Bath

Roman

The Roman settlement of Aquae Sulis developed where a number of thermal springs erupt from the floor of the Avon valley. Chief of these is the King's Bath Spring which delivers nearly 250,000 gallons of water a day and was the focus of Roman activity. Also within the Roman site were the far smaller Hetlin (Hot Bath) and Cross Bath Springs. Late Iron Age coins recovered from the spring and the presence of a presiding Celtic goddess, Sulis (assimilated to Minerva), suggest pre-Roman veneration. The religious and thermal precinct at Bath is the earliest and grandest Roman civil building complex in Britain. Constructed probably from the 60s, it comprised a precinct containing a tetrastyle classical temple, on axis with which was an altar. Laid out on a series of cross-axes were the reservoir capturing the King's Bath Spring and the baths complex, which consisted of a large, covered, lead-lined bath (the Great Bath) with subsidiary baths to east and west. The date, size, plan, classical style of the temple, and detail of the architectural stonework and sculpture mark the complex as exceptional in the western part of the empire. Round about 200, major refurbishment of the buildings included modifications to the temple, the replacing of the timber roofs of the baths with a tile barrel-vault, and the enclosing of the reservoir within a barrel-vaulted containing building. Excavation of the main spring has yielded over 12,000 Roman coins and 130 lead tablets inscribed in Latin with curses (defixiones) as well as intaglios and other offerings to the deity, where the steaming spring issues from the underworld. In the later 4th cent. maintenance of the complex started to lapse, with silt accumulating. After the end of Roman rule and technology, the waters backed up and eventually the complex fell into ruin, though the town is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 577. Protected in the 3rd cent. by a defensive/precinct wall enclosing 25 acres, the springs and their temples and baths lay west of the Avon. To the east, in the Walcot area, seems to have been the main focus of a town presumably serving both the sacred complex and the local country-dwellers.

Alan Simon Esmonde Cleary

post-Roman

After the collapse of Roman power, Bath did not slide into total insignificance. Edgar was crowned there in 973 and in 1090 the diocese was transferred from Wells to Bath. The Gesta Stephani of 1138 referred to visitors from all over England making their way to the baths. Leland, in the 1530s, commented that Bath was much frequented by people ‘diseased with lepre, pokkes, scabbes and great aches’. Queen Elizabeth paid a brief visit in 1591 but found the smell disagreeable. Anne of Denmark went there in 1615 but in 1631 Dr Edward Jorden warned that the water was too dirty to drink. A regulation by the corporation in 1648 does not inspire confidence: ‘no person shall presume to cast or throw any dog, bitch or other live beast into any of the said baths.’ Pepys visited in 1668, enjoyed the music, but thought it could not be clean to have so many bodies in the same water. Mary of Modena was said to have conceived her son James in September 1687 while visiting.

The transformation of Bath into the fashionable spa of Georgian England was primarily the work of two men—Richard ‘Beau’ Nash and John Wood. Nash was master of ceremonies from 1705 to 1761 and imposed order and decency upon what was potentially an unruly and difficult clientele, insisting that rank be put aside—the ‘happy secret of uniting the vulgar and the great’. To the baths were added concerts, receptions, balls, fireworks, the theatre, milliners, booksellers, coffee-houses, card parties, and pleasure walks in Spring Gardens (1735) and Sydney Gardens (1795). Wood began the massive reconstruction of Bath from medieval huddle to Georgian spaciousness, under the patronage of Ralph Allen, whose estate at Prior Park above the city provided the stone. Queen Square (1729–36) was followed by the Mineral Water hospital (1737–42), North and South Parades (1740–8), and Gay Street (1750s). John Wood, junior, added the Circus (1754–8) to his father's design, Royal Crescent (1767–75), and the Assembly Rooms (1769–71). The glory of Bath lasted until the early 19th cent., by which time success had bred disaster and Nash's vulgarians had taken over. Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) found that in the Pump Room on Sundays there was ‘not a genteel face to be seen’.

