The Roman Baths in Bath, England: One of the Finest Historic Sites in Northern Europe

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This is part of a continuing series of photographs from my 21-day, three country, five city
winter vacation to Europe with my ladyfriend Serena.
After three full days in Naples, we arrive in Bath, a historic city in England renowned for its Roman Baths
and elaborate honey-colored Georgian architecture…

This was actually my very first time visiting England and I was very excited about that. And despite continuous human habitation in England dating back 13,000 years, for me its importance lies primarily in it being the birthplace of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, The Cure, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Radiohead (to name only a few!). So maybe some of you are wondering, “Why Bath?” or even, “Where the heck is Bath?” While some of you might even be wondering “When was the last time I took a bath?” Well, the city of Bath is consistently ranked at the top of the list of not only England’s most beautiful cities but its most romantic ones as well.

And being that I was traveling with the ladyfriend, I figured it would be a nice first stop. Oh, and it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Got it? Good.

The city of Bath, located in the historic county of Somerset, southwestern England, is known for and named after its Roman-built baths. It lies astride the River Avon (Lower, or Bristol, Avon) in a natural arena of steep hills about 97 miles west of London. It was built of local limestone and is one of the most elegant and architecturally distinguished of British cities. We checked into the charming four-star Henrietta House, a few minutes walk to our first destination, the Roman Baths…

The Roman Baths is one of the finest historic sites in Northern Europe. Constructed in around 70AD as a grand bathing and socializing complex, the Roman Baths is one of the best-preserved Roman remains in the world. 1,170,000 litres of steaming spring water, reaching 104 °F, still fills the bathing site every single day.

According to an embellished legend based on a story told by Geoffrey of Monmouth (a Christian cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography), it was King Lear’s father, Bladud, who inadvertently discovered the healing properties of the hot springs. Packed off to tend pigs on his own because he had contracted leprosy, he saw that his charges loved wallowing in the water, tried it himself, and was cured.

The Roman Baths with the Bath Abbey in the distance

The spring at Bath was known to the pre-Roman Celtic people of Britain, and it was presided over by the Celtic goddess Sulis. When the Romans arrived, they called the site Aquae Sulis, “waters of Sulis,” and created a spa that became famous throughout the Roman world. Sulis was likely venerated as a healing divinity, whose sacred hot springs could cure physical or spiritual suffering and illness.

The facilities were gradually enlarged to accommodate the numbers of pilgrims who traveled from afar, and the complex remained in use until the fourth or fifth century, when Saxons gained control of the area. The baths were abandoned after the Romans withdrew from Britain, but the complex was excavated from the 1870s on.

A hypocaust is a Roman central heating system where hot air from a fire or furnace circulates under raised floors supported by tile pillars, and up through hollow tiles in the walls, warming the water in the baths. The system, meaning “fire beneath” in Greek, was developed by the Romans, who used it not only in the warm and hot rooms of the baths but also almost universally in private houses in the northern provinces.

The Great Bath today is open to the sky and visible from the street. During much of the 20th century, people occasionally swam in the Great Bath

But bathing there was closed to the public after 1978, when a bather died from an amoeba-borne illness that she contracted from the water. The Roman Baths were a factor in Bath’s being inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Today visitors can explore the Roman Baths complex, walk on the original Roman pavements and see the ruins of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. The museum collection, located next to the bathing complex, includes a gilt bronze head of the Goddess Sulis Minerva, and other Roman artefacts.

Bath has over 6 million yearly visitors, making it one of the ten English cities visited most by overseas tourists (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Oxford, & Cambridge). But there’s more to Bath than just, you know, the baths…

Bath Abbey

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery founded in the 7th century. It was reorganized in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries; major restoration work was carried out by prolific English Gothic Revival architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s.

The Abbey is built of Bath stone, which gives the exterior its yellow colour, and is not a typical example of the Perpendicular form of Gothic architecture. The two-stage central tower is not square but oblong in plan. The tower is 161 feet high, and is accessed by a staircase of 212 steps.

Work carried out in the 20th and 21st centuries included full cleaning of the stonework and the reconstruction of the pipe organ by Klais Orgelbau of Bonn. The west front of the building, having decayed badly in the 500 years since it was built, has been subject to almost wholesale restoration.

“So, why no photographs of the inside, Dan?” Alas, during the two days we spent in Bath, the Abbey was closed to visitors due to college graduation ceremonies.

Parade Gardens

The lovely Parade Gardens occupies a triangular site bounded to the south by North Parade, to the north-east by the River Avon, and to the west by Pierrepont Street and Grand Parade. Originally known as St James’s Park, it was laid out in 1709 to accompany Assembly Rooms for Spa visitors, which were built by Thomas Harrison and conceived by Welsh lawyer Beau Nash.

These two-and-a-half acre gardens are Bath’s most popular pleasure grounds. They give fine views of Pulteney Bridge, especially from the colonnade which was built early in the last century. Entrance to the park is free except for the months between the week before Easter and the end of September when there is a small entrance fee.

The King Edward VII Memorial is a bronze statue by English sculptor Newbury Abbot Trent. The angel of peace holds in one hand an olive branch (the symbol of peace) and in the other an orb (the emblem of sovereignty). It stands on a column with a bronze portrait medaillon of King Edward VII in a laurel wreath. The memorial was moved to Parade Gardens in 1933 from its original location when the Bath Royal Literary Institution was demolished.

Pulteney Bridge

One of the most photographed examples of Georgian architecture in the city and one of only four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides, Pulteney Bridge was designed in 1769 by Robert Adam. In the water below the bridge is a crescent-shaped weir (a construction in the water to regulate the flow).

The bridge is named after Frances Pulteney, wife of the Scottish lawyer and politician Sir William Pulteney. Frances was a first cousin once removed of William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath. She inherited the Earl’s substantial fortune in Somerset after his death in 1764.

Pulteney Bridge was necessary to access central Bath from the Georgian town of Bathwick on the other side of the River Avon. The architecture is classical, with pediments, pilasters and tiny leaded domes at either end. The bridge is 148 ft long and 58 ft wide. It is one of only four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides.

The city of Bath is as lovely and charming as had been written and you really only need about a day to stroll through the historic center. If you started at the Roman Baths, you can walk to the Abbey, Parade Gardens and the Pulteney Bridge, which are all about a five-minute walk from each other. It’s well worth a visit – especially for couples and families.