Bath
Encyclopedia
Bath is a city
in the ceremonial county
of Somerset
in the south west
of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol
. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter
by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough
in 1889 which gave it administrative
independence from its county, Somerset
. The city became part of Avon
when that county was created in 1974. Since 1996, when Avon was abolished, Bath has been the principal centre of the unitary authority
of Bath and North East Somerset
(B&NES).
The city was first established as a spa
with the Latin
name, Aquae Sulis
("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans
in AD 43, although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then. They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon
around hot springs
. Edgar
was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey
in 973. Much later, it became popular as a spa town
during the Georgian era
, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture
crafted from Bath Stone
.
The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site
in 1987. The city has a variety of theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues, which have helped to make it a major centre for tourism, with over one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. The city has two universities and several schools and colleges. There is a large service sector, and growing information and communication technologies and creative industries, providing employment for the population of Bath and the surrounding area.
The hills around Bath such as Bathampton Down
saw human activity from the Mesolithic
period. Several Bronze Age
round barrow
s were opened by John Skinner
in the 18th century. Bathampton Camp may have been an Iron Age
hill fort
or stock enclosure. A Long barrow
site believed to be from the Beaker people
was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down
.
Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman Baths' main spring was treated as a shrine by the Iron Age Britons
,
and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis
, whom the Roman
s identified with Minerva
; 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"). Messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablet
s, have been recovered from the Sacred Spring by archaeologists.
These curse tablets were written in Latin
, and usually laid curses on people by whom the writer felt they had been wronged. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he would write a curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the Goddess Sulis Minerva.
The 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
, and possibly on the instructions of Emperor Claudius,
engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted
building,
which housed the calidarium (hot bath), tepidarium
(warm bath), and frigidarium
(cold bath).
The city was given defensive walls
, probably in the 3rd century.
After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost due to silting up.
(c. 500 AD), where King Arthur
is said to have defeated the Anglo-Saxons
, although this is disputed. The city fell to the West Saxons
in 577 after the Battle of Deorham
; the Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Ruin
may describe the appearance of the Roman site about this time. A monastery was set up in Bath at an early date – reputedly by Saint David, though more probably in 675 by Osric, King of the Hwicce
, perhaps using the walled area as its precinct. Nennius
, a ninth-century historian, mentions a "Hot Lake" in the land of the Hwicce
, which was along the Severn, and adds "It is surrounded by a wall, made of brick and stone, and men may go there to bathe at any time, and every man can have the kind of bath he likes. If he wants, it will be a cold bath; and if he wants a hot bath, it will be hot". Bede also describes hot baths in the geographical introduction to the Ecclesiastical History in terms very similar to those of Nennius. King Offa
of Mercia
gained control of this monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter
.
By the 9th century the old Roman street pattern had been lost and Bath had become a royal possession, with King Alfred
laying out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct. In the Burghal Hidage
Bath is described as having walls of 1375 yards (1,257.3 m) and was allocated 1000 men for defence. During the reign of Edward the Elder
coins were minted
in the town, based on a design from the Winchester
mint but with 'BAD' on the obverse relating to the Anglo-Saxons
name for the town Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning "at the baths," and this was the source of the present name. Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973.
King William Rufus
granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours
, who became Bishop of Wells
and Abbot of Bath, following the sacking of the town during the Rebellion of 1088
. It was papal policy for bishops to move to more urban seats, and he translated his own from Wells to Bath. He planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with the bishop's palace beside it. New baths were built around the three springs. However, later bishops returned the episcopal seat to Wells, while retaining the name of Bath in their title as the Bishop of Bath and Wells
. St John's Hospital
was founded around 1180, by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin
and is among the oldest almshouse
s in England. The 'hospital of the baths' was built beside the hot springs of the Cross Bath
, for their health giving properties and to provide shelter for the poor infirm.
Administrative systems fell within the Hundreds
. The Bath Hundred
had various names over the centuries including The Hundred of Le Buri. The Bath Foreign Hundred or Forinsecum covered the area outside the city itself. They were later combined into the Bath Forum Hundred
. The wealthy merchants had no status within the Hundred Courts and formed guild
s to gain influence, they also built the first guildhall
probably in the 13th century. Around 1200 the first mayor
was also appointed.
By the 15th century, Bath's abbey church was badly dilapidated and in need of repairs. Oliver King
, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild it on a smaller scale. The new church was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved
in 1539 by Henry VIII
. The abbey church was allowed to become derelict before being restored as the city's parish church in the Elizabethan era
, when the city experienced a revival as a spa
. The baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy. Bath was granted city status by Royal charter
by Queen Elizabeth I
in 1590.
During the English Civil War
, the city was garrisoned for King Charles the 1st
and seven thousand pounds spent on fortifications. However upon the appearance of parliamantary forces the gates were thrown open and the city surrendered, and it then become a significant post in Somerset for the New Model Army
under William Waller
. It was retaken by royalists following the Battle of Lansdowne
which was fought on 5 July 1643 on the northern outskirts of the city. Thomas Guidott
, who had been a student of chemistry and medicine at Wadham College, Oxford
, moved to Bath and set up practice in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the waters and he wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water in 1676. This brought the health-giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country and soon the aristocracy started to arrive to partake in them.
Several areas of the city underwent development during the Stuart
period, and this increased during Georgian
times in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation. The architects John Wood the elder
and his son John Wood the younger
laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy gold Bath Stone
used for construction throughout the city was obtained from the limestone
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
, which were owned by Ralph Allen
(1694–1764). Allen, in order to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone, commissioned the elder John Wood to build him a country house on his Prior Park
estate between the city and the mines. He was also responsible for improving and expanding the postal service in western England, for which he held the contract for over forty years. Though not fond of politics, Allen was a civic-minded man, and served as a member of the Bath Corporation for many years. He was elected Mayor of the city for a single term, in 1742, at age 50.
The early 18th century saw Bath acquire its first purpose-built theatre, the Old Orchard Street Theatre
, which was rebuilt as the Theatre Royal
, the along with the Grand Pump Room
attached to the Roman Baths and assembly rooms
. Master of Ceremonies
Beau Nash
, who presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments.
bought a house in Lansdown Crescent in 1822, eventually buying a further two houses in the crescent to form his residence. Having acquired all the land between his home and the top of Lansdown Hill, he created a garden over half a mile in length and built Beckford's Tower
at the top.
Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia spent the four years of his exile, from 1936 to 1940, at Fairfield House
in Bath. During World War II, between the evening of 25 April and the early morning of 27 April 1942, Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for RAF
raids on the German cities of Lübeck
and Rostock
, part of the Luftwaffe
campaign popularly known as the Baedeker Blitz
. Over 400 people were killed, and more than 19,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Houses in the Royal Crescent
, Circus
and Paragon
were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms, while part of the south side of Queen Square
was destroyed.
A postwar review of inadequate housing led to the clearance and redevelopment of areas of the city in a postwar style, often at variance with the local Georgian style. In the 1950s the nearby villages of Combe Down
, Twerton
and Weston were incorporated into Bath to enable the development of further housing, much of it council housing
. In the 1970s and 1980s it was recognised that conservation of historic buildings was inadequate, leading to more care and reuse of buildings and open spaces. In 1987 the city was selected by UNESCO
as a World Heritage Site
, recognising its international cultural significance.
Since 2000, developments have included the Bath Spa
, SouthGate
and the Bath Western Riverside project.
Historically
part of the county of Somerset
, Bath was made a county borough
in 1889 and hence independent of the newly created administrative
Somerset county council
. Bath became part of Avon
when that non-metropolitan county was created in 1974. Since the abolition of Avon in 1996, Bath has been the main centre of the unitary authority
of Bath and North East Somerset
(B&NES). Bath remains, however, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, though not within the administrative non-metropolitan county of Somerset.
Because Bath is unparished
, there is no longer a city council or parish council in the city. The City of Bath's ceremonial functions, including the mayoralty – which can be traced back to 1230 – and control of the coat of arms
, are now maintained by the Charter Trustees
of the City of Bath. The coat of arms includes two silver strips, which represent the River Avon
and the hot springs. The sword of St. Paul is a link to Bath Abbey
. The supporters, a lion and a bear, stand on a bed of acorn
s, a link to Bladud
, the subject of the Legend of Bath. The knight's helmet indicates a municipality and the crown
is that of King Edgar
.
Before the Reform Act 1832
Bath elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons
. Bath now has a single parliamentary constituency
, with Liberal Democrat
Don Foster as Member of Parliament (1992– ). His election was a notable result of the 1992 general election
, as Chris Patten
, the previous Member (and a Cabinet Minister
) played a major part, as Chairman of the Conservative Party
, in getting the government of John Major
re-elected, but failed to defend his marginal seat in Bath. Don Foster has been re-elected as the MP for Bath in every election since. As of 2010, his majority stands at 11883.
The electoral wards of the Bath and North East Somerset
unitary authority within Bath are the central Abbey
, Kingsmead
and Walcot
wards, and the more outlying Bathwick
, Combe Down
, Lambridge, Lansdown, Lyncombe, Newbridge
, Odd Down, Oldfield, Southdown, Twerton
, Westmoreland
, Weston and Widcombe
wards.
, a range of limestone
hills designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
. The hills that surround and make up the city have a maximum altitude of 238 metres (780.8 ft) on the Lansdown plateau. Bath has an area of 29 square kilometres (11.2 sq mi).
The flood plain of the River Avon, which runs through the centre of the city, has an altitude of about 18 metres (59 ft) above sea level
. The river, once an unnavigable series of braided streams broken up by swamp
s and ponds, has been managed by weir
s into a single channel. Nevertheless, periodic flooding, which shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city, was normal until major flood control works in the 1970s.
The water which bubbles up from the ground, as geothermal springs
, previously fell as rain on the Mendip Hills
. It percolates down through limestone aquifers to a depth of between 2,700 and 4,300 metres (c. 9,000–14,000 ft) where geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 64 and 96 °C (c. 147–205 °F). Under pressure, the heated water rises to the surface along fissures and faults in the limestone. This process is similar to an artificial one known as Enhanced Geothermal System which also makes use of the high pressures and temperatures below the Earth's crust. Hot water at a temperature of 46 °C (115 °F) rises here at the rate of 1170000 litres (257,364 imp gal) every day, from a geological fault (the Pennyquick fault). In 1983, a new spa water bore-hole was sunk, providing a clean and safe supply of spa water for drinking in the Pump Room. There is no universal definition to distinguish a hot spring
from another geothermal spring, though by several definitions, the Bath springs can be considered the only hot springs in the UK. Three of these springs feed the thermal baths
.
, Bath has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are common. In the summer the Azores
high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection
. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (27.6 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.
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As of 2001 the city of Bath has a population of 83,992.
According to the UK Government
's 2001 census
, Bath, together with North East Somerset, which includes areas around Bath as far as the Chew Valley
, has a population of 169,040, with an average age of 39.9 (the national average being 38.6). Demographics
shows according to the same statistics, the district is overwhelmingly populated by people of a white ethnic background at 97.2% – significantly higher than the national average of 90.9%. Other ethnic groups in the district, in order of population size, are multiracial
at 1%, Asian at 0.5% and black at 0.5% (the national averages are 1.3%, 4.6% and 2.1%, respectively).
The district is largely Christian at 71%, with no other religion reaching more than 0.5%. These figures generally compare with the national averages, though the non-religious
, at 19.5%, are significantly more prevalent than the national 14.8%. 7.4% of the population describe themselves as "not healthy" in the last 12 months, compared with a national average of 9.2%; nationally 18.2% of people describe themselves as having a long-term illness, in Bath it is 15.8%.
Bath became the leading centre of fashionable life in England during the 18th century. It was during this time that Bath's Old Orchard Street Theatre
was built, as well as architectural
developments such as Lansdown Crescent, the Royal Crescent
, The Circus
and Pulteney Bridge
.