J. A. Cannon

Bath The Roman settlement of Aquae Sulis developed where a number of thermal springs erupt from the floor of the Avon valley. Chief of these is the King's Bath Spring which delivers nearly 250,000 gallons of water a day and was the focus of Roman activity. Late Iron Age coins recovered from the spring and the presence of a presiding Celtic goddess, Sulis (assimilated to Minerva), suggest pre‐Roman veneration. The religious and thermal precinct at Bath is the earliest and grandest Roman civil building complex in Britain. Round about 200, major refurbishment of the buildings included modifications to the temple, the replacing of the timber roofs of the baths with a tile barrel‐vault, and the enclosing of the reservoir within a barrel‐vaulted containing building. In the later 4th cent. maintenance of the complex started to lapse, with silt accumulating. After the end of Roman rule, the complex fell into ruin, though the town is mentioned in the Anglo‐Saxon Chronicle for 577. Bath did not slide into total insignificance. Edgar was crowned there in 973 and in 1090 the diocese was transferred from Wells to Bath. The Gesta Stephani of 1138 referred to visitors from all over England making their way to the baths. Leland, in the 1530s, commented that Bath was much frequented by people ‘diseased with lepre, pokkes, scabbes and great aches’. Queen Elizabeth paid a brief visit in 1591 but found the smell disagreeable.

The transformation of Bath into the fashionable spa of Georgian England was the work of two men—Richard ‘Beau’ Nash and John Wood. Nash was master of ceremonies from 1705 to 1761 and imposed order and decency, insisting that rank be put aside—the ‘happy secret of uniting the vulgar and the great’. To the baths were added concerts, receptions, balls, fireworks, the theatre, milliners, booksellers, coffee‐houses, card parties, and pleasure walks in Spring Gardens (1735) and Sydney Gardens (1795). Wood began the massive reconstruction of Bath from medieval huddle to Georgian spaciousness, under the patronage of Ralph Allen, whose estate at rior Park above the city provided the stone. The glory of Bath lasted until the early 19th cent., by which time success had bred disaster and Nash's vulgarians had taken over. Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) found that in the Pump Room on Sundays there was ‘not a genteel face to be Seen’.

Bath. The first theatre in Bath was built in 1705. On the passing of the Licensing Act in 1737 it was demolished, and the company moved to a room under Lady Hawley's Assembly Rooms. In 1750 a second theatre was erected in Orchard Street, the shell of which still exists. The two theatres were rivals until 1756, when the companies amalgamated under John Palmer and settled in Orchard Street. The theatre was reconstructed in 1767 and again in 1774; in 1768 it became a Theatre Royal under a patent from George III, the first provincial theatre in England to be so honoured. From 1778 to 1782 Mrs Siddons was a member of its stock company. A new and larger theatre was erected in Beaufort Square in 1805; it flourished for a time but by the 1820s it was in decline and its interior was destroyed by fire in 1862. Less than 12 months later the present Theatre Royal, seating 615, with a further 250 in the gallery, opened on the same site with a production by the Bristol stock company of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Ellen Terry, aged 15, played Titania. Since 1867 it has been used by touring companies, Henry Irving's being the first to visit it. In 1979 the theatre was taken over by a Trust and in 1982 it was refurbished. It is now widely visited by major touring companies and is a prime venue for pre-London tours.

Bath city (1991 pop. 84,283), Bath and North East Somerset, SW England, in the Avon River valley. Britain's leading winter resort, Bath has the only natural hot springs in the country. Engineering, printing, bookbinding, wool-weaving, and clothing are among Bath's industries.

In the 1st cent. AD, the Romans discovered the natural springs and named the site Aquae Solis ( "waters of the sun" ). They then built elaborate lead-lined baths with heating and cooling systems (first excavated in 1755). In Saxon times the city was destroyed and the baths buried. From the time of Chaucer until the Tudor era, Bath had a flourishing wool and cloth industry.

In the 18th cent. Beau (Richard) Nash , establishing social standards equal to those of London society, and the architect John Wood and his son transformed Bath into England's most fashionable spa. The Woods, using Bath stone from nearby quarries, built Queen Square, the Circus, and the Royal Crescent, all excellent examples of Georgian architecture. The Assembly Rooms, of the same period, were destroyed by air raids in World War II but later restored. Near Bath is a museum of American arts and crafts.

Bath, Canada, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, UK, USA 1. UK (England): originally called Aquae Calidae ‘(Place of) Warm Waters’ after the complex of Roman baths and sacred hot springs. It was later renamed Aquae Sulis and dedicated to the local pagan Celtic water‐goddess Sulis. The Anglo‐Saxon Akemanchester, from Acemannesceastre, ‘Roman Town associated with a Man called Acemann’, enjoyed local popularity as ‘aching man's place’, a reasonable description of the place to which those suffering from rheumatism went. By the time of the Domesday Book (1086) it was known as Bade. The city gave its name to Bath (invalid) chairs, which were invented about 1750 by James Heath of Bath, Bath buns, and Bath Oliver biscuits by the eminent physician, Dr William Oliver.2. USA: the Bath in Maine is named after the English city, the city in North Carolina is named after Sir William Pulteney (1684–1764), 1st Earl of Bath, while the Bath in New York is named after Lady Henrietta, Countess of Bath and Sir William Pulteney's daughter.

