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The History of
Bath The
Editors have made a selection from the City of
Bath Mayoralty and Bath Past websites. See
below for links.
Read
about the history of Bath through the ages by clicking
on the bookmarks listed below or scrolling
down the page:
Celtic
Times
/ Roman Times / Saxon
Times / Norman
Times / The
Dark Ages / Georgian Times
/ Regency
Times /
Victorian Times
Celtic Times
Bath
was founded by Bladud, the eldest son of the
legendary King Lud.
Among
the most significant Celtic works of art of
Roman Europe is the outstanding sun god's head
that welcomed pilgrims to the temple
of
Sulis Minerva
in Bath. Although
Bath
was in fact built nearly 1,000 years after
Bladud, it was without doubt a major Celtic
place of power.
Roman
Times
The
Romans had a genius for appropriating local
deities and blending them with their own gods.
So, Sul became Sulis Minerva when they built
their temple where the druids grove had stood.
Sul, goddess of arcane prophecy, was tempered
with the cultured arts and science of Minerva.
Although still mostly buried under magnificent
Georgian streets, the Roman ruins in Bath
are unsurpassed in Britain
.
The
Romans started building their great baths and
temple at the sacred spring soon after the
Conquest, in the middle of the 1st Century AD.
They named their city Aque Sulis and soon
transformed the Celtic druids grove into one
of the major therapeutic centres of the West.
The Romans revered the Spring just as the
Celts had done; by the 3rd century its
stunning temple and luxurious baths attracted
pilgrims from throughout the Roman world.
Saxon
Times
Bath is well known for being the site of the
legendary battle of Badon, which the Welsh
annals say was the twelfth and greatest battle
fought by Arthur against the invading Saxons.
Bath
finally fell to the Saxons at the Battle of
Dyrham Park just to the north of the city.
Although the great Roman temple and baths were
lost to flood and ruin,
Bath
continued as an important religious site with
the founding of a Saxon monastery in the 7th
century.
 How
the Norman Cathedral once looked.
(Image Courtesy of the Bath Archaeological
Trust)
Norman
Times
A
Norman doctor turned churchman, John De
Villula bought the ruined City of Bath
for 500 pounds of silver. Instituted as the
Bishop of Bath, Villula started to build a new
cathedral on the burned Saxons abbey's ruins.
The
Dark Ages
The
great 16th century traveller John Leland was
inspired by Bath's Roman ruins but not at all impressed by the
hot water which 'rikketh like a sething potte'.
City Plan of Bath 1692-4
Georgian
Times
Bath's population multiplied itself by well over
ten times during the course of the 18th
century. From a still small classic medieval
city of just 2000 people, with its market
place and many mangers and defensive walls, Bath
was transformed into a fashionable metropolis
of nearly 30,000 citizens in just 100 years.
Three visionary and talented men led this
transformation.
Ralph Allen by William Hoare, Victoria Art
Gallery, Bath
The first
famous local figure is "The Man of Bath" - Ralph
Allen. His fortune and the new splendour of
Bath
were made with limestone cut from his quarries
near-by. To advertise the same golden stone, he built
a fabulous mansion in Prior
Park and it was soon followed and used on
other
prestigious projects around the country
besides most of the new Bath.
Next and probably
Bath's most famous architect was John Wood who
died before his dream of creating a new
Bath
was finally realised, developing the newly
fashionable Palladian style and incorporating
into it Masonic and Druid references. However, the work was superbly
completed by his son. 'I proposed to make a
grand Place of Assembly, to be called the
Royal Forum of Bath; another place, no less
magnificent, for the Exhibition of Sports, to
be called the Grand Circus; and a third place,
of equal state with either of the former, for
the Practice of Medicinal exercises, to be
called the Imperial Gymnasium,' Wood the Elder
wrote. Soon
Queen Square
and the Parades rose gloriously from the
medieval city. Work began on the King's Circus,
which was completed by Wood's son. Its bold and brilliant design amazed 18th
century society.
City plan of Bath 1735
John Wood the Younger then designed the Royal
Crescent "the summit of Palladian achievement in
Bath". John Wood the Younger's Royal
Crescent was the first use of the crescent
shape in urban design
in Europe and was much admired. Its deliberate
intention was to unify a row of terrace houses
with a palatial structure, (see the History of
the Royal Crescent for more).
Nash by William Hoare (Bath Museums Service,
Bath City Council)
The
third man of influence was the wigged adventurer and dandy Richard
'Beau' Nash, a drop-out from Oxford
University
, the army and the law.
He earned his money as a gambler and
immaculate socialite. With Queen Anne's visit
to
Bath
in 1702 Beau Nash saw his chance to make
his fortune and influential friends. Immediately,
he set about transforming Bath
into the kind of fashionable resort in which
his gambling skills would thrive by becoming
Master of Ceremonies. He also used his position
and influence to
upgrade social behaviour, standards of dress
and social ranking in the society of the day.
Click here to find about
the a bibliography on 'Beau' Nash and Bath in the early eighteen
century.
City plan of Bath buildings 1700-1830
Click here to read Andrew Swift's article,
reprinted with kind permission of the Bath
Magazine, on John Wood's ambitious plans for a
star shaped architectural showpiece.
Regency Times
"The "Regency Period" is a term not usually
confined to the Regency rule of Frederick,
Prince of Wales (February 1811 to January 1820).
Historians differ, but in terms of fashion,
design, the habits of society, in other words
what was "in", the very things which had made
Bath famous and much visited, the period began
in about 1800. Over the next several years, Bath
was gradually eclipsed as the "in" resort by
Brighton, favoured by "Prinny" as the Prince of
Wales became known. As the poet William Cowper
foresaw:
"....now alike, gay widow, virgin, wife,
Ingenious to diversify dull life,
In coaches, chaises, caravans and hoys,
Fly to the coast for daily, nightly joys.
And all, impatient of dry land, agree
With one consent to rush into the sea"
Bath's architects developed further grandiose
schemes, but not all succeeded or were built;
their adoption of the Greek Revival style did
not resonate as easily with its former visitors
either as the Palladian tradition had done so
successfully in the 18th Century, or as did the
new Regency Style - exemplified in Brighton's
grand terraces near that city's own Royal
Crescent on its sea-front. With the decline in
the numbers of affluent and important visitors,
Bath became a quieter city and its architectural
glories were not fully valued and appreciated
again for another 140 years. One legend of
Bath's and the Royal Crescent's heyday is
preserved in the annals of Bath Preservation
Trust. The Trust's guide to its museum and
headquarters at No.1 records that the Duke of
York, 2nd son of George III, (not Prinny) "took
the first house in Royal Crescent" in 1796, but
soon moved to No.16; he is elsewhere recorded as
paying the rates for No.15 in 1799. These two
houses now form the Royal Crescent Hotel.
plan of Bath 1790
Victorian
Times
In
1830, Princess Victoria opened the Royal
Victoria Park. It has 56 acres of parkland,
contains trees and shrubs from around the world
and was designed by the City architect, Edward
Davis.
Victoria
did not return to Bath as Queen. During her
visit, it is said that a resident of Bath
commented on the thickness of her ankles. The
observation was duly reported to the Princess,
causing her to shun the City for the duration of
her reign.
Prince
Albert did visit and on his arrival was met by a
group of city dignitaries, all of whom were
formally attired in dark robes. As they looked
so similar that he was unable to identify the
Mayor. As a result of this, Queen Victoria
decreed that Mayors should wear a robe and Chain
of Office. These items were presented to the
Mayor of Bath, Frederick Dowding, in 1850.
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