Today, Bath has five theatres – Bath Theatre Royal, Ustinov Studio
, the egg
, the Rondo Theatre
, and the Mission Theatre
– and attracts internationally renowned companies and directors, including an annual season by Sir Peter Hall. The city also has a long-standing musical tradition; Bath Abbey
is home to the Klais Organ and is the largest concert venue in the city, with about 20 concerts and 26 organ recitals each year. Another important concert venue is the Forum, a 1,700-seat art deco
building which originated as a cinema. The city holds the Bath International Music Festival
and Mozartfest every year. Other festivals include the annual Bath Film Festival
, Bath Literature Festival
(and its counterpart for children
), the Bath Fringe Festival
and the Bath Beer Festival
, and the Bach Festivals which occur at two and a half year intervals. An annual competition for the Bard of Bath
aims to find Bath's best poet, singer or storyteller. The Bard uses the title to develop artistic projects in the area and leads evening bardic walks around the city. The title resurrects an Iron-Age Celtic Druid tradition where Druids were the law-makers, judges and ceremonial leaders, Ovates were mediums, healers and prophets and Bards were poets, musicians and history-keepers. All of them held high status and a place in mystical/religious circles.
The city is home to the Victoria Art Gallery
, the Museum of East Asian Art
, and Holburne Museum of Art
, numerous commercial art galleries and antique shops, as well as numerous museums, among them Bath Postal Museum
, the Fashion Museum
, the Jane Austen Centre
, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy and the Roman Baths. The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
, now in Queen Square, and founded in 1824 on the base of a 1777 Society for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting, Manufactures, Commerce and the Fine Arts, has an important collection and holds a programme of talks and discussions.
During the 18th century Thomas Gainsborough
and Sir Thomas Lawrence
lived and worked in Bath. John Maggs
, a painter best known for his coaching scenes, was born and lived in Bath with his artistic family.
William Friese-Greene
began experimenting with celluloid and motion pictures in his studio in Bath in the 1870s, developing some of the earliest movie camera technology there. He is credited as the inventor of cinematography.
Jane Austen
lived in the city from 1801 with her father, mother and sister Cassandra, and the family resided in the city at four successive addresses until 1806. However, Jane Austen never liked the city, and wrote to her sister Cassandra, "It will be two years tomorrow since we left Bath for Clifton, with what happy feelings of escape." Despite these feelings, Bath has honoured her name with the Jane Austen Centre
and a city walk. Austen's later Northanger Abbey
and Persuasion
are largely set in the city and feature descriptions of taking the waters, social life, and music recitals. Taking the waters is also described in Charles Dickens
' novel The Pickwick Papers
in which Pickwick's servant, Sam Weller, comments that the water has "a very strong flavour o' warm flat irons", while the Royal Crescent
is the venue for a chase between two of the characters, Dowler and Winkle. Moyra Caldecott
's novel The Waters of Sul is set in Roman Bath in 72 AD. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
's play The Rivals
takes place in the city, as does Roald Dahl
's chilling short-story, The Landlady
.
Many films and television programmes have been filmed using the architecture of Bath as the backdrop including: the 2004 film
of Thackeray
's Vanity Fair, The Duchess
(2008), The Elusive Pimpernel
(1950) and The Titfield Thunderbolt
(1953).
In August 2003 the Three Tenors sang at a special concert to mark the opening of the Thermae Bath Spa
, a new hot water spa
in Bath City Centre; delays to the project meant the spa actually opened three years later on 7 August 2006.
The city has several public parks, the main one being Royal Victoria Park, which is a short walk from the centre of the city. It was opened in 1830 by an 11-year-old Princess Victoria
, and was the first park to carry her name. The park is overlooked by the Royal Crescent
and is 23 hectares (56.8 acre) in area. It has a variety of attractions. including a skateboard
ramp, tennis courts, bowling
, a putting green and a 12- and 18-hole golf course, a pond, open air concerts, and a popular children's play area. Much of its area is lawn
; a notable feature is the way in which a ha-ha segregates it from the Royal Crescent
, while giving the impression to a viewer from the Crescent of a greensward uninterrupted across the Park down to Royal Avenue. It has received a "Green Flag award
", the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales, and is registered by English Heritage
as a Park of National Historic Importance
. The 3.84 hectares (9.5 acre) botanical gardens were formed in 1887 and contain one of the finest collections of plants on limestone
in the West Country
. The replica of a Roman Temple was used at the British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley
in 1924. In 1987 the gardens were extended to include the Great Dell, a disused quarry that was formally part of the park, which contains a large collection of conifers.
Other parks in Bath include: Alexandra Park, which crowns a hill and overlooks the city; Parade Gardens, along the river front near the Abbey in the centre of the city; Sydney Gardens, known as a pleasure-garden in the 18th century; Henrietta Park; Hedgemead Park; and Alice Park. Jane Austen wrote of Sydney Gardens that "It would be pleasant to be near the Sydney Gardens. We could go into the Labyrinth every day." Alexandra, Alice and Henrietta parks were built into the growing city among the housing developments. There is also a linear park following the old Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
line, and, in a green area adjoining the River Avon, Cleveland Pools
were built around 1815. It is now the oldest surviving public outdoor lido
in England, and plans have been submitted for its restoration.
Bath is linked to a variety of foods that are distinctive in their association with the city. The Sally Lunn bun
s (a type of teacake
) have long been baked in Bath. They were first mentioned by that name in verses printed in a local newspaper, the Bath Chronicle
, in 1772. At that time they were eaten hot at public breakfasts in the city's Spring Gardens. They can be eaten with sweet or savoury toppings. These are sometimes confused with Bath bun
s which are smaller, round, very sweet, very rich buns that were associated with the city following The Great Exhibition
. Bath buns were originally topped with crushed comfit
s created by dipping caraway
seeds repeatedly in boiling sugar; but today seeds are added to a 'London Bath Bun' (a reference to the bun's promotion and sale at the Great Exhibition). The seeds may be replaced by crushed sugar granules or 'nibs'.
Bath has also lent its name to one other distinctive recipe – Bath Oliver
s – the dry baked biscuit invented by Dr William Oliver, physician to the Mineral Water Hospital
in 1740. Oliver was an early anti-obesity campaigner and the author of a "Practical Essay on the Use and Abuse of warm Bathing in Gluty Cases". In more recent years, Oliver's efforts have been traduced by the introduction of a version of the biscuit with a plain chocolate coating. The Bath Chap, which is the salted and smoked cheek and jawbones of the pig, takes its name from the city. It is still available from a stall in the daily covered market. Although there is a brewery named Bath Ales
, located a few miles away in Warmley
, Abbey Ales
are brewed in the city.
is a rugby union
team which is currently in the Aviva Premiership league and coached by Steve Meehan. It plays in black, blue and white kit at the Recreation Ground
in the city, where it has been since the late 19th century, following its establishment in 1865. The team's first major honour was winning the John Player Cup four years consecutively from 1984 until 1987. The team then led the Courage league
in six seasons in eight years between 1988/1989 and 1995/1996, during which time it also won the Pilkington Cup in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1996. It finally won the Heineken Cup
in the 1997/1998 season, and topped the Zürich Premiership (now Guinness Premiership) in 2003–2004. The team's current squad
includes several members who also play in the English national team
including: Lee Mears
, David Flatman
. Nick Abendanon
and Matt Banahan
. Colston's Collegiate School
, Bristol has had a large input in the team over the past decade, providing several current 1st XV squad members. The former England Rugby Team Manager Andy Robinson
used to play for Bath Rugby team and was captain and later coach. Both of Robinson's predecessors, Clive Woodward
and Jack Rowell
, were also former Bath coaches and managers as well as his successor Brian Ashton
.
Bath City F.C.
is the major football team. Bath City gained promotion to the Conference National
from the Conference South
in 2010. Bath City F.C.
play their games at Twerton Park
. Until 2009 Team Bath F.C.
operated as an affiliate to the University Athletics programme. In 2002, Team Bath became the first university team to enter the FA Cup
in 120 years, and advanced through four qualifying rounds to the first round proper. The university's team was established in 1999, while the city team has existed since before 1908 (when it entered the Western League
). However in 2009, the Football Conference
ruled that Team Bath would not be eligible to gain promotion to a National division, nor were they allowed to participate in Football Association cup competitions. This ruling led to the decision by the club to fold at the end of the 2008/09 Conference South
competition. In their final season, Team Bath F.C.
finished a respectable 11th in the league.
Bath City narrowly missed out on election to the Football League in 1985.
Many cricket
clubs are based in the city, including Bath Cricket Club
, who are based at the North Parade Ground and play in the West of England Premier League
. Cricket is also played on the Recreation Ground, just across from where the Rugby is played. The Rec's cricket ground is the venue for the annual Bath Cricket Festival which sees Somerset County Cricket Club
play several games. The Recreation Ground is also home to Bath Croquet Club, which was re-formed in 1976 and is affiliated with the South West Federation of Croquet
Clubs.
The Bath Half Marathon
is run annually through the city streets, with over 10,000 runners. Bath also has a thriving cycling community, with places for biking including Royal Victoria Park, 'The Tumps' in Odd Down/east, the jumps on top of Lansdown, and Prior Park. Places for biking near Bath include Brown's Folly
in Batheaston
and Box Woods, in Box
.
TeamBath
is the umbrella name for all of the University of Bath
sports teams, including the aforementioned football club. Other sports for which TeamBath is noted are athletics, badminton, basketball, bob skeleton
, bobsleigh
, hockey
, judo
, modern pentathlon
, netball
, rugby union
, swimming, tennis, triathlon
and volleyball. The City of Bath Triathlon takes place annually at the university.
. Nowadays manufacturing is in decline in the city, but it boasts strong software, publishing and service-oriented industries, being home to companies such as Future Publishing and London & Country mortgage brokers. The city's attraction to tourists has also led to a significant number of jobs in tourism-related industries. Important economic sectors in Bath include education and health (30,000 jobs), retail, tourism and leisure (14,000 jobs) and business and professional services (10,000 jobs). Its main employers are the National Health Service
, the two universities and the Bath and North East Somerset Council, as well as the Ministry of Defence
, although a number of MOD offices formerly in Bath have now moved to Bristol
. Growing employment sectors include information and communication technologies and creative and cultural industries where Bath is one of the recognised national centres for publishing, with the magazine publisher Future Publishing employing around 650 people. Others include Buro Happold
(400) and IPL Information Processing Limited (250). The city contains over 400 retail shops, 50% being run by independent specialist retailers, and around 100 restaurants and cafes which are primarily supported by tourism.
One of Bath's principal industries is tourism, with more than one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city on an annual basis. The visits mainly fall into the categories of heritage tourism
and cultural tourism
, aided by the city's selection in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognising its international cultural significance.
All significant stages of the history of England
are represented within the city, from the Roman Baths (including their significant Celt
ic presence), to Bath Abbey
and the Royal Crescent
, to Thermae Bath Spa
in the 2000s. The size of the tourist industry is reflected in the almost 300 places of accommodation – including over 80 hotels, and over 180 bed and breakfast
s – many of which are located in Georgian buildings
. The history of the city is displayed at the Building of Bath Collection which is housed in a building which was built in 1765 as the Trinity Presbyterian Church. It was also known as the Countess of Huntingdon
's Chapel, as she lived in the attached house from 1707 to 1791. Two of the hotels have 'five-star' ratings. There are also two campsites located on the western edge of the city. The city also contains about 100 restaurants, and a similar number of public house
s and bars. Several companies offer open-top bus tours around the city, as well as tours on foot and on the river. Since 2006, with the opening of Thermae Bath Spa, the city has attempted to recapture its historical position as the only town in the United Kingdom offering visitors the opportunity to bathe in naturally heated spring waters.
In the 2010 Google Street View
Best Streets Awards, the Royal Crescent took the second place in the "Britain's Most Picturesque Street" award, first place being given to The Shambles in York
. Milsom Street
was also awarded "Britain's Best Fashion Street" in the 11,000 strong vote.
, Australia.
, to which it is linked by the A4 road, and is a similar distance south of the M4 motorway
. In an attempt to reduce the level of car use Park and Ride
schemes have been introduced, with sites at Odd Down, Lansdown and Newbridge, with a Saturdays-only site at the University of Bath. In addition a Bus Gate scheme in Northgate aims to reduce private car use in the city centre. National Express
operates coach
services from Bath Bus Station
to a number of cities. Internally, Bath has a network of bus routes run by First Group, with services to surrounding towns and cities. There is one other company running open top double-decker bus tours around the city.
The city is connected to Bristol and the sea by the River Avon
, navigable via locks
by small boats. The river was connected to the River Thames
and London by the Kennet and Avon Canal
in 1810 via Bath Locks
; this waterway – closed for many years, but restored in the last years of the 20th century – is now popular with narrowboat
users. Bath is on National Cycle Route 4, with one of Britain's first cycleways, the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, to the west, and an eastern route toward London on the canal towpath. Bath is about 18 miles (29 km) from Bristol Airport
.