bath / ba[unvoicedth]/ • n. (pl. baths / ba[unvoicedth]s; ba[voicedth]z/ ) an act or process of immersing and washing one's body in a large container of water: she took a long, hot bath. ∎  any act of washing or cleansing oneself: sweat baths sponge baths. ∎  (usu. baths) a public establishment offering bathing facilities. ∎  (baths) a resort with a mineral spring used for medical treatment. ∎  a bathroom. ∎  a container holding a liquid or other substance in which something is immersed, typically when undergoing a process such as film developing. • v. [tr.] wash (someone) while immersing him or her in a container of water: how to bath a baby. PHRASES: take a bath inf. suffer a heavy financial loss. bath² • n. an ancient Hebrew liquid measure equivalent to about 40 liters or 9 gallons.

Bath city (1990 pop. 9,799), seat of Sagadahoc co., SW Maine, on the west bank of the Kennebec River near its mouth on the Atlantic; settled c.1670, inc. as a city 1847. It is a port of entry with a good harbor. Once a great shipbuilding center, it still has active shipyards and marine manufactures, but summer tourism is becoming increasingly important. Champlain and others visited or passed near this site when exploring the Kennebec River, and at nearby Popham Beach a short-lived colony was established (1607) by George Popham . Shipbuilding began early; many clipper ships were constructed in the 19th cent., and the Bath Iron Works began producing steel warships and commercial vessels in the 1880s. The city flourished, particularly during World Wars I and II, when a large number of destroyers were built. There is a marine museum and many old mansions in Bath.

Bibliography: See M. Sanders, The Yard (1999).

Bath. Resort town in Avon (before 1982, Somerset) 12 miles SE of Bristol whose medicinal waters have been known from pre-historic times. The ancient British worshipped a goddess here known as Sul or Sulis and called the town Aquae Sulis, identifying her with Minerva. A divine couple known from Gaul, Mars Leucetius and Nemetona [Brit., goddess of the grove], were also worshipped here. In Welsh tradition Bath was thought to have been built by Bladud, the father of Lludd. Bath has rich associations in Arthurian literature, where it is known as Caer Bad, Caer Badum, Mons Badonis (in Nennius), and Bade (in Chrétien de Troyes); it was the site of one of Arthur's greatest victories, against the Saxons. In recent years the town has been the subject of continuing archaeological investigation led by Barry Cunliffe; see his Roman Bath Discovered (London, 1971), etc.

Bath Spa city on the River Avon, sw England. Bath has been designated a world heritage site. Its hot springs were discovered in the 1st century ad by the Romans, who named the city Aquae Sulis (waters of the sun). The bathing complex and temple are the finest Roman remains in Britain. Bath flourished as a centre of the cloth and wool industries. The 15th-century Roman bath museum is adjacent to the ornate, gothic Bath Abbey. In the 18th century (under the direction of Beau Nash), the city became a fashionable resort. John Wood transformed the city into a showcase for Georgian architecture: the Royal Crescent, Queen Square, and the Circus are among his notable achievements. The University of Bath was established in 1966. Industries: tourism, printing, bookbinding, engineering, clothing. Pop. (1996 est.) 85,000.

Bath, in Somerset, is the site of a Roman spa, Aquae Sulis, probably built in the 1st and 2nd cents ad.

In the 18th cent. Bath was transformed into a social resort by Richard (‘Beau’) Nash, who became master of ceremonies, Ralph Allen, who promoted the development of the city, and John Wood, father and son, who designed the Palladian public buildings and houses. It is the subject of very frequent literary allusion, having been visited among many others by Smollett, Fielding, Sheridan, F. Burney, Goldsmith, Southey, Landor, J. Austen, Wordsworth, Cowper, Scott, T. Moore, and Dickens. Its ruins seem to be the subject of the OE poem ‘The Ruin’.

bath OE. bæð = OS. bað, (O)HG. bad, ON. bað :- Gmc. *baþam.
Hence bath vb. XV, a new formation distinct from BATHE, now restricted to the sense ‘wash ( another or oneself ) in a bath’.

Bath B. & NE. Som. Bathum 796, Bade 1086 (DB). ‘(Place at) the (Roman) baths’. OE bæth in a dative plural form. See also Akeman Street.

bath A liquid measure of about 72 litres (16 gallons).

bath •Barth, bath, garth, hearth, lath, path •sand bath • hip bath • eyebath •bloodbath, mudbath •Hogarth • warpath • towpath •footpath