Bath in Somerset

Bath is a City in the county of Somerset.

Bath is a city in Somerset, England. It was made popular by the Romans when they found hot springs here and built baths on top of them. Today, Bath is known for its historical sites dating back to Roman times.

The Roman Baths

The Roman Baths in Bath, Somerset are a large Roman ruin that was once a place where people would go to wash themselves. The baths have been kept as close to how they were left at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire as possible. However, during this time, there wasn’t much regard for who or what stayed intact. There’s evidence of mosaics being burned to make room for people to walk and statues were melted down in order to make coins because copper was worth more than gold at the time. Bath is one of the very few Roman sites where you can see how the building looked before it fell into disrepair.

The Pump Room

The Pump Room is still standing and gives visitors a peek at how people would come together to socialize as well as taste the ‘pure’ waters. There are fountains on either side of the room with one for men and one for women where you could once taste the city’s spa water. The water became popular because it was thought tohave healing properties. There are also some Roman baths that you can look into to see how the mineral water would once come up from underneath the ground.

Roman History in Somerset

Bath is filled with Roman history, but it’s only one part of a large picture of this area during Roman times. A town called Batheaston used to be a Roman settlement and is named after the goddess of the River Avon, Bath. There are several other towns in Somerset with a Romanesque influence including Bathampton, Clutton, Evercreech, Langport, Midsomer Norton , Paultons (or Peytointun), Shepton Mallet , Spaxton and Ubley.

Bath has an estimated population of 87,000 people. About half of the total land area is green space with 21 public parks or gardens that are open to the public. There are also another 39 areas that are set aside as nature reserves where access by the public can be regulated or restricted. The most frequented park in Bath is Queen’s Square witharound 4 million visitors a year.

Bath has 39 primary schools and 8 secondary schools. It is home to the University of Bath, part of the Russell Group of research intensive universities along with Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The university was established in 1966 and rose from mergers between Bath Teacher Training College (founded 1852) and Bath College of Higher Education (founded 1920).

One famous site in Bath is the Royal Crescent which consists of 30 terraced houses that were built by John Wood the Elder between 1767-1774. They are considered some of Britain’s finest examples of classical architecture.

Bath postcode: BA1 1

Retail in Bath

There are great places to visit near Bath including some great cities, historic buildings, towns, ancient sites, hills, ruins, historic monuments, lakes, villages, airports, beaches, islands, rivers and streams, hiking areas and caves.

Cities to visit near Bath include Bath, and Wells.

Bath has some unmissable historic buildings nearby like Beckford's Tower, Tropicana, Grand Pier (Weston-super-Mare), and Wells Cathedral.

Towns to visit near Bath include Glastonbury, Langport, Bridgwater, and Weston-super-Mare.

Bath has some unmissable ancient sites nearby like Glastonbury Tor, and Chalice Well.

Hills to visit near Bath include Glastonbury Tor.

Glastonbury Abbey is a great place to visit close to Bath if you like ruins.

There are a number of historic monuments near Bath including Chalice Well, and Cheddar Market Cross.

Bath has some unmissable lakes nearby like Cellophane Ponds, and Marine Lake - Weston-super-mare.

The area around Bath features a number of interesting villages including Withycombe, Uphill, Cheddar, and Wookey Hole.

The area around Bath's best airports can be found at Bristol Airport.

Bath is near some unmissable beaches like Weston-super-Mare Beach,

Islands to visit near Bath include Knightstone Island.

There are a several good rivers and streams in the area around Bath like River Axe.

Bath is near some unmissable hiking areas like Cheddar Gorge,

The area around Bath boasts some of the best caves including Cheddar Gorge, and Wookey Hole Caves.

Bath History

There are some historic monuments around Bath:

Areas of Bath

Like most towns and cities Bath is comprised of a number of areas, once separate villages or small towns and parishes now part of Bath.

Many of the areas of Bath have their own character and places of interest.



Places to see near Bath

History of Bath

A temple was constructed in AD 60-70, and a bathing complex was built up over the next 300 years. Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation, and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure that housed the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). The town was later given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century. After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost as a result of rising water levels and silting. In March 2012 a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig. The coins, believed to date from the 3rd century, were found about 150 m (450 ft) from the Roman baths.

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Lakes near Bath

    Shopping in Bath

    Mero Retail Park Locksbrook, Bath

    Mero Retail Park retail park

    Weston Lock Retail Park Locksbrook, Bath

    Weston Lock Retail Park retail park

    Widcombe Parade Widcombe, Bath

    Widcombe Parade retail park

    Chelsea Road Shops Locksbrook, Bath

    Chelsea Road Shops retail park

    Co-op Food 3A, Julian Road

    Co-op Food supermarket

    Tesco Express Wellsway, Bear Flat

    Tesco Express supermarket

    Spar 6, Chelsea Road

    Spar supermarket

    Tesco Express Marsden Road, Kingsway

    Tesco Express supermarket

    Co-op Food 110, Mount Road

    Co-op Food supermarket

    Streets in Bath