Bath is served by the Bath Spa railway station
(designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
), which has regular connections to London Paddington, Bristol Temple Meads
, Cardiff Central
, Exeter
, Plymouth
and Penzance
(see Great Western Main Line
), and also Westbury
, Warminster
, Salisbury, Southampton
, Portsmouth
and Brighton
(see Wessex Main Line
). Services are provided by First Great Western
. There is a suburban station on the main line, Oldfield Park
, which has a limited commuter service to Bristol as well as other destinations. Green Park Station
was once the terminus of the Midland Railway
, and junction for the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
, whose line, always steam hauled, went under Bear Flat
through the Combe Down Tunnel
and climbed over the Mendips
to serve many towns and villages on its 71 miles (114 km) run to Bournemouth
. This example of an English rural line was closed by Beeching
in March 1966. Its Bath station building, now restored, houses shops, small businesses, the Saturday Bath Farmers Market and parking for a supermarket, while the route of the Somerset and Dorset within Bath is to be reused for the Two Tunnels Greenway
, a shared use path that will extend National Cycle Route 24 into the city.
A tram system was introduced in the late 19th century opening on 24 December 1880. The gauge cars were horse-drawn along a route from London Road to the Bath Spa railway station, but the system closed in 1902. It was replaced by electric tram cars on a greatly expanded gauge system that opened in 1904. This eventually extended to 18 miles (29 km) with routes to Combe Down
, Oldfield Park, Twerton
, Newton St Loe, Weston and Bathford
. There was a fleet of 40 cars, all but 6 being double deck. The first line to close was replaced by a bus service in 1938, and the last went on 6 May 1939.
sites throughout the central area of the city, but the baths themselves are about 6 metres (19.7 ft) below the present city street level. Around the hot springs, Roman foundations, pillar bases, and baths can still be seen, however all the stonework above the level of the baths is from more recent periods.
Bath Abbey
was a Norman
church built on earlier foundations, although the present building dates from the early 16th century and shows a late Perpendicular style with flying buttress
es and crocket
ed pinnacle
s decorating a crenellated and pierced parapet
. The choir and transepts have a fan vault
by Robert
and William Vertue
. The nave was given a matching vault in the 19th century. The building is lit by 52 windows.
Most buildings in Bath are made from the local, golden-coloured Bath Stone
, and many date from the 18th and 19th century. The dominant style of architecture in Central Bath is Georgian
; this evolved from the Palladian
revival style which became popular in the early 18th century. Many of the prominent architects of the day were employed in the development of the city. The original purpose of much of Bath's architecture is concealed by the honey-coloured classical façades; in an era before the advent of the luxury hotel, these apparently elegant residences were frequently purpose-built lodging houses, where visitors could hire a room, a floor, or (according to their means) an entire house for the duration of their visit, and be waited on by the house's communal servants. The masons Reeves of Bath
were prominent in the city from the 1770s to 1860s.
"The Circus
" consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood
to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the Colosseum
in Rome. Like the Colosseum, the three façades have a different order of architecture on each floor: Doric
on the ground level, then Ionic
on the piano nobile
and finishing with Corinthian
on the upper floor, the style of the building thus becoming progressively more ornate as it rises. Wood never lived to see his unique example of town planning completed, as he died five days after personally laying the foundation stone on 18 May 1754.
The most spectacular of Bath's terraces is the Royal Crescent
, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood
. But all is not what it seems; while Wood designed the great curved façade of what appears to be about 30 houses with Ionic column
s on a rusticated ground floor, that was the extent of his input. Each purchaser bought a certain length of the façade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is sometimes one. This system of town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. This "Queen Anne fronts and Mary-Anne backs" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath. Other fine terraces elsewhere in the city include Lansdown Crescent and Somerset Place
on the northern hill.
Around 1770 the neoclassical
architect Robert Adam
designed Pulteney Bridge
, using as the prototype for the three-arched bridge spanning the Avon an original, but unused, design by Palladio for the Rialto Bridge
in Venice. Thus, Pulteney Bridge became not just a means of crossing the river, but also a shopping arcade. Along with the Rialto Bridge, is one of the very few surviving bridges in Europe to serve this dual purpose. It has been substantially altered since it was built. The bridge was named after Frances and William Pulteney, the owners of the Bathwick estate for which the bridge provided a link to the rest of Bath.
The heart of the Georgian city was the Pump Room
, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by Thomas Baldwin
, a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street, and the Guildhall
. Baldwin rose rapidly, becoming a leader in Bath's architectural history. In 1776 he was made the chief City Surveyor
, and in 1780 became Bath City Architect
. Great Pulteney Street
, where he eventually lived, is another of his works: this wide boulevard
, constructed circa 1789 and over 1000 feet (305 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) wide, is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.
In the 1960s and early 1970s some parts of Bath were unsympathetically redeveloped, resulting in the loss of some 18th- and 19th-century buildings. This process was largely halted by a popular campaign which drew strength from the publication of Adam Fergusson's The Sack of Bath. Controversy has revived perodically, most recently with the demolition of the 1930s Churchill House, a neo-Georgian municipal building originally housing the Electricity Board, to make way for a new bus station
. This is part of the Southgate
redevelopment in which an ill-favoured 1960s shopping precinct, bus station and multi-story car park were demolished and replaced by a new area of mock-Georgian shopping streets. As a result of this and other changes, notably plans for abandoned industrial land along the Avon, the city's status as a World Heritage Site
was reviewed by UNESCO in 2009. The decision was made let Bath keep its status, but UNESCO has asked to be consulted on future phases of the Riverside development, saying that the density and volume of buildings in the second and third phases of the development need to be reconsidered.
It also demands that Bath do more to attract world-class architecture in new developments.
was established in 1966. The university was named University of the Year by the Sunday Times (2011) and is known, academically, for the physical sciences, mathematics, architecture, management and technology.
Bath Spa University
was first granted degree-awarding powers in 1992 as a university college
, before being granted university status in August 2005. It has schools in the following subject areas: Art and Design, Education, English and Creative Studies, Historical and Cultural Studies, Music and the Performing Arts, Science and the Environment and Social Sciences.
The city contains one further education
college, City of Bath College
, and several sixth form
s as part of both state and independent school
s.
Bath is also home to Norland College
, a provider of childcare training and education.
and the Bath Times
. The Bath Chronicle, published since 1760, was a daily newspaper until mid-September 2007, when it became a weekly.
The Bath Times is a free
weekly newspaper, largely based on advertising. Both newspapers are owned by Northcliffe Media
.
The BBC
's Where I Live website for Somerset has featured coverage of news and events within Bath since 2003.
For television, Bath is served by the BBC West
studios based in Bristol
, and by ITV West
(formerly HTV
) with studios similarly in Bristol.
Radio stations broadcasting to the city include TotalStar Bath
and Heart Bath as well as The University of Bath's 1449AM URB
, a student-focused radio station available on campus and also online, and Classic Gold 1260
a networked commercial radio station with local programmes.
City status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
in the ceremonial county
Ceremonial counties of England
The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
in the south west
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
in 1889 which gave it administrative
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
independence from its county, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. The city became part of Avon
Avon (county)
Avon was, from 1974 to 1996, a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England.The county was named after the River Avon, which runs through the area. It was formed from parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset, together with the City of Bristol...
when that county was created in 1974. Since 1996, when Avon was abolished, Bath has been the principal centre of the unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...
(B&NES).
The city was first established as a spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
with the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name, Aquae Sulis
Aquae Sulis
Aquae Sulis was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Bath, located in the English county of Somerset.-Baths and temple complex:...
("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
in AD 43, although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then. They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
around hot springs
UK Geothermal Springs
This is a list of geothermal springs in the United Kingdom, otherwise known as hot springs* Tunbridge Wells, Kent thermal spring* Stoney Middleton Thermal Springs, Derbyshire 17.2 degrees C, 63 degrees F...
. Edgar
Edgar of England
Edgar the Peaceful, or Edgar I , also called the Peaceable, was a king of England . Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England.-Accession:...
was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
in 973. Much later, it became popular as a spa town
Spa town
A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
during the Georgian era
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
crafted from Bath Stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
.
The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 1987. The city has a variety of theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues, which have helped to make it a major centre for tourism, with over one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. The city has two universities and several schools and colleges. There is a large service sector, and growing information and communication technologies and creative industries, providing employment for the population of Bath and the surrounding area.
Iron Age and Roman
Bathampton Down
Bathampton Down, is a flat limestone plateau in Bathampton overlooking Bath, and the River Avon, Somerset, England.There is evidence of man's activity at the site since the Mesolithic period including Bathampton Camp, an Iron Age hillfort or stock enclosure...
saw human activity from the Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
period. Several Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
round barrow
Round barrow
Round barrows are one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe they are found in many parts of the world because of their simple construction and universal purpose....
s were opened by John Skinner
John Skinner (archaeologist)
The Rev. John Skinner was a parish vicar and amateur antiquarian and archaeologist operating mainly in the area of Bath and the villages of northern Somerset in the early nineteenth century.- Life :...
in the 18th century. Bathampton Camp may have been an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
or stock enclosure. A Long barrow
Long barrow
A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal tumuli or earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs...
site believed to be from the Beaker people
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...
was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down
RAF Charmy Down
RAF Station Charmy Down is a former World War II airfield in Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately north-northeast of Bath; about west of London...
.
Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman Baths' main spring was treated as a shrine by the Iron Age Britons
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
,
and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis
Sulis
In localised Celtic polytheism practised in Britain, Sulis was a deity worshipped at the thermal spring of Bath . She was worshipped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother...
, whom the Roman
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
s identified with Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
; 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"). Messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablet
Curse tablet
A curse tablet or binding spell is a type of curse found throughout the Graeco-Roman world, in which someone would ask the gods to do harm to others.-Description:...
s, have been recovered from the Sacred Spring by archaeologists.
These curse tablets were written in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and usually laid curses on people by whom the writer felt they had been wronged. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he would write a curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the Goddess Sulis Minerva.
The 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
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, and possibly on the instructions of Emperor Claudius,
engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
building,
which housed the calidarium (hot bath), tepidarium
Tepidarium
The tepidarium was the warm bathroom of the Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system.The specialty of a tepidarium is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat which directly affects the human body from the walls and floor.There is an interesting example at Pompeii; this...
(warm bath), and frigidarium
Frigidarium
A frigidarium is a large cold pool of Roman baths. It would be entered after the Caldarium and the Tepidarium, which were used to open the pores of the skin. The cold water would close the pores. There would be a small pool of cold water or sometimes a large Swimming pool...
(cold bath).
The city was given defensive walls
Bath city walls
Bath's city walls are a sequence of defensive structures built around the city of Bath in England.-History:Bath's first walls were built by the Romans. The Anglo-Saxons constructed a fortified burh at Bath, utilising the existing city walls, maintaining the city as a centre of regional power...
, probably in the 3rd century.
After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost due to silting up.
Post-Roman and Mediaeval
Bath may have been the site of the Battle of Mons BadonicusBattle of Mons Badonicus
The Battle of Mons Badonicus was a battle between a force of Britons and an Anglo-Saxon army, probably sometime between 490 and 517 AD. Though it is believed to have been a major political and military event, there is no certainty about its date, location or the details of the fighting...
(c. 500 AD), where King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
is said to have defeated the Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, although this is disputed. The city fell to the West Saxons
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
in 577 after the Battle of Deorham
Battle of Deorham
The Battle of Deorham or Dyrham was fought in 577 between the West Saxons under Ceawlin and Cuthwine and the Britons of the West Country. The location, Deorham, is usually taken to refer to Dyrham in South Gloucestershire. The battle was a major victory for the West Saxons, who took three important...
; the Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Ruin
The Ruin
"The Ruin" is an 8th-century Old English poem from the Exeter Book by an unknown author. The Exeter Book is a large book of mostly Christian verse, which contains about one-third of the extant Old English poems...
may describe the appearance of the Roman site about this time. A monastery was set up in Bath at an early date – reputedly by Saint David, though more probably in 675 by Osric, King of the Hwicce
Hwicce
The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...
, perhaps using the walled area as its precinct. Nennius
Nennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....
