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Bath

For alternate meanings see Bath (disambiguation)

Bath is a city in south-west England, most famous for its baths fed by a reliable and sizable hot spring. Its recorded history began as a Roman spa, though legends indicate it was well-known much earlier. The waters from its spring were considered to be a cure for many afflictions. From Elizabethan to Georgian times it was a resort city for the wealthy, notably popularised by Beau Nash. As a result of its popularity during the latter period, the city contains many fine examples of Georgian architecture, particularly The Royal Crescent. The city has a population of over 90,000 and is a World Heritage Site.

Bath is approximately 15 miles southeast of the larger city and port of Bristol, to which it is linked by the A4 road, and is a similar distance south of the M4 motorway. Its railway station, Bath Spa, lies on the Great Western Railway, the main line between Bristol and London. The Kennet and Avon canal, earlier an important water route to London, has recently been fully restored and leaves the Avon at Bath.

Table of contents

1 Local government 2 History 3 Industry 4 Places of interst 5 External links

Local government

Don Foster is Bath’s Member of Parliament.

History

After Britannia left the Roman Empire urban life declined across the country. Though the great Roman baths at Bath fell into disrepair, there is evidence of some continued use of the hot springs. The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning 'at the baths', from which the present name comes.

In 675 Osric, King of the Hwicce, established a monastic house at Bath which probably used the walled area as its precinct. King Offa of Mercia gained this monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter. Bath had become a royal possession. The old Roman street pattern having been lost, King Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct.

King William Rufus granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours, who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath in 1088, with permission to move the see of Somerset from Wells to Bath. Bishop John therefore became the first Bishop of 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.

Later bishops preferred Wells, which regained cathedral status jointly with Bath. By the 15th century Bath Cathedral was badly dilapidated. Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild it on a smaller scale. The new cathedral was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539.

There was much rebuilding in the Stuart period, but this was eclipsed by the massive expansion of the city in the Georgian period. The old town within the walls was largely rebuilt also. The city declined as a fashionable resort in the 19th century.

Industry

The city has two universities, Bath University and Bath Spa University College.

The successful rugby union team Bath Rugby play at the Recreation Ground in the centre of the city.

Places of interst

• Roman Baths, Bath
• Bath Abbey
• The Royal Crescent
• The Circus (Bath)
• Great Pulteney Street
• Pulteney Bridge
• American Museum
• Prior Park
• Thermae Bath Spa
• Solsbury Hill
• Kennet and Avon Canal
• River Avon

External links

• Mushroom Guide to Bath
• This is Bath
• Bath and North East Somerset council
• University of Bath
• Thermae Bath Spa
• The Bath Net
• Bath Past
• Bath Rugby

Source | Copyright