and prospered when during the 16th century CE Georgian era, claims were made for the curative properties of mineral water from the springs, and a large number of Georgian architectures were then erected as the city developed.

This heritage has made the city one of the most popular tourist cities in the UK. It is also one of the few cities that carry more than 100% of a WHS: The city is itself a full WHS and it is also part of the sites of 'The Great Spa Towns of Europe'.

The city was founded with a story about pigs. Legend has it that Prince Bladud, legendary father of King Leir, was wandering the countryside in 863 BCE having been banished from the kingdom as he was suffering from leprosy. He was only given a herd of pigs as company which also caught his skin ailments. As one know pigs love rolling in mud, especially rolling in warm mud. When these pigs arrived at Bath, Bladud and his pigs discovered a hot spring, which had turned the surrounding ground to warm mud. While his pigs went frolicking in the mud, he went to take a bath in the nearby warm water, and it appeared to cure his and the pigs’ skin disease. With his disease cured, he returned to his kingdom, and went on to found the city of Bath. Bladud's son was King Leir of King Lear fame.

Toponymy

The city gets its name from the presence of its famous Roman baths, which is self-evident.

See

Roman Baths

The Roman Baths is the must-see attraction in Bath. The Roman building is a well-preserved thermae, or bath complex with a temple worshipping Sulis built on the site during the 1st century CE. The public baths, which was then a common practice, was used until the 5th century CE.

The entrance to the complex was through a recent building next door known as the Grand Pump Room. This room carries significant importance as it is how this city is reborn, when Beau Nash and Thomas Baldwin built the social area of the the Grand Pump Room on top of the recently rediscovered bath ruins in the late 18th century CE. This attraction itself brought in visitors from all over the country and hence prospered the city until today.

It is worthwhile to note that Bath is the only place in the UK to source mineral hot springs. More than 1 million litres of water is sourced daily from the nearby Mendip Hills, which then percolates down through limestone aquifers to a depth of between 2,700 and 4,300 m. Geothermal energy raises the water temperature here to between 69 and 96 °C. Under pressure, the heated water rises along fissures and faults in the limestone, until it bubbles up from the ground into the baths at a very comfortable temperature of 46 °C every day.

The Roman Baths contain within the building a superb museum which holds artefacts from the time of Aquae Sulis. Many of the artefacts are extremely well preserved. Below is the bust of Sulis. Much of the complex has been modified over the years, and contains architectural styles of different periods, until the 19th century CE.

The original aquifer under the building.

Clearly the most important exhibit is about how the bathing routine was like during the Roman times, in fact they are similar to the Middle Eastern version of hammam (Arabic: حمّام, ḥammām) as blogged in Essaouira (ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ). One thing very surprising to note: Roman bathing did not use a lot of water.

The bath complex, together with the routine, features the following separate rooms.

apodyterium - changing rooms.
palaestrae - exercise rooms.
natatio - open-air swimming pool.
laconica and sudatoria - superheated dry and wet sweating-rooms.
calidarium - hot room, heated and with a hot-water pool and a separate basin on a stand (labrum)
tepidarium - warm room, indirectly heated and with a tepid pool.
frigidarium - cool room, unheated and with a cold bath, often monumental in size and domed, it was the heart of the baths complex.
rooms for massage and other health treatments.

In a sense these rooms help me to recall my visit to our blogged Piazza Armerina with a similar Roman bath construction and setup, especially when I recalled the mosaics.

Bath Abbey

The Bath Abbey is a very impressive large church in the city, and is possibly the largest church not to be called or used as a cathedral in the UK. Founded in the 7th century CE on a former Norman church, it was rebuilt in the 10th, 12th and 16th centuries CE, it is the last Gothic church in the UK.

At the west front are carvings of angels and to either side long stone ladders with angels climbing up them. This is a direct reference to the dream of the patriarch Jacob (Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב‎, Yaʿaqōb) climbing the ladder to heaven mentioned in the Bible (Koine Greek: Τ ὰ Βιβλία, Tà Biblía) and is commonly called the Jacob's Ladder.

Pulteney Bridge and Weir

Literally and physically the centre of the city, the much photographed Palladian bridge and its neighbouring weir is the symbol of Bath, almost overshadowing the baths themselves due to its impressive architecture and landscape. The Pulteney Bridge is named after Frances Pulteney, wife of William Pulteney, formerly William Johnstone and was the then wealthiest person in the UK.

The yellowish limestone bridge, with all the shops along the bridge, is one of only four bridges in the world with shops across the full span on both sides, similar to the famous Ponte Vecchio of Florence (Italian: Firenze). The bridge is still used by cars although there have been constant discussions on pedestrianisation of the bridge.

The bridge overlooks the very impressive Pulteney Weir. The weir was built because for centuries Bath had suffered from the flooding from River Avon. Even back in the Roman times, the city had to raise the level of their baths complex to alleviate the problem. These dangerous flood levels are marked various buildings in Bath. In the early 1970s CE, the weir was rebuilt in its current iconic 'U' shape with an associated flood sluice gate to solve the flood issues along the river. One can take some very expensive river cruise along the river to look at the weir.

One can easily recognise that the weir was recently featured in the 2012 CE movie Les Misérables where Javert commits suicide by jumping into the River Seine.

Royal Crescent

A magnificent semi-elliptical crescent of houses built in the late 18th century CE, the Royal Crescent was the first of Bath's eight crescents, and its shape remains unique due to its sheer size. While it looks like a single massive building, it is in fact a row of 30 terraced houses and is widely considered as one of the greatest examples of Georgian architecture. Within the current structure, most of them are still residential houses, the one at the end is a museum of the building itself while the one in the middle is a hotel and spa. This innovative architectural design was since copied in other British cities.

Outside the Royal Crescent is a huge lawn which offers an unrivalled view of the city and an ideal picnicking area. The lawn is separated from neighbouring park by a ha-ha, a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving an uninterrupted view of the landscape beyond. The ha-ha is almost invisible until seen from very close nearby.

There are seven other crescents in Bath which offer very similar architecture. The picture below is the Cavendish Crescent.

Jane Austen Centre

In spite of the museum's extreme popularity, this museum has absolutely nothing to do with Jane Austen herself. While Austen did live in Bath, there was no evidence she set foot in the current building. Most of the artefacts and exhibits are those collected from various films and television series based on Austen's stories rather than the historic Austen herself.

Buy and Do

Bath, what else? Bath is the only city in the UK with natural hot springs. One cannot do so in the Roman Baths as they are national monuments but one can do so in Thermae Bath Spa across the road, although this is a more modern and artificial setting.

Eat and Drink

Bath bun

There is a Bath bun available, which is no more than a milk bun with raisin and sugar sprinkled on its top. I have to say I do not get the fuss about it when I bought it.

Getting There and Around

Bath is easily accessible by train and the main station is Bath Spa. From the station it is a easy walk to the city. All the main landmarks are very close to each other and are accessible on foot. The city offers a good one or two days of visit. The Roman Baths entry fee is GBP £27.