, a ninth-century historian, mentions a "Hot Lake" in the land of the Hwicce
Hwicce
The Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...
, which was along the Severn, and adds "It is surrounded by a wall, made of brick and stone, and men may go there to bathe at any time, and every man can have the kind of bath he likes. If he wants, it will be a cold bath; and if he wants a hot bath, it will be hot". Bede also describes hot baths in the geographical introduction to the Ecclesiastical History in terms very similar to those of Nennius. King Offa
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
gained control of this monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
.
By the 9th century the old Roman street pattern had been lost and Bath had become a royal possession, with King Alfred
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
laying out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct. In the Burghal Hidage
Burghal Hidage
The Burghal Hidage is an Anglo-Saxon document providing a list of the fortified burhs in Wessex and elsewhere in southern England. It offers an unusually detailed picture of the network of burhs that Alfred the Great designed to defend his kingdom from the predations of Viking invaders.-Burhs and...
Bath is described as having walls of 1375 yards (1,257.3 m) and was allocated 1000 men for defence. During the reign of Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
coins were minted
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
in the town, based on a design from the Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
mint but with 'BAD' on the obverse relating to the Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
name for the town Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning "at the baths," and this was the source of the present name. Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973.
King William Rufus
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours
John of Tours
John of Tours was a medieval Bishop of Wells in England who moved the diocese seat to Bath. He was a native of Tours and was King William I of England's doctor before becoming a bishop...
, who became Bishop of Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
and Abbot of Bath, following the sacking of the town during the Rebellion of 1088
Rebellion of 1088
The Rebellion of 1088 occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and concerned the division of lands in the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy between his two sons William Rufus and Robert Curthose...
. It was papal policy for bishops to move to more urban seats, and he translated his own from Wells to Bath. He planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with the bishop's palace beside it. New baths were built around the three springs. However, later bishops returned the episcopal seat to Wells, while retaining the name of Bath in their title as the Bishop of Bath and Wells
Bishop of Bath and Wells
The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England.The present diocese covers the vast majority of the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in...
. St John's Hospital
St John's Hospital, Bath
St John's Hospital in Bath, Somerset, England, was founded around 1180, by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin and is among the oldest almshouses in England...
was founded around 1180, by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin
Reginald Fitz Jocelin
Reginald fitz Jocelin was a medieval Bishop of Bath and an Archbishop of Canterbury-elect in England. A member of an Anglo-Norman noble family, he was the son of a bishop, and was educated in Italy...
and is among the oldest almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s in England. The 'hospital of the baths' was built beside the hot springs of the Cross Bath
The Cross Bath, Bath
The Cross Bath in Bath Street, Bath, Somerset, England is a historic pool for bathing. It was rebuilt, in the style of Robert Adam by Thomas Baldwin around 1789. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.-Geology:...
, for their health giving properties and to provide shelter for the poor infirm.
Administrative systems fell within the Hundreds
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
. The Bath Hundred
Bath Forum (hundred)
The Hundred of Bath Forum is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was...
had various names over the centuries including The Hundred of Le Buri. The Bath Foreign Hundred or Forinsecum covered the area outside the city itself. They were later combined into the Bath Forum Hundred
Bath Forum (hundred)
The Hundred of Bath Forum is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was...
. The wealthy merchants had no status within the Hundred Courts and formed guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s to gain influence, they also built the first guildhall
Guildhall
A guildhall, or guild hall, is a building historically used by guilds for meetings and other purposes. It is also the official or colloquial name for many of these specific buildings, now often used as town halls or museums....
probably in the 13th century. Around 1200 the first mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
was also appointed.
Early Modern
Oliver King
Oliver King was a Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Bath and Wells who restored Bath Abbey after 1500.-Life:Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, King became a priest and was appointed Bishop of Exeter on 1 October 1492, consecrated on 3 February 1493. He was then translated to the see of...
, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild it on a smaller scale. The new church was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1539 by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. The abbey church was allowed to become derelict before being restored as the city's parish church in the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
, when the city experienced a revival as a spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
. The baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy. Bath was granted city status by Royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
by Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1590.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, the city was garrisoned for King Charles the 1st
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and seven thousand pounds spent on fortifications. However upon the appearance of parliamantary forces the gates were thrown open and the city surrendered, and it then become a significant post in Somerset for the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
under William Waller
William Waller
Sir William Waller was an English soldier during the English Civil War. He received his education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War...
. It was retaken by royalists following the Battle of Lansdowne
Battle of Lansdowne
The English Civil War battle of Lansdowne was fought on 5 July 1643, near Bath, southwest England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to retreat from their hilltop position, they suffered so many casualties themselves and were left so...
which was fought on 5 July 1643 on the northern outskirts of the city. Thomas Guidott
Thomas Guidott
Thomas Guidott , an English "doctor of physik" and writer, became one of the 17th century's most prolific physical scientists. He used the analytical techniques of his time to detail and document the properties of the hot mineral springs at Bath, Somerset.-Early studies:Guidott attended Dorchester...
, who had been a student of chemistry and medicine at Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
, moved to Bath and set up practice in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the waters and he wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water in 1676. This brought the health-giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country and soon the aristocracy started to arrive to partake in them.
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
period, and this increased during Georgian
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
times in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation. The architects John Wood the elder
John Wood, the Elder
John Wood, the Elder, , was an English architect. Born in Twerton England, a village near Bath, now a suburb, he went to school in Bath. He came back to Bath after working in Yorkshire, and it is believed, in London, in his early 20s...
and his son John Wood the younger
John Wood, the Younger
John Wood, the Younger was an English architect, working principally in the city of Bath, Somerset. He began his work as an assistant for his father, the architect John Wood, the Elder...
laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy gold Bath Stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
used for construction throughout the city was obtained from the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines is a 6.22 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1991 because of the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bat population....
, which were owned by Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. He was baptised at St Columb Major, Cornwall on 24 July 1693. As a teenager he worked at the Post Office. He moved in 1710 to Bath, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age...
(1694–1764). Allen, in order to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone, commissioned the elder John Wood to build him a country house on his Prior Park
Prior Park
Prior Park is a Palladian house, designed by John Wood, the Elder in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen, on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
estate between the city and the mines. He was also responsible for improving and expanding the postal service in western England, for which he held the contract for over forty years. Though not fond of politics, Allen was a civic-minded man, and served as a member of the Bath Corporation for many years. He was elected Mayor of the city for a single term, in 1742, at age 50.
The early 18th century saw Bath acquire its first purpose-built theatre, the Old Orchard Street Theatre
Old Orchard Street Theatre
The Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic Church and since 1865 has been a Masonic Hall. It is a Grade II listed building.-Theatre:In 1705 the first theatre opened in Bath...
, which was rebuilt as the Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....
, the along with the Grand Pump Room
Grand Pump Room, Bath
The Grand Pump Room in the Abbey Church Yard, Bath, Somerset, England is a historic building. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
attached to the Roman Baths and assembly rooms
Bath Assembly Rooms
The Bath Assembly Rooms, designed by John Wood the Younger in 1769, are a set of elegant assembly rooms located in the heart of the World Heritage City of Bath in England which are now open to the public as a visitor attraction...
. Master of Ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
Beau Nash
Beau Nash
Beau Nash , born Richard Nash, was a celebrated dandy and leader of fashion in 18th-century Britain. He is best remembered as the Master of Ceremonies at the spa town of Bath.- Biography :...
, who presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments.
Late Modern
The population of the city had reached 40,020 by the time of the 1801 census, making it one of the largest cities in Britain. William Thomas BeckfordWilliam Thomas Beckford
William Thomas Beckford , usually known as William Beckford, was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed to be the richest commoner in England...
bought a house in Lansdown Crescent in 1822, eventually buying a further two houses in the crescent to form his residence. Having acquired all the land between his home and the top of Lansdown Hill, he created a garden over half a mile in length and built Beckford's Tower
Beckford's Tower
Beckford's Tower, originally known as Lansdown Tower, is an architectural folly built in neo-classical style on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England....
at the top.
Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia spent the four years of his exile, from 1936 to 1940, at Fairfield House
Fairfield House
Fairfield House, in Newbridge, Bath, England, was the residence of His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, during the five years he spent in exile . Following his return to Ethiopia, he donated it to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged, and it remains so to this day...
in Bath. During World War II, between the evening of 25 April and the early morning of 27 April 1942, Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
raids on the German cities of Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
and Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
, part of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
campaign popularly known as the Baedeker Blitz
Baedeker Blitz
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids were a series of Vergeltungsangriffe by the German air force on English cities in response to the bombing of the erstwhile Hanseatic League city of Lübeck during the night from 28 to 29 March 1942 during World War II.-Background:Lübeck was bombed on the night...
. Over 400 people were killed, and more than 19,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Houses in the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
, Circus
The Circus (Bath)
The Circus is an example of Georgian architecture in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, begun in 1754 and completed in 1768. The name comes from the Latin 'circus', which means a ring, oval or circle. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
and Paragon
The Paragon, Bath
The Paragon in the Walcot area of Bath, Somerset, England is a street of Georgian houses which have been designated as listed buildings. It was designed by Thomas Warr Attwood. It now forms part of the A4.Numbers 1 to 21 are 3 storey houses with mansard roofs...
were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms, while part of the south side of Queen Square
Queen Square (Bath)
Queen Square is a square of Georgian houses in the city of Bath, England.Queen Square was the first speculative development by the architect John Wood, the Elder. Wood lived in a house on the square. Numbers 21-27 make up the north side...
was destroyed.
A postwar review of inadequate housing led to the clearance and redevelopment of areas of the city in a postwar style, often at variance with the local Georgian style. In the 1950s the nearby villages of Combe Down
Combe Down
Combe Down is a village suburb of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down sits on a ridge above and about 1.5 miles to the south of Bath city centre. "Combe" or "coombe" is a West Country word meaning a steep-sided...
, Twerton
Twerton
Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's football club, Bath City....
and Weston were incorporated into Bath to enable the development of further housing, much of it council housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
. In the 1970s and 1980s it was recognised that conservation of historic buildings was inadequate, leading to more care and reuse of buildings and open spaces. In 1987 the city was selected by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
, recognising its international cultural significance.
Since 2000, developments have included the Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building in the city of Bath, England, and re-opened in 2006. Bath and North East Somerset council own the buildings, and, as decreed in a Royal Charter of 1590, are the guardians of the spring waters, which are the only...
, SouthGate
SouthGate, Bath
SouthGate is a shopping centre in Bath, Somerset, England. It replaced the original shopping centre which was demolished in 2007. The new centre developed by Multi Corporation UK is more than double the size of the previous space and provides 37,000 sq metres of retail space, 3,500 sq metres of...
and the Bath Western Riverside project.
Governance
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
part of the county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, Bath was made a county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
in 1889 and hence independent of the newly created administrative
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
Somerset county council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
. Bath became part of Avon
Avon (county)
Avon was, from 1974 to 1996, a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England.The county was named after the River Avon, which runs through the area. It was formed from parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset, together with the City of Bristol...
when that non-metropolitan county was created in 1974. Since the abolition of Avon in 1996, Bath has been the main centre of the unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...
(B&NES). Bath remains, however, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, though not within the administrative non-metropolitan county of Somerset.
Because Bath is unparished
Unparished area
In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a town council or city...
, there is no longer a city council or parish council in the city. The City of Bath's ceremonial functions, including the mayoralty – which can be traced back to 1230 – and control of the coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, are now maintained by the Charter Trustees
Charter Trustees
In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established...
of the City of Bath. The coat of arms includes two silver strips, which represent the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
and the hot springs. The sword of St. Paul is a link to Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
. The supporters, a lion and a bear, stand on a bed of acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s, a link to Bladud
Bladud
Bladud or Blaiddyd was a legendary king of the Britons, for whose existence there is no historical evidence. He is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which describes him as the son of King Rud Hud Hudibras, and the tenth ruler in line from the first King, Brutus....
, the subject of the Legend of Bath. The knight's helmet indicates a municipality and the crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...
is that of King Edgar
Edgar of England
Edgar the Peaceful, or Edgar I , also called the Peaceable, was a king of England . Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England.-Accession:...
.
Before the Reform Act 1832
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
Bath elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons
Unreformed House of Commons
The unreformed House of Commons is the name generally given to the British House of Commons as it existed before the Reform Act 1832.Until the Act of Union of 1707 joining the Kingdoms of Scotland and England , Scotland had its own Parliament, and the term refers to the House of Commons of England...
