According to fable, Bath was founded by Bladud, the tenth ruler of Britain, after discovering the hot springs while in disguise as a swineherd. History relates, more prosaically, that the site of the main spring was treated as a shrine by the Celts, and dedicated to the goddess Sulis.

The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They called it Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis"), identifying the goddess with Minerva.

During the Roman period increasingly grand temples and bathing complexes were built, including the Great Bath. Rediscovered gradually from the 18th century onward, they have become one of the city's main attractions. Later in the Roman period, the city was given defensive walls.

As the western Roman Empire fell, urban life declined across Britain. Though the great Roman baths at Bath fell into disrepair, some use of the hot springs continued. The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning 'at the baths'. This word was the source of the present name, and has also suggested to some that Bath may have been the site of the Battle of Mons Badonicus (circa 500 AD), where King Arthur is said to have defeated the Saxons.

Following the Battle of Deorham in 577, Bath was taken by the West Saxons under Cuthwine and Ceawlin. 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.

Henry VIII considered the cathedral redundant and it was allowed to become derelict, but it was restored as the city's parish church in the Elizabethan period, when the city revived as a spa. The baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy in the bathing seasons.

There was much rebuilding in the Stuart period, but this was eclipsed by the massive expansion of the city in Georgian times. The old town within the walls was largely rebuilt also. This was a response to the continuing demand for elegant accommodation for the city's fashionable visitors, for whom Bath had become a pleasure resort as well as a spa. The builders John Wood, father and son, laid out the new quarters in rational streets and squares whose identical facades gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. The creamy gold of Bath stone further unified the city, much of it from the Limestone quarries under Combe Down which were owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764). He wanted to advertise the unique quality of his quarried limestone, and therefore commissioned architect John Wood to build him a country house on his Prior Park estate, and being a shrewd politician dominated civic affairs by becoming mayor several times.

The early 18th century saw Bath acquire its first purpose-built theatre, pump room and assembly rooms. As Master of Ceremonies Beau Nash presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761. He drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments. However the city declined as a fashionable resort in the 19th century.

This page was last updated: 06 September 2005

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL