Roman Baths

"A part of the World Heritage Site - City of Bath"

Bath or Aquae Sulis was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia and was a religious settlement which was given defensive stone walls, probably in the 3rd century. The area within the walls was largely open ground initially but soon began to be filled in. The Romans were probably in occupation from around 43AD attracted by the natural hot spring which had been a shrine to the Celtic Brythons and dedicated to their goddess Sulis. The Spring is a natural mineral spring and the Baths were built up around it and an adjoining temple was also built. Today they can be viewed in the centre of the city. The Romans identified with Minerva their goddess of water, however the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to the town's Roman name of Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis"). The adjoining temple was constructed in 60-70 AD and the bathing complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years. During the Roman occupation of Britain, engineers drove oak piles to provide a stable foundation into the mud and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century it was further modified and enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted building, which included three baths, the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). After the Romans left in the fifth century, they fell into disrepair and were eventually lost due to silting up. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, suggests the original Roman baths were destroyed in the 6th century.   Roman Bath

Over the centuries since the baths have been modified a number times and what we see today is housed in an 18th century building. Visitors of the 18th century would drink the waters in the Pump Room. In 1810 the hot springs appeared to dry up, but a new Hot Bath spring was opened up to the bottom of the complex where it was found that the spring had not dried up but merely flowed into a new channel, so it was restored to its original course and the baths filled once more.

When you visit today you enter via the concert hall built in 1897, opposite the west door of Bath Abbey. It is a continuation of the Grand Pump Room with a glass domed centre. Look up and you will see the ceiling is decorated with images of the four seasons and is domed.

The Roman Baths are below street level and has four main features, the:

Sacred Spring, at the heart of the site for thousands of years it has been providing hot water to the baths at a temperature of 46 degrees centigrade. In Roman times a temple was built next to the spring dedicated to the Goddess Sulis Minerva and the mineral rich water supplied a bath-house,  which attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire. Today it provides water to the Kings Bath which was built in the 12th century using the Roman Spring building as it's foundations.

The Roman Temple, only one of two known classical temples from Roman Britain. It is where the statue of the goddess  Sulis Minerva was housed. It stood on a podium more than 2 metres above the surrounding courtyard and was approached by a flight of steps. It was an impressive building with 4 large fluted Corinthian columns at front and is believed to have been built in the 1st century. It was modified in the later part of the 2nd century and is believed to have remained a focal point of worship up to the 4th century until it was ordered to close, eventually falling into disrepair and then collapsing. The ornamental pediment which was supported by the 4 columns did survive and today it has been re-erected in the Roman Baths Museum.

The Georgian Pump Room is on the ground level and is primarily today a restaurant where you can get refreshments and listen to the Pump Room Trio who are playing most days, when they are not then a pianist plays as well as at every lunch time. It is neo-classical salon where hot Spa water is drawn for drinking and you can try the hot Spa Water from a fountain. It contains 43 minerals and has an unusual taste. Today they use the Spa Water for heating the Roman Baths and Pump Rooms in the winter.

Further information Grid   Location: Roman Baths and Pump Room, Bath, Somerset Ceremonial County: Somerset Grid Reference: ST750647 Map Link: Multimap Aerial photo: Google Aerial Photo      Multimap Aerial Photo Route(s):   Best Times to Visit:   E-mail: romanbaths_bookings@bathnes.gov.uk Website: Roman Baths website Other useful websites: Wiki Wiki2, Nearby Locations:   Other Relevant pages: Roman Britain World Heritage Sites      World Heritage Sites - Further Information World Heritage Sites in the UK

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