. Bath now has a single parliamentary constituency
Bath (UK Parliament constituency)
Bath is a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, previously of the House of Commons of England. It is an ancient constituency which has been constantly represented in Parliament since boroughs were first summoned to send members in the 13th century...
, with Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Don Foster as Member of Parliament (1992– ). His election was a notable result of the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
, as Chris Patten
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....
, the previous Member (and a Cabinet Minister
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
) played a major part, as Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
, in getting the government of John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
re-elected, but failed to defend his marginal seat in Bath. Don Foster has been re-elected as the MP for Bath in every election since. As of 2010, his majority stands at 11883.
The electoral wards of the Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...
unitary authority within Bath are the central Abbey
Abbey, Bath
Abbey is the electoral ward covering the centre of Bath, England.Abbey is rarely used as the name of an area of Bath, and is primarily used just for electoral purposes within the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, electing two councillors....
, Kingsmead
Kingsmead, Bath
Kingsmead is a largely residential electoral ward within Bath, England.Kingsmead is rarely used as the name of an area of Bath, and is primarily used just for electoral purposes within the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, electing two councillors. Kingsmead stretches about westward...
and Walcot
Walcot, Bath
Walcot is a suburb of the city of Bath, England. It lies to the north-north-east of the city centre, and is an electoral ward of the city.The parish church, on The Paragon is dedicated to St Swithin and was built in 1779-90 by John Palmer....
wards, and the more outlying Bathwick
Bathwick
Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre.Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum....
, Combe Down
Combe Down
Combe Down is a village suburb of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down sits on a ridge above and about 1.5 miles to the south of Bath city centre. "Combe" or "coombe" is a West Country word meaning a steep-sided...
, Lambridge, Lansdown, Lyncombe, Newbridge
Newbridge, Bath
Newbridge is a largely residential electoral ward within Bath, England. Informally, Newbridge refers to the area of Bath that roughly corresponds to the ward boundaries....
, Odd Down, Oldfield, Southdown, Twerton
Twerton
Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's football club, Bath City....
, Westmoreland
Westmoreland, Bath
Westmoreland is an electoral ward in the south-west of Bath, England. It covers an area straddling the border between the localities of Oldfield and Twerton, and is bordered to the north by the River Avon....
, Weston and Widcombe
Widcombe, Bath
Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon.Widcombe was part of the hundred of Bath Forum.Widcombe Manor House is a grade I listed manor house built in 1656...
wards.
Physical geography
Bath is at the bottom of the Avon Valley, and near the southern edge of the CotswoldsCotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, a range of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
hills designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
. The hills that surround and make up the city have a maximum altitude of 238 metres (780.8 ft) on the Lansdown plateau. Bath has an area of 29 square kilometres (11.2 sq mi).
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. The river, once an unnavigable series of braided streams broken up by swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s and ponds, has been managed by weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
s into a single channel. Nevertheless, periodic flooding, which shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city, was normal until major flood control works in the 1970s.
The water which bubbles up from the ground, as geothermal springs
UK Geothermal Springs
This is a list of geothermal springs in the United Kingdom, otherwise known as hot springs* Tunbridge Wells, Kent thermal spring* Stoney Middleton Thermal Springs, Derbyshire 17.2 degrees C, 63 degrees F...
, previously fell as rain on the Mendip Hills
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
. It percolates down through limestone aquifers to a depth of between 2,700 and 4,300 metres (c. 9,000–14,000 ft) where geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 64 and 96 °C (c. 147–205 °F). Under pressure, the heated water rises to the surface along fissures and faults in the limestone. This process is similar to an artificial one known as Enhanced Geothermal System which also makes use of the high pressures and temperatures below the Earth's crust. Hot water at a temperature of 46 °C (115 °F) rises here at the rate of 1170000 litres (257,364 imp gal) every day, from a geological fault (the Pennyquick fault). In 1983, a new spa water bore-hole was sunk, providing a clean and safe supply of spa water for drinking in the Pump Room. There is no universal definition to distinguish a hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
from another geothermal spring, though by several definitions, the Bath springs can be considered the only hot springs in the UK. Three of these springs feed the thermal baths
Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building in the city of Bath, England, and re-opened in 2006. Bath and North East Somerset council own the buildings, and, as decreed in a Royal Charter of 1590, are the guardians of the spring waters, which are the only...
.
Climate
Along with the rest of South West EnglandSouth West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
, Bath has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are common. In the summer the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection
Convection
Convection is the movement of molecules within fluids and rheids. It cannot take place in solids, since neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion can take place in solids....
. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (27.6 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.
Demography
According to the UK Government
Politics of the United Kingdom
The politics of the United Kingdom takes place within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government...
's 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Bath, together with North East Somerset, which includes areas around Bath as far as the Chew Valley
Chew Valley
The Chew Valley is an area in North Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham...
, has a population of 169,040, with an average age of 39.9 (the national average being 38.6). Demographics
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
shows according to the same statistics, the district is overwhelmingly populated by people of a white ethnic background at 97.2% – significantly higher than the national average of 90.9%. Other ethnic groups in the district, in order of population size, are multiracial
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
at 1%, Asian at 0.5% and black at 0.5% (the national averages are 1.3%, 4.6% and 2.1%, respectively).
The district is largely Christian at 71%, with no other religion reaching more than 0.5%. These figures generally compare with the national averages, though the non-religious
Irreligion
Irreligion is defined as an absence of religion or an indifference towards religion. Sometimes it may also be defined more narrowly as hostility towards religion. When characterized as hostility to religion, it includes antitheism, anticlericalism and antireligion. When characterized as...
, at 19.5%, are significantly more prevalent than the national 14.8%. 7.4% of the population describe themselves as "not healthy" in the last 12 months, compared with a national average of 9.2%; nationally 18.2% of people describe themselves as having a long-term illness, in Bath it is 15.8%.
Culture
Old Orchard Street Theatre
The Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic Church and since 1865 has been a Masonic Hall. It is a Grade II listed building.-Theatre:In 1705 the first theatre opened in Bath...
was built, as well as architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
developments such as Lansdown Crescent, the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
, The Circus
The Circus (Bath)
The Circus is an example of Georgian architecture in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, begun in 1754 and completed in 1768. The name comes from the Latin 'circus', which means a ring, oval or circle. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
and Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge is a bridge that crosses the River Avon, in Bath, England. It was completed in 1773 and is designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building....
.
Today, Bath has five theatres – Bath Theatre Royal, Ustinov Studio
Ustinov Studio
The Ustinov Studio is a studio theatre in Bath, England. It is the Theatre Royal's second space, built in 1997 at the rear of the building on Monmouth Street.It is named after the actor Peter Ustinov...
, the egg
The Egg, Bath
The Egg is a theatre in Bath, built specifically for the use of young people. It was converted from a former cinema and church hall by architects Haworth Tompkins. The Grade II listed Victorian building houses the eponymous 'egg'-shaped auditorium, around which an arts cafe, rooftop rehearsal...
, the Rondo Theatre
Rondo Theatre
The Rondo Theatre, in Bath, was established in 1989 through the generosity of Doreen and Wilf Williams, who bought the former church hall from St. Saviours Church, Larkhall in 1976 and gifted the freehold to a newly formed charity, The Rondo Trust for the Performing Arts...
, and the Mission Theatre
Mission Theatre
The Mission Theatre is a theatre in Bath, England.In 2004, the Next Stage Theatre Company took possession of a grade II listed building originally built as a Congregational hall in 1797, which had been used by The People's Mission until 1998, and began building work to convert it into a theatre...
– and attracts internationally renowned companies and directors, including an annual season by Sir Peter Hall. The city also has a long-standing musical tradition; Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
is home to the Klais Organ and is the largest concert venue in the city, with about 20 concerts and 26 organ recitals each year. Another important concert venue is the Forum, a 1,700-seat art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building which originated as a cinema. The city holds the Bath International Music Festival
Bath International Music Festival
The Bath International Music Festival, also known as the Bath Music Fest, is held each summer in Bath, South West England. Inaugurated in 1948, the festival includes many genres such as orchestral, contemporary jazz, folk and electronica...
and Mozartfest every year. Other festivals include the annual Bath Film Festival
Bath Film Festival
Bath Film Festival was established in 1991, in Bath, England, by members of the Bath Film Society. is one of the most popular events on Bath's festival calendar; showcasing a wide range of film genres, styles and directors, with everything from future blockbusters to documentaries to sing-a-long's,...
, Bath Literature Festival
Bath Literature Festival
The Bath Literature Festival held annually in Bath, Somerset, England, has become an important date in the national literary calendar, playing host to an array of journalists, novelists, poets, politicians, actors, comedians, writers and biographers....
(and its counterpart for children
Bath Festival of Children's Literature
The Bath Festival of Children's Literature is an annual book festival held in Bath, Somerset aimed at children's books. The festival features a variety of authors, poets, illustrators and storytellers. It typically lasts ten days, spanning two weekends...
), the Bath Fringe Festival
Bath Fringe Festival
The Bath Fringe Festival is an annual art festival, held in Bath, England.Bath Fringe was founded in 1981 as a counterbalance to the 'classical'-dominated Bath Music Festival, which some people perceived to be elitist and out-of-touch with what a younger local audience wanted...
and the Bath Beer Festival
Bath Beer Festival
Bath Beer Festival is an annual beer festival held in the city of Bath, England.The festival offers opportunities to taste over 85 real ales, along with a range of traditional cider and Belgian beers....
, and the Bach Festivals which occur at two and a half year intervals. An annual competition for the Bard of Bath
Bard of Bath
The Bard of Bath is the winner of an annual competition to find Bath's best poet, singer or storyteller. The Bard uses the title to develop artistic projects in the area and leads evening bardic walks around the city....
aims to find Bath's best poet, singer or storyteller. The Bard uses the title to develop artistic projects in the area and leads evening bardic walks around the city. The title resurrects an Iron-Age Celtic Druid tradition where Druids were the law-makers, judges and ceremonial leaders, Ovates were mediums, healers and prophets and Bards were poets, musicians and history-keepers. All of them held high status and a place in mystical/religious circles.
The city is home to the Victoria Art Gallery
Victoria Art Gallery
The Victoria Art Gallery is free public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England.The building was designed in 1897 by John McKean Brydon, and has been designated as a Grade II listed building. The exterior of the building includes a statue of Queen Victoria, by A. C. Lucchesi, and friezes of...
, the Museum of East Asian Art
Museum of East Asian Art
The Museum of East Asian Art or MEAA is in Bennett Street, Bath, Somerset, England.Just a few metres off The Circus in central Bath, the Museum of East Asian Art is situated in a restored Georgian house. The Museum attracts the interest of students, scholars and tourists...
, and Holburne Museum of Art
Holburne Museum of Art
The Holburne Museum of Art is in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Sydney Place, in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England.-History:...
, numerous commercial art galleries and antique shops, as well as numerous museums, among them Bath Postal Museum
Bath Postal Museum
The Bath Postal Museum is in Bath, Somerset, England.The museum was founded in 1979 by Audrey and Harold Swindells in the basement of their house. In 1984, it moved to a home in Broad Street. This was the site of Bath's main Post Office from 1822 to 1854 and the building in which the first recorded...
, the Fashion Museum
Fashion Museum, Bath
The Fashion Museum is housed in the Assembly Rooms in Bath, Somerset, England.The collection was started by Doris Langley Moore, who gave her collection to the city of Bath in 1963. It focuses on fashionable dress for men, women and children from the late 16th century to the present day and has...
, the Jane Austen Centre
Jane Austen Centre
The Jane Austen Centre at 40 Gay Street in Bath, Somerset, England, is a permanent exhibition which tells the story of Jane Austen's Bath experience – the effect that visiting and living in the city had on her and her writing.-Jane Austen Centre History:...
, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy and the Roman Baths. The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution is an educational charity based in Bath, England. It was founded in 1824 and provides a museum, an independent library, exhibition space, meeting rooms and a programme of public lectures, discussion groups and exhibitions related to science, the...
, now in Queen Square, and founded in 1824 on the base of a 1777 Society for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting, Manufactures, Commerce and the Fine Arts, has an important collection and holds a programme of talks and discussions.
