Roman Baths
Pump Room
Stall Street
BATH
BA1 1LZ

Map

The first stop for any visitor to Bath is the Roman Baths surrounding the hot spring at the heart of the City. The Great Roman Temple and bathing complex built almost 2000 years ago is one of the country's finest ancient monuments, still flowing with natural hot water.
 

Ian & Shewy's Comments:

The attractions themselves were well kept, no complaints with the Toilet arrangements, Staff were Polite and well informed.

However we were a bit concerned about the litter on the streets of Bath, (I contacted the cleansing contractors in charge of  Bath City Centre) Comments from them say "that due to the high numbers of tourists at the moment, litter becomes a problem for them, they have taken on extra staff". (hopefully this will cure most of the problems.)

Shewy's Comment: I visited out of season, litter problem was still obvious, plus watch out for street beggars they can be a bit persistent, although there is a scheme at the moment run by Bath Police to help cut the begging problems.

Street entertainment was superb (best place for Street entertainment, is around the pump house\Bath Abbey area.

Bath Bus Station did not have any Toilet facilities, nearest Toilets (next to Iceland) were disgusting.

Passenger Comments: Enjoyable Day out, similar comments about street cleanliness, etc. but worth a return trip

Bath is full of museums covering every possible subject related to the city and its surroundings. Many of them explore the history of Bath or are connected to famous people who lived in the city, and are often housed in unique historical buildings.

If you're interested in the history of Bath, or even its very foundations, then head up to the Building of Bath Museum, located in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel on the Paragon. There's also the Museum of Bath at Work, which gives a unique insight into the businesses, which literally powered the growing city. The story and social history of the miners of the North Somerset Coalfield, which provided the fuel for much of the area is told in the Radstock Museum, housed in the restored Market Hall in Radstock, 10 miles south of Bath.

To step further back in time, you can follow in the footsteps of the Romans at the Roman Baths Museum in the heart of the City, where you can discover how Bath came into being. You can even taste the famous waters in the Pump Room. To see what happened when the Saxons invaded, the Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults recreates 1600 years of history beneath the magnificent Abbey.

Jane Austen lived and based several of her books in Bath, and on Gay Street, near where she once lived you can find the Jane Austen Centre, which will guide you through what her life and time in Bath were really like. For an authentic feel of times gone by, period decorations and furniture have been reinstated in No1 Royal Crescent, so that the house appears as it might have been as a fine 18th century townhouse. You can also view the very place where scientist and astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, at his former house at 19 New King Street. Of course, while Georgians took the waters at Bath, life was very different on the other side of the Atlantic. The American Museum at Claverton Manor shows how Americans lived in the 17th-19th centuries, including displays of Shaker furniture and home-cooking.

Treasures dating back five thousand years can be found at the Museum of East Asian Art, while the 4000 year-old story of communication can be traced at the Bath Postal Museum where the world's very first stamp, the "Penny Black" was posted. Changing dress-styles over the centuries are examined at the Museum of Costume and Assembly Rooms, taking the story of fashion right up to the present day in one of the finest collections in the world. The Holburne Museum of Art houses a fine collection of 17th and 18th century art and artifacts, including works by Gainsborough, and has an award-winning teahouse. Sally Lunn's House, the oldest house in Bath is also home to the famous Sally Lunn Bun still made to a secret recipe - keep some room to try this local speciality.

500 BC (some say much earlier), legend has it that Bladud, father of Shakespeare's King Lear, discovered the springs and the locally living Celts began to worship here, dedicating the springs to their God, Sul.

From AD 43 the Romans started the development of Bath. The city was located on one of the Roman's principal roads, the Fosse Way, which stretched from Exeter to the Humber. The Romans developed Bath as a city of recreation, rather than a garrison, and built around the hot springs a sophisticated series of baths used for bathing and curative purposes. A temple, dedicated to the goddess Minerva, was built alongside the baths and this area formed the centre of Aquae Sulis.

AD 577 a great battle at Dyrham (just north of Bath) saw the demise of the Roman occupation in the South West when the Saxons triumphed.

AD 675 the Saxons founded a monastery which was to become one of the most important in England. Situated very close to the site of the present Abbey, it included the first of Bath's three Abbeys built in AD 781. However, during Saxon times, the great baths and temple at Aquae Sulis fell into ruin and remained hidden until 1790.

AD 973 the monastery was used for the coronation of King Edgar, the first monarch to rule over a united England. His coronation took place in the Saxon abbey in the presence of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in a service which is little changed and is still used.

11th Century, Bath fell victim to revolt and about this time Bishop John of Tours bought the city for £60 and built a vast cathedral over the site of the former monastery.

1499 Bath's third Abbey was built under the direction of Bishop Oliver King who was prompted to start the rebuilding after a powerful vision of angels whom he saw assisting with the building by climbing a ladder to heaven. The image is now represented in carving on the recently restored west front. Bath's Abbey is known as the "Lantern of the West" because of its exceptional stained glass.

Bath flourished on the strength of its wool trade throughout the Middle Ages and the three baths (Kings Bath, Cross Bath and Hot Bath) continued to attract visitors, mostly the sick and the poor who came in search of a cure or to benefit from the cities charities.

1668 Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, wrote of Bath and the bathing "it cannot be clean to go so many bodies together in the same water". Baths population was less than 1200 and there were only about 150 houses.

1692,1702 and 1703 Queen Anne came to Bath to take the waters and these royal visits began Bath's development.
Early 1700's Richard "Beau" Nash, Ralph Allen and John Wood came to Bath and it was these three men who created the new city. Nash changing the city's social structure and Allen and Wood providing the public buildings, homes and street including the renowned Circus and Royal Crescent.

