My recent trip to Wales and the west country included a day in Bath. I had the opportunity to visit the famous baths, which are one of the best preserved sites in Britain.
There is good evidence that the Celts hade a religious site here before the Roman invasion, as a hot spring would have seemed quite miraculous. It was dedicated to the Goddess Sulis. When the Romans arrived in 60-70AD they equated this divinity with their own goddess Minerva and so built a temple dedicated to Sulis-Minerva on the site. The town that grew up around this was known as Aquae Sulis, the waters of Sulis. Around the temple site a bathing facility was built to take advantage of the hot spring water and this continued in use for the next 300 years.
After the Roman withdrawal (c 400AD) the sue of the baths declined and they fell into disrepair. The Anglo Saxon chronicle contains a reference that suggests that they were deliberately destroyed in the 6th century, although whether this was deliberate vandalism or just salvaging of building material is unclear.
The next mention is in the 12th century when a bath was built on the site and a new bath was built in the 16th century, possibly to commemorate the visit of Anne of Denmark, wife of King James I. The buildings that are seen today date mostly from the 18th century during the height of Bath's reign as the premier spa town of England and during which John Wood and his son were responsible for many new buildings in the city. Rather than bathing, there was a fashion for drinking the waters as a health cure and the Pump room on this site enable them to do so in comfort. The waters can still be taken there today.
Continuing work on the site has opened up areas previously closed to the public and so it was good to be able to find the time to see these new area of the complex.