Bath in the arts
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
and Sir Thomas Lawrence
Thomas Lawrence (painter)
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...
lived and worked in Bath. John Maggs
John Maggs
John Charles Maggs was a painter best known for his coaching scenes.He was born in Bath, England in 1819, his father being a furniture japanner there. He painted a series of famous coaching inns, and also a series of 80 metropolitan inns, in which he exploited the picturesque and historical aspect...
, a painter best known for his coaching scenes, was born and lived in Bath with his artistic family.
William Friese-Greene
William Friese-Greene
William Friese-Greene was a British portrait photographer and prolific inventor. He is principally known as a pioneer in the field of motion pictures and is credited by some as the inventor of cinematography.-Career:William Edward Green was born on 7 September 1855, in Bristol...
began experimenting with celluloid and motion pictures in his studio in Bath in the 1870s, developing some of the earliest movie camera technology there. He is credited as the inventor of cinematography.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
lived in the city from 1801 with her father, mother and sister Cassandra, and the family resided in the city at four successive addresses until 1806. However, Jane Austen never liked the city, and wrote to her sister Cassandra, "It will be two years tomorrow since we left Bath for Clifton, with what happy feelings of escape." Despite these feelings, Bath has honoured her name with the Jane Austen Centre
Jane Austen Centre
The Jane Austen Centre at 40 Gay Street in Bath, Somerset, England, is a permanent exhibition which tells the story of Jane Austen's Bath experience – the effect that visiting and living in the city had on her and her writing.-Jane Austen Centre History:...
and a city walk. Austen's later Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed for publication, though she had previously made a start on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. According to Cassandra Austen's Memorandum, Susan was written approximately during 1798–99...
and Persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding or bringing oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means.- Methods :...
are largely set in the city and feature descriptions of taking the waters, social life, and music recitals. Taking the waters is also described in Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' novel The Pickwick Papers
The Pickwick Papers
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
in which Pickwick's servant, Sam Weller, comments that the water has "a very strong flavour o' warm flat irons", while the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
is the venue for a chase between two of the characters, Dowler and Winkle. Moyra Caldecott
Moyra Caldecott
Moyra Caldecott is a British author of historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and non-fiction. Her works include "Guardians of the Tall Stones" and The Egyptian Sequence....
's novel The Waters of Sul is set in Roman Bath in 72 AD. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
's play The Rivals
The Rivals
The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
takes place in the city, as does Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
's chilling short-story, The Landlady
The Landlady
The Landlady is a short story by Roald Dahl.-Plot summary:The story focuses on a young and bright man named Billy Weaver who has just stepped into the world of work. Arriving in Bath for a business trip, he looks for a place to stay, and is recommended to the Bell and Dragon...
.
Many films and television programmes have been filmed using the architecture of Bath as the backdrop including: the 2004 film
Vanity Fair (2004 film)
Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
of Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
's Vanity Fair, The Duchess
The Duchess (film)
The Duchess is a 2008 British drama film based on Amanda Foreman's biography of the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. It was released in September 2008 in the UK...
(2008), The Elusive Pimpernel
The Elusive Pimpernel
The Elusive Pimpernel is a 1950 British period adventure film by the British-based director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Despite having been shot in color, it was released in the United States in black and...
(1950) and The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line. The film was written by T.E.B...
(1953).
In August 2003 the Three Tenors sang at a special concert to mark the opening of the Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building in the city of Bath, England, and re-opened in 2006. Bath and North East Somerset council own the buildings, and, as decreed in a Royal Charter of 1590, are the guardians of the spring waters, which are the only...
, a new hot water spa
Thermae
In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
in Bath City Centre; delays to the project meant the spa actually opened three years later on 7 August 2006.
Parks
The city has several public parks, the main one being Royal Victoria Park, which is a short walk from the centre of the city. It was opened in 1830 by an 11-year-old Princess Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, and was the first park to carry her name. The park is overlooked by the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
and is 23 hectares (56.8 acre) in area. It has a variety of attractions. including a skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
ramp, tennis courts, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, a putting green and a 12- and 18-hole golf course, a pond, open air concerts, and a popular children's play area. Much of its area is lawn
Lawn
A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...
; a notable feature is the way in which a ha-ha segregates it from the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
, while giving the impression to a viewer from the Crescent of a greensward uninterrupted across the Park down to Royal Avenue. It has received a "Green Flag award
Green Flag award
The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards...
", the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales, and is registered by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Park of National Historic Importance
National Historical Park
National Historic Sites are protected areas of national historic significance in the United States. A National Historic Site usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject...
. The 3.84 hectares (9.5 acre) botanical gardens were formed in 1887 and contain one of the finest collections of plants on limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
in the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
. The replica of a Roman Temple was used at the British Empire Exhibition
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925.-History:It was opened by King George V on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part...
at Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
in 1924. In 1987 the gardens were extended to include the Great Dell, a disused quarry that was formally part of the park, which contains a large collection of conifers.
Other parks in Bath include: Alexandra Park, which crowns a hill and overlooks the city; Parade Gardens, along the river front near the Abbey in the centre of the city; Sydney Gardens, known as a pleasure-garden in the 18th century; Henrietta Park; Hedgemead Park; and Alice Park. Jane Austen wrote of Sydney Gardens that "It would be pleasant to be near the Sydney Gardens. We could go into the Labyrinth every day." Alexandra, Alice and Henrietta parks were built into the growing city among the housing developments. There is also a linear park following the old Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
line, and, in a green area adjoining the River Avon, Cleveland Pools
Cleveland Pools
Cleveland Pools in Hampton Row, Bath, Somerset, England is a semi-circular lido built, by John Pinch the elder, around 1814. It is believed to be the oldest public outdoor swimming pool in England....
were built around 1815. It is now the oldest surviving public outdoor lido
Lido
The Lido is an 11 km long sandbar located in Venice, northern Italy, home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September.-Geography:...
in England, and plans have been submitted for its restoration.
Food
Sally Lunn bun
A Sally Lunn is a type of yeast bread originating from Bath in the West Country of England, the recipe for which is said to have arrived with a French émigrée in the 17th century. It is often lightly scented with lemon, and is traditionally served sliced horizontally, spread with butter or whipped...
s (a type of teacake
Teacake
This article is about a type of bread or cake. Tea cake can also be used to describe Compressed tea. For the chocolate-covered teacake, see Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats....
) have long been baked in Bath. They were first mentioned by that name in verses printed in a local newspaper, the Bath Chronicle
Bath Chronicle
The Bath Chronicle is a weekly newspaper, first published under various titles before 1760 in Bath, England. Prior to September 2007, it was published daily.-Name changes:...
, in 1772. At that time they were eaten hot at public breakfasts in the city's Spring Gardens. They can be eaten with sweet or savoury toppings. These are sometimes confused with Bath bun
Bath bun
The Bath bun is a rich, sweet yeast dough shaped round that has a lump of sugar baked in the bottom and more crushed sugar sprinkled on top after baking...
s which are smaller, round, very sweet, very rich buns that were associated with the city following The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
. Bath buns were originally topped with crushed comfit
Comfit
Comfits are confectionery consisting of dried fruits, nuts, seeds or spices coated with sugar candy. Almond comfits in a muslin bag or other decorative container, are a traditional gift at baptism and wedding celebrations in many countries of Europe and the Middle East, a custom which has spread...
s created by dipping caraway
Caraway
Caraway also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....
seeds repeatedly in boiling sugar; but today seeds are added to a 'London Bath Bun' (a reference to the bun's promotion and sale at the Great Exhibition). The seeds may be replaced by crushed sugar granules or 'nibs'.
Bath has also lent its name to one other distinctive recipe – Bath Oliver
Bath Oliver
A Bath Oliver is a hard, dry biscuit or cracker made from flour, butter, yeast and milk; often eaten with cheese. It was invented by a Dr William Oliver of Bath, Somerset around 1750, giving the biscuit its name....
s – the dry baked biscuit invented by Dr William Oliver, physician to the Mineral Water Hospital
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases
The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS hospital trust of the National Health Service in England. It is a small, specialist Trust in the centre of Bath....
in 1740. Oliver was an early anti-obesity campaigner and the author of a "Practical Essay on the Use and Abuse of warm Bathing in Gluty Cases". In more recent years, Oliver's efforts have been traduced by the introduction of a version of the biscuit with a plain chocolate coating. The Bath Chap, which is the salted and smoked cheek and jawbones of the pig, takes its name from the city. It is still available from a stall in the daily covered market. Although there is a brewery named Bath Ales
Bath Ales
Bath Ales is a brewery located in the town of Warmley, Bristol, north-west of Bath, England.-History:The brewery was established in 1995 by former employees of Smiles Brewery in Bristol. Since that time, it has experienced steady growth, which included opening a new bottling plant in...
, located a few miles away in Warmley
Warmley
Warmley is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, to the east of Kingswood on the outskirts of Bristol.In the mid 18th century it contained the Warmley Works of William Champion...
, Abbey Ales
Abbey Ales Brewery
Abbey Ales is an English brewery located in city of Bath, England. It was founded in 1997 by Alan Morgan.-Beers:Bellringer is a cask beer with an alcohol by volume of 4.2%, launched at the Bath Beer Festival in 1997...
are brewed in the city.
Sport
Bath RugbyBath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
is a rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team which is currently in the Aviva Premiership league and coached by Steve Meehan. It plays in black, blue and white kit at the Recreation Ground
Recreation Ground (Bath)
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, used for recreational purposes by Bath residents and the public generally....
in the city, where it has been since the late 19th century, following its establishment in 1865. The team's first major honour was winning the John Player Cup four years consecutively from 1984 until 1987. The team then led the Courage league
Guinness Premiership
The English Premiership, also currently known as the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship by Aviva, is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership...
in six seasons in eight years between 1988/1989 and 1995/1996, during which time it also won the Pilkington Cup in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1996. It finally won the Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...
in the 1997/1998 season, and topped the Zürich Premiership (now Guinness Premiership) in 2003–2004. The team's current squad
Squad
In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
includes several members who also play in the English national team
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
including: Lee Mears
Lee Mears
Lee Mears is an English rugby union footballer, who plays hooker at Bath.-Early years:Mears first started playing rugby for the Torquay Athletic mini team. Then after playing at Paignton College, he went to Colston's School and came under the guidance of Andy Robinson and Alan Martinovic. He has...
, David Flatman
David Flatman
David Luke Flatman or 'Flats' is a prop for Bath and the England national rugby union team.He started playing rugby union at the age of eight at his local club, Maidstone FC, inspired by his father, who was a prop...
. Nick Abendanon
Nick Abendanon
Nick Abendanon is an English rugby union player, currently playing for Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership. Full-back Abendanon burst onto the scene during the 2006–07 season, scoring 10 tries in 24 first-team appearances for Bath.His form that season earned him a first England cap in South...
and Matt Banahan
Matt Banahan
Matthew Andrew Banahan is a Jerseyman who plays rugby union for Bath in the Aviva Premiership and England in international rugby union...
. Colston's Collegiate School
Colston's Collegiate School
Colston's School is an independent school in Bristol, England and is a member of the The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
, Bristol has had a large input in the team over the past decade, providing several current 1st XV squad members. The former England Rugby Team Manager Andy Robinson
Andy Robinson
Richard Andrew 'Andy' Robinson OBE is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He is currently the head coach of Scotland.Robinson played as an openside flanker for Bath, England and the British and Irish Lions...
used to play for Bath Rugby team and was captain and later coach. Both of Robinson's predecessors, Clive Woodward
Clive Woodward
Sir Clive Ronald Woodward OBE is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He is currently the British Olympic Association's Director of Elite Performance.-Early life:Woodward was born in Ely...
and Jack Rowell
Jack Rowell
Jack Rowell OBE is a former coach of rugby union sides including Bath and England.-Coaching:Between 1978 and 1994 Rowell coached Bath during their golden era, winning eight John Player/Pilkington Cups and five League Championships....
, were also former Bath coaches and managers as well as his successor Brian Ashton
Brian Ashton (rugby player)
William Brian Ashton MBE is a former rugby union player and the former Head Coach of the England and Ireland national rugby union teams.-Biography:...
.
Bath City F.C.
Bath City F.C.
Bath City Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset. They play in the Conference National league after gaining promotion from the Conference South via the play-offs in May 2010...
is the major football team. Bath City gained promotion to the Conference National
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
from the Conference South
Conference South
Conference South is one of the second divisions of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National...
in 2010. Bath City F.C.
Bath City F.C.