1703 Beau Nash arrived in Bath from London. Despite being a professional gambler, he was soon accepted by society. Following the death in a duel of Captain Webster, the Master of Ceremonies, Nash succeeded him as "King of Bath". Nash had a passion for order, propriety and cleanliness, set new social rules and reformed and regulated the fares of the sedan chair owners who had been unruly and bullying. These regulations form the basis of the regulations, which govern modern taxis.

1710 Ralph Allen arrived in Bath from Cornwall to become assistant to the postmistress. He later made his fortune by reorganising the main postal routes across England avoiding London which all routes had formerly passed through. This earned him a considerable annual sum from the Post Office. In 1727 Allen bought the stone quarries at Combe Down and with the help of architect, John Wood, transformed the city.

1727 (The year his son, John Wood the younger, was born) Wood was brought to Bath from Yorkshire by Allen. Wood, like many of his colleagues at that time was an enthusiast of the 16th century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio and his dream was to recreate the former splendour of Bath in the fashionable Palladian style. Queen Square, designed in 1728, was Woods first major work, followed by Prior Park, designed in 1735, which was built for Allen and to show of Bath stone to its best advantage. He also drew up designs for the Circus and the Royal Crescent but it was his son, John Wood the younger, who completed the construction of these masterpieces.

Life at this time took on a strict routine. Early morning there was a ritual visit to the Pump Room to take the regulation three glasses of water, to see and be seen. Church was attended at mid day, dinner at three and then a rest until the great round of card playing, dancing and socialising started in the evening.

1754 the building of the Circus, a circle of 33 houses divided into 3 sections commenced. Drawing inspiration from the Colosseum, it shows three classic styles of architecture - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian while the carved frieze represents the arts and the sciences. The acorns on the roof commemorate the story of Bladud whose pigs often fed on acorns.

1754 John Wood the Elder died (just after work on the Circus began), followed by Nash's death in 1761 and Allen's death in 1764. The Royal Mineral Hospital was the only project on which the three men collaborated with Dr William Oliver (famous as the inventor of the Bath Oliver biscuit). The hospital was started in 1737. The Pump Room, Assembly Rooms and Guildhall as we know them today were not built until after their deaths.

1767-1774 The Royal Crescent was constructed. Under the direction of John Wood the younger, several different builders and craftsmen completed thirty houses. Set on a hill with sweeping lawns to the front, the imposing sweep of the semi-elliptical curve is emphasised by the huge Ionic columns.

1769 Work began on the Assembly Rooms, which were, designed by John Wood the younger. The interior includes the ballroom, the Tea Room and the Octagon - three superb 18th Century Rooms. Although severely damaged by bombs in 1942, the Rooms are now restored to their former splendour. In the basement is the Museum of Costume.

1770 Robert Adam, the renowned Scottish architect, designed Pulteney Bridge to connect the Bathwick Estate with the city. Based on the Ponte Vecchio of Florence, the bridge is unusual as it is lined with shops. It was completed in 1774.

1776 Thomas Baldwin, the city surveyor, designed the Guildhall which included the magnificent Banqueting Room which is elaborately decorated in the Adam Style with its chandeliers made in 1778. 1786 Baldwins new Pump Room (replacing the original, smaller building) was completed by John Palmer.

1788 Baldwin commenced the building of Great Pulteney Street, Bath's most impressive street. 1100 feet long and 100 feet wide and ending at the Holburne Menstrie Museum which was built in 1796 by Charles Harcourt Masters and was formerly the Sydney Hotel before becoming a museum in 1915.

During the 18th and 19th centuries Bath became a cultural centre attracting such famous people as writers Jane Austen, Oliver Goldsmith, and later Charles Dickens artist Thomas Gainsborough, poets William Wordsworth, Richard Brinsley Sheriden and Walter Savage Landor and actors David Garrick and Sarah Siddons. Bath also attracted Lord Nelson, Josiah Wedgwood, William Pitt (later Prime Minister, Lord Clive (later Governor of Bengal in India) and the explorer and missionary Dr David Livingstone.

1805 Theatre Royal opened.

1810 Kennet and Avon Canal opened. The canal connected the River Thames with the Severn Estuary and was used for the transportation of coal and other products.

1830 Princess Victoria opened Royal Victoria Park which was designed by City Architect of the time, Edward Davis. It was the first of many places in England to be named in her honour.

2nd May 1840 The first Penny Black postage stamp was sent from 8 Broad Street, Bath (now the Postal Museum).

About 1840 The canal was superseded by the Great Western Railway, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel who also built Bath Spa Station.

1890's John Brydon extended the original Guildhall, adding the dome and two baroque wings.

1940's Ministry of Defence Navy Department came to Bath and occupied various sites in Bath, including the Empire Hotel and Foxhill.

1948 Bath International Festival began.

1966 The new University received a its charter and opened at Claverton.

1982 Royal reopened after extensive refurbishment at a cost of £2 million. The magnificent curtains were a gift of Lady Oona Chaplin, and they bear his initials.

1987 Bath was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List in recognition of the city's famous architecture

1990's Bath is now a flourishing and vibrant city boasting some of the finest Roman remains in Europe, superb Georgian architecture, extensive shopping of excellent quality and choice and is a notable West Country centre for antiques. The city is a frequent winner of the 'Britain in Bloom' competition.

Bath is renowned for its sporting links, particularly highlighted by a first class rugby union side, a national sporting centre of excellence at the University and a leading racecourse on lansdown hilltop, which attracts leading trainers and jockeys.

2002 Bath Spa re-opens and over five thousand years of tradition are restored as the waters come into full use and provide benefit once again.