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Bath

Make the most of your time in Bath, use the information provided on this web site by clicking on the links to plan your visit.

Bath is the most complete and best preserved Georgian city in Britain. It is also one of Britain’s oldest cities, famous since Roman times for its warm mineral springs andit has its origins in the 1st century Roman Spa of Aquae Sulis (‘Water of Sul’– a Celtic Goddess). In fact its origins may be even older, and legend attributes the discovery of the springs to Bladud, a Celtic prince who is thought to have lived about 860 BC.


Since Roman Times the value of the warm mineral springs has always been recognised, but the popularity of the place increased dramatically in the 18th century after Dr William Oliver- of Bath Oliver Biscuit fame- opened a bath for the treatment of Gout.


The building of Georgian Bath was largely due to the enterprise of a local postmaster, Ralph Allen, and the stone came from the quarries on Coombe Down. As the fine new buildings went up, the elite, led by the fashionable dandy Beau Nash, flocked to ‘take the waters’ and the social importance of being seen at the balls and assemblies of Bath is reflected in the pages of Smollett, Fielding, Jane Austen and Dickens. Bath today is mainly a residential town, but its celebrated architecture draws students from all over Europe.


Although few people now come for health reasons, the Bath Festival of Music and Drama, held in May/June each year, attracts performers of international standing and thousands of visitors from all over the world. Famous for its shops since Georgian times, Bath continues to draw crowds of shoppers all year round, to delight in the range of independent shops clustered in the heart of the city, and to dally in the shopping quarters that have developed over time.
 

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