Bath City Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset. They play in the Conference National league after gaining promotion from the Conference South via the play-offs in May 2010...
play their games at Twerton Park
Twerton Park
Twerton Park is a multi-purpose stadium in the Twerton suburb of Bath, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Bath City. From 1986 to 1996 Bristol Rovers played there due to financial problems...
. Until 2009 Team Bath F.C.
Team Bath F.C.
Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education...
operated as an affiliate to the University Athletics programme. In 2002, Team Bath became the first university team to enter the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
in 120 years, and advanced through four qualifying rounds to the first round proper. The university's team was established in 1999, while the city team has existed since before 1908 (when it entered the Western League
Western Football League
The Western Football League is a football league in the south west of England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and parts of South Wales...
). However in 2009, the Football Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
ruled that Team Bath would not be eligible to gain promotion to a National division, nor were they allowed to participate in Football Association cup competitions. This ruling led to the decision by the club to fold at the end of the 2008/09 Conference South
Conference South
Conference South is one of the second divisions of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National...
competition. In their final season, Team Bath F.C.
Team Bath F.C.
Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education...
finished a respectable 11th in the league.
Bath City narrowly missed out on election to the Football League in 1985.
Many cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
clubs are based in the city, including Bath Cricket Club
Bath Cricket Club
Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
, who are based at the North Parade Ground and play in the West of England Premier League
West of England Premier League
The West of England Premier League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the West of England and is a designated ECB Premier League....
. Cricket is also played on the Recreation Ground, just across from where the Rugby is played. The Rec's cricket ground is the venue for the annual Bath Cricket Festival which sees Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
play several games. The Recreation Ground is also home to Bath Croquet Club, which was re-formed in 1976 and is affiliated with the South West Federation of Croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
Clubs.
The Bath Half Marathon
Bath Half Marathon
The Bath Half Marathon is an annual road running half marathon held in Bath, England. The has been held every year since 1981, normally on the second or third Sunday in March...
is run annually through the city streets, with over 10,000 runners. Bath also has a thriving cycling community, with places for biking including Royal Victoria Park, 'The Tumps' in Odd Down/east, the jumps on top of Lansdown, and Prior Park. Places for biking near Bath include Brown's Folly
Brown's Folly
Brown's Folly is a 39.9 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Bathford in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1974. Also known as Farleigh Down Stone Quarry, it is operated as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust .Brown's Folly is...
in Batheaston
Batheaston
Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England , on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 2,625...
and Box Woods, in Box
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....
.
TeamBath
TeamBath
"Team Bath" redirects here. For the football club, see Team Bath F.C..TeamBath is the brand name of the University of Bath's sports operation...
is the umbrella name for all of the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
sports teams, including the aforementioned football club. Other sports for which TeamBath is noted are athletics, badminton, basketball, bob skeleton
Skeleton (sport)
Skeleton is a fast winter sliding sport in which an individual person rides a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down, during which athletes experience forces up to 5g. It originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland as a spin-off from the popular British sport of Cresta Sledding...
, bobsleigh
Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled that are combined to calculate the final score....
, hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, modern pentathlon
Modern pentathlon
The modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, swimming, tennis, triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
and volleyball. The City of Bath Triathlon takes place annually at the university.
Industry
Bath once had an important manufacturing sector, led by companies such Stothert and PittStothert & Pitt
Stothert & Pitt were a British engineering company founded in 1785 in Bath, England. They were the builders of a variety of engineering products ranging from Dock cranes to construction plant and household cast iron items. They went out of business in 1989...
. Nowadays manufacturing is in decline in the city, but it boasts strong software, publishing and service-oriented industries, being home to companies such as Future Publishing and London & Country mortgage brokers. The city's attraction to tourists has also led to a significant number of jobs in tourism-related industries. Important economic sectors in Bath include education and health (30,000 jobs), retail, tourism and leisure (14,000 jobs) and business and professional services (10,000 jobs). Its main employers are the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
, the two universities and the Bath and North East Somerset Council, as well as the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
, although a number of MOD offices formerly in Bath have now moved to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Growing employment sectors include information and communication technologies and creative and cultural industries where Bath is one of the recognised national centres for publishing, with the magazine publisher Future Publishing employing around 650 people. Others include Buro Happold
Buro Happold
Buro Happold is a professional services firm providing engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of buildings, infrastructure and the environment, with its head office in Bath, Somerset...
(400) and IPL Information Processing Limited (250). The city contains over 400 retail shops, 50% being run by independent specialist retailers, and around 100 restaurants and cafes which are primarily supported by tourism.
Tourism
Heritage tourism
Cultural heritage tourism is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring...
and cultural tourism
Cultural tourism
Cultural tourism is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region's culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those peoples, their art, architecture, religion, and other elements that helped shape their way of life...
, aided by the city's selection in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognising its international cultural significance.
All significant stages of the history of England
History of England
The history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...
are represented within the city, from the Roman Baths (including their significant Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic presence), to Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
and the Royal Crescent
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
, to Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa
Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building in the city of Bath, England, and re-opened in 2006. Bath and North East Somerset council own the buildings, and, as decreed in a Royal Charter of 1590, are the guardians of the spring waters, which are the only...
in the 2000s. The size of the tourist industry is reflected in the almost 300 places of accommodation – including over 80 hotels, and over 180 bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
s – many of which are located in Georgian buildings
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
. The history of the city is displayed at the Building of Bath Collection which is housed in a building which was built in 1765 as the Trinity Presbyterian Church. It was also known as the Countess of Huntingdon
Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales, and has left a Christian denomination in England and Sierra Leone.-Early life:Selina Hastings was born as Lady...
's Chapel, as she lived in the attached house from 1707 to 1791. Two of the hotels have 'five-star' ratings. There are also two campsites located on the western edge of the city. The city also contains about 100 restaurants, and a similar number of public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and bars. Several companies offer open-top bus tours around the city, as well as tours on foot and on the river. Since 2006, with the opening of Thermae Bath Spa, the city has attempted to recapture its historical position as the only town in the United Kingdom offering visitors the opportunity to bathe in naturally heated spring waters.
In the 2010 Google Street View
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
Best Streets Awards, the Royal Crescent took the second place in the "Britain's Most Picturesque Street" award, first place being given to The Shambles in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. Milsom Street
Milsom Street, Bath
Milsom Street in Bath, Somerset, England was built in 1762 by Thomas Lightholder. The buildings were originally grand town houses, but most are now used as shops, offices and banks. They have 3 storeys with mansard roofs and Corinthian columns....
was also awarded "Britain's Best Fashion Street" in the 11,000 strong vote.
Twinning
Bath is twinned with five other cities a partnership agreement with Manly, New South WalesManly, New South Wales
Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named...
, Australia.
- Aix-en-ProvenceAix-en-ProvenceAix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
, France - AlkmaarAlkmaarAlkmaar is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination.-History:...
, Netherlands - BraunschweigBraunschweigBraunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Germany - Kaposvár, Hungary
- BeppuBeppu, Oitais a city located in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan, at the west end of Beppu Bay. As of January 1, 2011, the city has an official population of 125,664 and a total area of 125.13 km², with a population density of 977 persons per km²....
, Ōita PrefectureOita Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...
, Japan
Transport
Bath is approximately 13 miles (21 km) south-east of the larger city and port of BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, to which it is linked by the A4 road, and is a similar distance south of the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
. In an attempt to reduce the level of car use Park and Ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
schemes have been introduced, with sites at Odd Down, Lansdown and Newbridge, with a Saturdays-only site at the University of Bath. In addition a Bus Gate scheme in Northgate aims to reduce private car use in the city centre. National Express
National Express
National Express Coaches, more commonly known as National Express, is a brand and company, owned by the National Express Group, under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in Great Britain are operated,...
operates coach
Coach (vehicle)
A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...
services from Bath Bus Station
Bath Bus Station
Bath bus station serves as part of an integrated transport interchange for the city of Bath, Somerset, England.The Manvers Street bus station opened in 1958 and operated until 2009 when it was replaced by the new bus station in Dorchester Street as part of the Southgate regeneration...
to a number of cities. Internally, Bath has a network of bus routes run by First Group, with services to surrounding towns and cities. There is one other company running open top double-decker bus tours around the city.
The city is connected to Bristol and the sea by the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
, navigable via locks
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
by small boats. The river was connected to the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
and London by the Kennet and Avon Canal
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
in 1810 via Bath Locks
Bath Locks
Bath Locks are a series of locks situated on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bath, England.Bath Bottom Lock, which is numbered as No 7 on the canal is the meeting with the River Avon just south of Pulteney Bridge...
; this waterway – closed for many years, but restored in the last years of the 20th century – is now popular with narrowboat
Narrowboat
A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain.In the context of British Inland Waterways, "narrow boat" refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals...
users. Bath is on National Cycle Route 4, with one of Britain's first cycleways, the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, to the west, and an eastern route toward London on the canal towpath. Bath is about 18 miles (29 km) from Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport may refer to:* Bristol Airport, serving Bristol, England, United Kingdom ** Bristol Airport , a docu-soap based on events at Bristol Airport...
.
Bath is served by the Bath Spa railway station
Bath Spa railway station
Bath Spa railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Bath, in South West England.-Architecture:Bath Spa station was built in 1840 for the Great Western Railway by Brunel and is a grade II* listed building...
(designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
), which has regular connections to London Paddington, Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
Bristol Temple Meads railway station is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for public transport in Bristol, with bus services to various parts of the city and surrounding districts, and a ferry service to the city centre in addition to the...
, Cardiff Central
Cardiff Central railway station
Cardiff Central railway station is a major railway station on the South Wales Main Line in Cardiff, Wales.It is the largest and busiest station in Wales and one of the major stations of the British rail network, the tenth busiest station in the United Kingdom outside of London , based on 2007/08...
, Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
and Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
(see Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
), and also Westbury
Westbury, Wiltshire
Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, most famous for the Westbury White Horse.-Name:The most likely origin of the West- in Westbury is simply that the town is near the western edge of the county of Wiltshire, the bounds of which have been much the same...
, Warminster
Warminster
Warminster is a town in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36, and near Frome and Westbury. It has a population of about 17,000. The River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle of the town park. The Minster Church of St Denys sits on the River Were...
, Salisbury, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
(see Wessex Main Line
Wessex Main Line
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.- Places served :The places served are listed below.*Bristol*Keynsham*Oldfield Park*Bath...
). Services are provided by First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
. There is a suburban station on the main line, Oldfield Park
Oldfield Park railway station
Oldfield Park railway station is a suburban railway station in the city of Bath in Bath and North East Somerset, England. Situated at the junction of Brook Road and Moorland Road, it serves the mainly residential areas in southern Bath...
, which has a limited commuter service to Bristol as well as other destinations. Green Park Station
Bath Green Park railway station
Green Park railway station is a former railway station in Bath, Somerset, England. For some of its life, it was known as Bath Queen Square.-Architecture and opening:...
was once the terminus of the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
, and junction for the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
, whose line, always steam hauled, went under Bear Flat
Bear Flat
Bear Flat is an area of Bath, England, to the south of central Bath, below and to the west of Beechen Cliff. The Wellsway, now the A367 road to Shepton Mallet, runs through Bear Flat. Originally this was the main pilgrimage route from Bath, with its abbey, and Wells with its cathedral.'Flat' may...
through the Combe Down Tunnel
Combe Down Tunnel
Combe Down Tunnel is on the now-closed Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway main line, between Midford and Bath Queen Square, below high ground and the southern suburbs of Bath, England, emerging below the southern slopes of Combe Down village....
and climbed over the Mendips
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
to serve many towns and villages on its 71 miles (114 km) run to Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
. This example of an English rural line was closed by Beeching
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
in March 1966. Its Bath station building, now restored, houses shops, small businesses, the Saturday Bath Farmers Market and parking for a supermarket, while the route of the Somerset and Dorset within Bath is to be reused for the Two Tunnels Greenway
Two Tunnels Greenway
The Two Tunnels Greenway is a shared use path for walking and cycling under construction in Bath, Somerset, England.-Route:The route will follow the disused railway trackbed of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway from East Twerton through the Bath suburb of Oldfield Park to the Devonshire Tunnel...
, a shared use path that will extend National Cycle Route 24 into the city.
