Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Bath is a historic Roman and Georgian spa city. It is a World Heritage Site, situated
100 miles west of London and 15 miles south-east of the nearest big city, Bristol. Bath is
famous for its hot springs, Roman period baths, Medieval heritage and stately Georgian architecture.
Set in the rolling Somerset countryside on the southern edge of the Cotswolds, Bath offers
a diverse range of attractions for its 4.4 million visitors each year: restaurants, theatres,
cinemas, pubs and nightclubs, along with interesting museums, and a wide range of guided tours.
Bath is among the oldest of England's principal tourist destinations and has been welcoming
visitors for centuries. Bath first achieved its status as a sacred spa site with the growth
of the Roman settlement Aquae Sulis around the thermal springs. The Roman period saw
a vast complex of baths constructed - the remains of these were re-discovered in the
18th century and helped fuel Bath's modern revival as a luxury resort.
Bath was a prosperous city in the Medieval period, the site of an Abbey and Cathedral.
The Reformation under Henry VIII saw some uncertainty emerge in Bath's future, although
the reign of Elizabeth I saw the first revival of the town as a spa resort. It was during
the Georgian period, however, that Bath came once again into its own. Exceedingly fashionable,
Bath was laid out in stately avenues, streets and crescents, encrusted with Neo-Classical
public buildings.
Bath suffered a significant amount of damage during air raids in World War II. The prestigious
crescents and terraces were relatively unscathed and restored where necessary, but some of
the more minor Georgian and Victorian streets were demolished both after the war and during
a later ill-conceived phase of development known now as the "Sack Of Bath".