— Ch. 1 · Roman Origins And Archaeology —
Bath, Somerset.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
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.
Medieval Monastic Development
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.