A tram system was introduced in the late 19th century opening on 24 December 1880. The gauge cars were horse-drawn along a route from London Road to the Bath Spa railway station, but the system closed in 1902. It was replaced by electric tram cars on a greatly expanded gauge system that opened in 1904. This eventually extended to 18 miles (29 km) with routes to Combe Down
Combe Down
Combe Down is a village suburb of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down sits on a ridge above and about 1.5 miles to the south of Bath city centre. "Combe" or "coombe" is a West Country word meaning a steep-sided...
, Oldfield Park, Twerton
Twerton
Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's football club, Bath City....
, Newton St Loe, Weston and Bathford
Bathford
Bathford is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England. The parish, which includes Warleigh has a population of 1,753, and extends over .-History:...
. There was a fleet of 40 cars, all but 6 being double deck. The first line to close was replaced by a bus service in 1938, and the last went on 6 May 1939.
Architecture
There are many Roman archaeologicalArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
sites throughout the central area of the city, but the baths themselves are about 6 metres (19.7 ft) below the present city street level. Around the hot springs, Roman foundations, pillar bases, and baths can still be seen, however all the stonework above the level of the baths is from more recent periods.
Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...
was a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
church built on earlier foundations, although the present building dates from the early 16th century and shows a late Perpendicular style with flying buttress
Flying buttress
A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...
es and crocket
Crocket
A crocket is a hook-shaped decorative element common in Gothic architecture. It is in the form of a stylised carving of curled leaves, buds or flowers which is used at regular intervals to decorate the sloping edges of spires, finials, pinnacles, and wimpergs....
ed pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s decorating a crenellated and pierced parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. The choir and transepts have a fan vault
Fan vault
thumb|right|250px|Fan vaulting over the nave at Bath Abbey, Bath, England. Made from local Bath stone, this is a [[Victorian restoration]] of the original roof of 1608....
by Robert
Robert Vertue
Robert Vertue was an English architect and master mason.He worked as a mason on the nave of Westminster Abbey between 1475 and 1490, and then as the master mason for Henry VII's riverside north range of Greenwich Palace, built in 1500–04 and a work at the Tower of London.Along with his brother...
and William Vertue
William Vertue
William Vertue was an English architect specialising in Fan vault ceilings.Along with his brother Robert he was involved in the construction of the Tower of London , Bath Abbey, the Vertue brothers are reported as telling Bishop Oliver King the patron of the work that the vaulting "Ther shal be...
. The nave was given a matching vault in the 19th century. The building is lit by 52 windows.
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
, and many date from the 18th and 19th century. The dominant style of architecture in Central Bath is Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
; this evolved from the Palladian
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
revival style which became popular in the early 18th century. Many of the prominent architects of the day were employed in the development of the city. The original purpose of much of Bath's architecture is concealed by the honey-coloured classical façades; in an era before the advent of the luxury hotel, these apparently elegant residences were frequently purpose-built lodging houses, where visitors could hire a room, a floor, or (according to their means) an entire house for the duration of their visit, and be waited on by the house's communal servants. The masons Reeves of Bath
Reeves of Bath
Reeves was the most prominent firm of monumental masons in Bath, Somerset. They flourished from c. 1778 to the 1860s. They often signed their work with "Reeves," or occasionally "Reeves & Son of Bath" when commissioned outside of Bath. One memorial is in the Grade I-listed City of London church St...
were prominent in the city from the 1770s to 1860s.
"The Circus
The Circus (Bath)
The Circus is an example of Georgian architecture in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, begun in 1754 and completed in 1768. The name comes from the Latin 'circus', which means a ring, oval or circle. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
" consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood
John Wood, the Elder
John Wood, the Elder, , was an English architect. Born in Twerton England, a village near Bath, now a suburb, he went to school in Bath. He came back to Bath after working in Yorkshire, and it is believed, in London, in his early 20s...
to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
in Rome. Like the Colosseum, the three façades have a different order of architecture on each floor: Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
on the ground level, then Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
on the piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
and finishing with Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
on the upper floor, the style of the building thus becoming progressively more ornate as it rises. Wood never lived to see his unique example of town planning completed, as he died five days after personally laying the foundation stone on 18 May 1754.
Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a grade I...
, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood
John Wood, the Younger
John Wood, the Younger was an English architect, working principally in the city of Bath, Somerset. He began his work as an assistant for his father, the architect John Wood, the Elder...
. But all is not what it seems; while Wood designed the great curved façade of what appears to be about 30 houses with Ionic column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s on a rusticated ground floor, that was the extent of his input. Each purchaser bought a certain length of the façade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is sometimes one. This system of town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. This "Queen Anne fronts and Mary-Anne backs" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath. Other fine terraces elsewhere in the city include Lansdown Crescent and Somerset Place
Somerset Place (Bath)
Somerset Place is a Georgian Grade I listed crescent in Bath, England. The facades were designed by the architect John Eveleigh who went bankrupt during the building, which started in 1790 but was not completed until the 1820s....
on the northern hill.
Around 1770 the neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
architect Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
designed Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge is a bridge that crosses the River Avon, in Bath, England. It was completed in 1773 and is designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building....
, using as the prototype for the three-arched bridge spanning the Avon an original, but unused, design by Palladio for the Rialto Bridge
Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.- History :...
in Venice. Thus, Pulteney Bridge became not just a means of crossing the river, but also a shopping arcade. Along with the Rialto Bridge, is one of the very few surviving bridges in Europe to serve this dual purpose. It has been substantially altered since it was built. The bridge was named after Frances and William Pulteney, the owners of the Bathwick estate for which the bridge provided a link to the rest of Bath.
The heart of the Georgian city was the Pump Room
Grand Pump Room, Bath
The Grand Pump Room in the Abbey Church Yard, Bath, Somerset, England is a historic building. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by Thomas Baldwin
Thomas Baldwin (architect)
Thomas Baldwin was an English surveyor and architect in Bath.He did not originally hail from Bath but was first recorded in the city in 1774, where he was initially a clerk to plumber, glazier, and politician Thomas Warr Attwood. By 1775, he was appointed as the Bath City Architect after...
, a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street, and the Guildhall
Guildhall, Bath
The Guildhall in Bath, Somerset, England was built between 1775 and 1778 by Thomas Baldwin to designs by Thomas Warr Attwood. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building....
. Baldwin rose rapidly, becoming a leader in Bath's architectural history. In 1776 he was made the chief City Surveyor
Bath City Surveyor
The prominent post of Bath City Architect and Surveyor was bestowed by the Corporation of Bath, Somerset on an architect who would be repeatedly chosen for civic projects. The posts were often bestowed separately with surveyor being the first appointment...
, and in 1780 became Bath City Architect
Bath City Architect
The prominent post of Bath City Architect was bestowed by the Corporation of Bath, England, on an architect who would be repeatedly chosen for civic projects.* Thomas Warr Attwood –1775* Thomas Baldwin 1780–1792* John Palmer 1792–1817...
. Great Pulteney Street
Great Pulteney Street
Great Pulteney Street is a grand thoroughfare that connects Bathwick on the east of the River Avon with the City of Bath, England via the Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge...
, where he eventually lived, is another of his works: this wide boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
, constructed circa 1789 and over 1000 feet (305 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) wide, is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.
In the 1960s and early 1970s some parts of Bath were unsympathetically redeveloped, resulting in the loss of some 18th- and 19th-century buildings. This process was largely halted by a popular campaign which drew strength from the publication of Adam Fergusson's The Sack of Bath. Controversy has revived perodically, most recently with the demolition of the 1930s Churchill House, a neo-Georgian municipal building originally housing the Electricity Board, to make way for a new bus station
Bath Bus Station
Bath bus station serves as part of an integrated transport interchange for the city of Bath, Somerset, England.The Manvers Street bus station opened in 1958 and operated until 2009 when it was replaced by the new bus station in Dorchester Street as part of the Southgate regeneration...
. This is part of the Southgate
SouthGate, Bath
SouthGate is a shopping centre in Bath, Somerset, England. It replaced the original shopping centre which was demolished in 2007. The new centre developed by Multi Corporation UK is more than double the size of the previous space and provides 37,000 sq metres of retail space, 3,500 sq metres of...
redevelopment in which an ill-favoured 1960s shopping precinct, bus station and multi-story car park were demolished and replaced by a new area of mock-Georgian shopping streets. As a result of this and other changes, notably plans for abandoned industrial land along the Avon, the city's status as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
was reviewed by UNESCO in 2009. The decision was made let Bath keep its status, but UNESCO has asked to be consulted on future phases of the Riverside development, saying that the density and volume of buildings in the second and third phases of the development need to be reconsidered.
It also demands that Bath do more to attract world-class architecture in new developments.
Education
Bath has two universities. The University of BathUniversity of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
was established in 1966. The university was named University of the Year by the Sunday Times (2011) and is known, academically, for the physical sciences, mathematics, architecture, management and technology.
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University is a university based in, and around, Bath, England. The institution was previously known as Bath College of Higher Education, and later Bath Spa University College...
was first granted degree-awarding powers in 1992 as a university college
University college
The term "university college" is used in a number of countries to denote college institutions that provide tertiary education but do not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university...
, before being granted university status in August 2005. It has schools in the following subject areas: Art and Design, Education, English and Creative Studies, Historical and Cultural Studies, Music and the Performing Arts, Science and the Environment and Social Sciences.
The city contains one further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
college, City of Bath College
City of Bath College
City of Bath College is a Further Education college in the centre of Bath, Somerset, England.-History:The college was formed in 1892 under the combined names of Bath City Science, Art, and Technical Schools...
, and several sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
s as part of both state and independent school
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
s.
Bath is also home to Norland College
Norland College
Norland College, founded in 1892 by Emily Ward, is a provider of childcare training and education. Norland trainees are employed world-wide as nannies, nursery nurses and in other positions in a variety of settings for childcare....
, a provider of childcare training and education.
Media
Bath has two main local newspapers, the Bath ChronicleBath Chronicle
The Bath Chronicle is a weekly newspaper, first published under various titles before 1760 in Bath, England. Prior to September 2007, it was published daily.-Name changes:...
and the Bath Times
Bath Times
The Bath Times is a weekly free newspaper, published in Somerset, England, with three editions covering Bath, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, and Frome. It is owned by Northcliffe Media, part of the Daily Mail and General Trust newsgroup....
. The Bath Chronicle, published since 1760, was a daily newspaper until mid-September 2007, when it became a weekly.
The Bath Times is a free
Gratis versus Libre
Gratis versus libre is the distinction between two meanings of the English adjective "free"; namely, "for zero price" and "with little or no restriction"...
weekly newspaper, largely based on advertising. Both newspapers are owned by Northcliffe Media
Northcliffe Media
Northcliffe Media Ltd. is a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe, owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. The company's name was changed to Northcliffe Media from Northcliffe Newspaper Group in 2007.It operates from over 30 publishing centres, and also...
.
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Where I Live website for Somerset has featured coverage of news and events within Bath since 2003.
For television, Bath is served by the BBC West
BBC West
BBC West is the BBC English Region serving Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.-Television:...
studios based in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, and by ITV West
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
(formerly HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
) with studios similarly in Bristol.
Radio stations broadcasting to the city include TotalStar Bath
TotalStar Bath
Total Star Bath was a radio station that broadcast on 107.9 FM in Bath, Somerset, England and was owned by One Gold Radio Ltd. It was confirmed that on the 24th of May 2011 regulator OFCOM has awarded a new licence for Bath to Celador, and began broadcasting as The Breeze on 107.9 FM on the 25th...
and Heart Bath as well as The University of Bath's 1449AM URB
1449AM URB
- History :URB , previously URB 963, and currently 1449AM URB launched on May 16, 1973 and is a student-run radio station at the University of Bath. It was launched by Annie Nightingale & Pete Murray from Radio 1. In 1994 and 2003 URB also broadcast under short-term Restricted Service Licences...
, a student-focused radio station available on campus and also online, and Classic Gold 1260
Brunel Classic Gold
Gold is a regional AM station in the west of England.The station carries the Gold programming, except for a local 4-hour afternoon programme from 12pm to 4pm, which is different in the stations two sub-regions.-Programmes:* Breakfast...
a networked commercial radio station with local programmes.
See also
- List of people from Bath
- List of Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
- List of spa towns in the United Kingdom
- Batman rapistBatman rapistThe Batman rapist is an English serial sex offender who has committed at least 17 attacks on women in the city of Bath, Somerset. He is the subject of Britain's longest–running serial rape investigation, codenamed Operation Eagle, and has eluded capture since 1991...