Bath, Somerset

• 1. Roman Origins And Archaeology

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  In the valley of the River Avon, a spring rises from limestone aquifers at 46 degrees Celsius. This geothermal water has flowed for millennia before any human hand touched it. The Romans arrived in AD 60 and built a temple dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva over this sacred site. They constructed a bathing complex that included a caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure. Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to create a stable foundation for the stone chamber lined with lead. Archaeologists have recovered curse tablets scratched onto metal sheets from the sacred spring. These tablets were written in Latin and laid curses on personal enemies who stole clothes or committed other wrongs. A citizen might write a curse against suspects to be read by the goddess herself. The town was later given defensive walls probably in the third century after Christ. After Roman authority failed in the first decade of the fifth century, the baths fell into disrepair. Rising water levels and silting eventually caused them to be lost to history. In March 2012, a hoard of thirty thousand silver Roman coins was unearthed during an archaeological dig. These coins believed to date from the third century were found about one kilometer from the Roman baths.

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• 2. Medieval Monastic Development

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  A monastery was founded at an early date reputedly by Saint David although more probably in 675 by Osric King of the Hwicce. Nennius a ninth-century historian mentions a Hot Lake in the land of the Hwicce along the River Severn. He adds that men may go there to bathe at any time and every man can have the kind of bath he likes. Bede described hot baths in the geographical introduction to the Ecclesiastical History in terms very similar to those of Nennius. King Offa of Mercia gained control of the monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church dedicated to St Peter. During the Anglo-Saxon era Bath was known as Acemannesceastre or Aching Men's City on account of the reputation these springs had for healing the sick. By the ninth century the old Roman street pattern was lost and Bath became a royal possession. King Alfred laid out the town afresh leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct. In the Burghal Hidage Bath is recorded as a burh and is described as having walls of three miles allocated one thousand men for defence. During the reign of Edward the Elder coins were minted in Bath based on a design from the Winchester mint but with BAD on the obverse relating to the Anglo-Saxon name for the town. Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973 in a ceremony that formed the basis of all future English coronations. William Rufus granted the town abbey and mint to a royal physician John of Tours who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath following the sacking of the town during the Rebellion of 1088.

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• 3. Georgian Architectural Renaissance

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  Architects John Wood the Elder and his son laid out new quarters in streets and squares with identical façades giving an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy gold Bath stone used for construction in the city was obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines owned by Ralph Allen between 1694 and 1764. Allen was responsible for improving and expanding the postal service in western England holding the contract for more than forty years. In the early eighteenth century Bath acquired its first purpose-built theatre the Old Orchard Street Theatre which was rebuilt as the Theatre Royal along with the Grand Pump Room attached to the Roman Baths. Master of ceremonies Beau Nash presided over the city's social life from 1704 until his death in 1761 drawing up a code of behaviour for public entertainments. The Circus consists of three long curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The inspiration behind this design was the Colosseum in Rome where the three façades have a different order of architecture on each floor. Wood never lived to see his unique example of town planning completed as he died five days after personally laying the foundation stone on the 18th of May 1754. The most spectacular terrace is the Royal Crescent built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood. It features a great curved façade of what appears to be about thirty houses with Ionic columns on a rusticated ground floor.

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• 4. Modern Wars And Rebuilding

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  Between the evening of the 25th of April and the early morning of the 27th of April 1942 Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for RAF raids on German cities Lübeck and Rostock. This campaign became popularly known as the Baedeker Blitz. During the Bath Blitz more than four hundred people were killed and more than nineteen thousand buildings damaged or destroyed. Houses in Royal Crescent Circus and Paragon were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms. A high explosive bomb landed on the east side of Queen Square resulting in houses on the south side being damaged and the Francis Hotel losing part of its frontage. The buildings have all been restored although there are still signs of the bombing. A postwar review of inadequate housing led to the clearance and redevelopment of areas of the city in a postwar style often at variance with the local Georgian style. In the 1950s nearby villages Combe Down Twerton and Weston were incorporated into the city to enable development of housing much of it council housing. In 1965 town planner Colin Buchanan published Bath: A Planning and Transport Study which sought to better accommodate the motor car including the idea of a traffic tunnel underneath the centre of Bath. Though criticised by conservationists some parts of the plan were implemented. In the 1970s and 1980s it was recognised that conservation of historic buildings was inadequate leading to more care and reuse of buildings and open spaces. In 1987 the city was selected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site recognising its international cultural significance.

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• 5. Contemporary Economy And Tourism

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  One of Bath's principal industries is tourism with annually more than one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors. The visits mainly fall into categories of heritage tourism and cultural tourism aided by the city's selection in 1987 as a World Heritage Site. All significant stages of the history of England are represented within the city from Roman Baths to Bath Abbey and Royal Crescent to the modern Thermae Bath Spa. The size of the tourist industry is reflected in almost three hundred places of accommodation including more than eighty hotels two of which have five-star ratings over 180 bed and breakfasts and two campsites located on the western edge of the city. Since opening of Thermae Bath Spa in 2006 the city has attempted to recapture its historical position as only town or city in United Kingdom offering visitors opportunity to bathe in naturally heated spring waters. Important economic sectors include education and health providing thirty thousand jobs retail tourism and leisure employing fourteen thousand people and business and professional services supporting ten thousand workers. Major employers are National Health Service Bath Spa University University of Bath and Bath and North East Somerset Council. Growing employment sectors include information and communication technologies and creative and cultural industries where Bath is one of recognised national centres for publishing.

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• 6. Cultural Institutions And Arts

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  Bath became centre of fashionable life in England during eighteenth century when Old Orchard Street Theatre and architectural developments such as Lansdown Crescent Royal Crescent Circus and Pulteney Bridge were built. Jane Austen lived there from 1801 with her father mother and sister Cassandra residing at four different addresses until 1806. She never liked the city writing to Cassandra It will be two years tomorrow since we left Bath for Clifton with what happy feelings of escape. Her novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion describe taking waters social life and music recitals set in the city. William Friese-Greene experimented with celluloid and motion pictures in his studio in 1870s developing some earliest movie camera technology credited as being one inventors of cinematography. The city has five theatres including Theatre Royal Ustinov Studio Egg Rondo Theatre and Mission Theatre attracting internationally renowned companies and directors annual season by Sir Peter Hall. Bath holds annual Bath International Music Festival Mozartfest Bath Literature Festival Bath Film Festival Bath Digital Festival Bath Fringe Festival Bath Beer Festival and Bath Chilli Festival. The city home to Victoria Art Gallery Museum of East Asian Art Holburne Museum numerous commercial art galleries antique shops and other museums among them Roman Baths Fashion Museum Jane Austen Centre Herschel Museum of Astronomy and Roman Baths.

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