History of Bath

Bath owes its name, history and very existence to the hot mineral waters that rise from its two springs which never vary in temperature or quantity. Founded around the only naturally-occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom and first documented as a Roman spa, the water from its springs were believed to be a cure for many afflictions, and from Elizabethan to Georgian times, Bath was a resort city for the wealthy. Situated in South West England, 159kms (99 miles) west of Central London and 21kms (13 miles) southeast of Bristol and with a population of over 90,000, Bath is designated as a World Heritage site.

Celtic and Roman Bath

The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD; the city was then referred to as Aquae Sulis (meaning the waters of Sulis) and identified with the goddess Minerva. During the Roman period, an increasing number of grand temples and bathing complexes, including the Great Bath, were built in the area. The city was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century, but from the 4th century onwards, the Western Roman Empire and its urban life declined. However, while the great suite of baths at Bath fell into disrepair, its hot springs continued to flow.

Post-Roman and Saxon Bath

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions Bath falling to the West Saxons in 577 AD after the Battle of Deorham. The Anglo-Saxons called the town Baoum, meaning at the baths, which became the source of the towns present name. In 675 AD, Osric, King of the Hwicce, set up a monastic house at Bath, probably using the walled area as its precinct. King Offa of Mercia gained control of the monastery in 781 AD and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St Peter. By this time, the city had become a royal possession.

Norman, Medieval and Tudor Bath

King William Rufus granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours, who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath in 1088, with permission to move the seat of Somerset from Wells to Bath. Bishop John, the first Bishop of Bath, planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, and new baths were built around the three springs. Later bishops preferred Wells, which regained cathedral status jointly with Bath, and by the 15th century, Bath cathedral was badly dilapidated.

Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild the cathedral on a smaller scale, with the new cathedral completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539. Henry VIII considered the cathedral redundant, and it became derelict before being restored as the citys parish church in the Elizabethan period, when the city revived as a spa. The baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy in the bathing seasons. Bath was granted city status in 1590.

Seventeenth and 18th century Bath

In the 1700s, Bath became the rendezvous for society, and by 1801, its population had increased ten-fold to some 34,000, making it the eighth-largest city in England. Georgian tastes favoured the civilised regularity of Baths streets and squares and the delightful contrast of the town with the rural nature immediately at hand.

There had been much rebuilding in the Stuart period, but this was eclipsed by the massive expansion of the city in Georgian times. The old town within the walls was rejuvenated in response to the continuing demand for elegant accommodation for the citys fashionable visitors, for whom Bath had become a pleasure resort as well as a spa.

Ninteenth century Bath

If the 18th century was the century of the glitterati, the 19th was altogether less frenetic and superficial, more earnest, solid and dull. But it uncovered and exhibited the long-forgotten Roman Baths, renovated the Abbey and still attracted painters and writers such as Cox, Turner, Sickert, Jane Austen, Walter Savage Landor and Thomas Carlyle.

There was also the proliferation of charitable societies, education, shops and residential housing for the middle and working classes. The railway and the canal system both touched Bath, and the city became more residential and industrial, but had a rough time financially through most of the 1800s. The temporary revival of spas, following the fashion on the continent, was of great economic importance. .

Twentieth century Bath

There was considerable damage to noteworthy historical buildings in this century, which have all since been reconstructed. The 1950s and 60s saw the protection of special buildings, the perpetuation of a Georgian style and restriction of building materials to Bath stone for facings as part of an effort to preserve the special atmosphere of Bath. Following the founding of the National Health Service, water-cure treatments were available on prescription. The withdrawal of this service by the NHS in the 1970s and a health scare in 1978 marked the closure of the public baths.

The last part of the century saw Bath become a World Heritage site and a major tourist attraction, at a time when interest in the acquisition of art and antiques and of shopping as a primary leisure activity was on the rise. Bath, with its multitude of delightful shops selling everything from the finest antiques and works of art to cheap and cheerful souvenirs, turned out to be uniquely suited to provide 'retail therapy' instead of 'hydrotherapy'.

Bath today

Bath now has a state-of-the-art spa, with public bathing available for the first time since 1978. Incorporating a new roof-top pool from which the cityscape can be viewed, the project was designed to reconnect the city with its very reason for being - the natural thermal springs - and is intended to revitalise spa culture throughout the UK. It fits perfectly with the world-wide interest in alternative and holistic medicine and therapies.