The British Local History
Find out the latest deals and the latest publications
Submit
They came, they saw - and they were conquered. The Romans arrived in this green valley nearly 2,000 years ago and, captivated by the miraculous stream of enddless hot water, stayed for four centuries. The carefully restored remains of their tremendous bath and temple complex attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to what is still the social and historical heart of Bath. Fashionable Georgian England came to Bath to take the waters, and now bathers can once more experience a dip in the natural mineral water with the opening of a new spa, close to the old Roman Baths. There's a lot more besides - stylish shops and restaurants, galleries and museums and a lively city with its historic past informing an exciting present.
Bath's parish church, known as the 'Lantern of the West' because of the light flooding its interior, is an abbey in name only. It lost its status after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539. Restoration was ordered by Elizabeth I and the church we see today, with its wonderful fan-vaulted ceiling made by brothers Robert and William Vertue, was at last completed in 1617. The abbey then started its long service as the parish church for Bath.
'Water is best' reads the inscription (in Greek) above the pediment, but you would probably disagree after one sulphurous sip. In 1706 Bath society came here daily to take the waters and to gossip. Today's elegant room, overlooking the Great Bath, was opened in 1795. Morning coffee, afternoon tea, lunch and Bath buns are now served to the musical strains of the Pump Room Trio or the resident pianist.
The Romans were not the first to discover the hot springs that bubble out of the earth, but they made full use of this incredible flow. The native Celts already worshipped their goddess Sulis at the springs when the invading Romans arrived 2,000 years ago. After initial hostilities, peace ensued when the newcomers built a sumptuous spa for relaxation and a temple where they and the Celts could practise religious rituals and worrship Sulis Minerva, a deity that unified Sulis with Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and healing.
The never-ending flow of steaming hot mineral water rises from three natural sources, known as the Hetling Spring, the Cross Spring and the King's Spring. Now, for the first time since 1978, people can once more take a dip in the waters - the only place in Britain where you may swim in natural thermal water. A Millennium grant enabled the restoration of the ancient buildings at Hetling Court and it is now the Thermae Bath Spa, crowned with a rooftop pool.
This shop-lined Palladian bridge, now largely restored to Robert Adams' original design, was the key to the Pulteney family's plans to develop their land across the River Avon. Adams clearly had the Italian Ponte Vecchio and Rialto in mind when he designed this bridge, commpleted late in 1773. It carries Argyle Street across the broad River Avon and into what was then a purely rural scene.
This was once the grand Sydney Hotel, a focal point at the end of Great Pulteney Street. It would be interesting to know what that great observer Jane Austen made of the comings and goings at this once-fashionable venue opposite her family's Bath lodgings in Sydney Place. Now the Holburne, often called one of Britain's great small museums, houses a rich collection of silver, sculpture, furniture, porcelain and paintings, with works by Gainsborough, Guardi, Stubbs and Turner.
Annie Bullen £3.50 Now £2.80
Barbeau £15.99 Now £12.79
Davies £17.99 Now £14.39
Marriage £12.99 Now £10.39
Stephen Schubert £3.99 Now £3.19
Falconer £9.99 Now £7.99
Brighton, Trevor £25.00 Now £20.00