wn for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859.

[2] Bath is in the valley of the

River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bristol. The
city became a World Heritage site in 1987.

The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") c. 60 AD when
the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were
known even before then.

Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was
rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative
properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era.
Georgian architecture, crafted from Bath stone, includes the Royal Crescent, Circus, Pump Room
and Assembly Rooms where Beau Nash presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his
death in 1761. Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood, the Elder, and in the
18th century the city became fashionable and the population grew. Jane Austen lived in Bath in
the early 19th century. Further building was undertaken in the 19th century and following the
Bath Blitz in World War II.

The city has software, publishing and service-oriented industries. Theatres, museums and other
cultural and sporting venues have helped make it a major centre for tourism, with more than
one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year.

There are several museums including the Museum of Bath Architecture, the Victoria Art Gallery,
the Museum of East Asian Art, the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Fashion Museum, and the
Holburne Museum. The city has two universities – the University of Bath and Bath Spa
University – with Bath College providing further education. Sporting clubs include Bath Rugby
and Bath City F.C..

Bath became part of the county of Avon in 1974, and, following Avon's abolition in 1996, has
been the principal centre of Bath and North East Somerset.

Contents
 1 History
o 1.1 Iron Age and Roman
o 1.2 Post-Roman and Medieval
o 1.3 Early Modern
o 1.4 Late Modern
 2 Government
o 2.1 Historical development
o 2.2 Charter trustees
o 2.3 Coat of Arms
o 2.4 Bath City Forum
o 2.5 Parliamentary elections
 o 2.6 Electoral wards
 3 Geography and environment
o 3.1 Physical geography
o 3.2 Climate
o 3.3 Green belt
 4 Demography
o 4.1 District
o 4.2 City
 5 Economy
o 5.1 Industry
o 5.2 Tourism
 6 Architecture
 7 Culture
o 7.1 Bath in the arts
o 7.2 Parks
o 7.3 Bath and Queen Victoria
o 7.4 Food
o 7.5 Twinning
 7.5.1 Formal twinning
 8 Education
 9 Sport
 10 Transport
o 10.1 Roads
o 10.2 Rivers and canals
o 10.3 Railways
o 10.4 Trams
 10.4.1 Historic
 10.4.2 Possible re-introduction
 11 Media
 12 See also
 13 References
 14 External links

History
See also: Timeline of Bath, Somerset

Iron Age and Roman

Main article: Aquae Sulis

19th century Photochrom of the Great Bath at the Roman Baths. The entire structure above the
level of the pillar bases is a later construction and was not a feature of the building in Roman
days.

The hills in the locality such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from the Mesolithic
period.[3][4] Several Bronze Age round barrows were opened by John Skinner in the 18th
century.[5] Solsbury Hill overlooking the current city was an Iron Age hill fort, and the adjacent
Bathampton Camp may also have been one.[6][7] A long barrow site believed to be from the
Beaker people was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down.[8][9]

Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman baths' main spring may have been
treated as a shrine by the Britons,[10][11] and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the
Romans identified with Minerva; the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion,
appearing in the town's Roman name, Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis").[12] Messages
to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablets, have been recovered from the sacred spring
by archaeologists.[13] The tablets were written in Latin, and cursed people whom the writers felt
had wronged them. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a
curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the goddess.

A temple was constructed in AD 60–70, and a bathing complex was built up over the next
300 years.[14] 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).[15]

The town was later given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18]

Post-Roman and Medieval

Bath Abbey

Bath may have been the site of the Battle of Badon (c.500 AD ), in which King Arthur is said to
have defeated the Anglo-Saxons.[19] The town was captured by the West Saxons in 577 after the
Battle of Deorham;[20][20] the Anglo-Saxon poem The Ruin may describe the appearance of the
Roman site about this time.[21] A monastery was founded at an early date – reputedly by Saint
David although more probably in 675 by Osric, King of the Hwicce,[22] perhaps using the walled
area as its precinct.[23][24] Nennius, a 9th-century historian, mentions a "Hot Lake" in the land of
the Hwicce along the River Severn, and adds "It is surrounded by a wall, made of brick and
stone, and men may go there to bathe at any time, and every man can have the kind of bath he
likes. If he wants, it will be a cold bath; and if he wants a hot bath, it will be hot". Bede described
hot baths in the geographical introduction to the Ecclesiastical History in terms very similar to
those of Nennius.[25] King Offa of Mercia gained control of the monastery in 781 and rebuilt the
church, which was dedicated to St. Peter.[26]

According to the Victorian churchman Edward Churton, during the Anglo-Saxon era Bath was
known as Acemannesceastre ('Akemanchester'), or 'aching men's city', on account of the
reputation these springs had for healing the sick.[27]

Map of Bath by John Speed published in 1610

By the 9th century the old Roman street pattern was lost and Bath was a royal possession. King
Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct.[16] In the
Burghal Hidage, Bath is recorded as a burh (borough) and is described as having walls of 1,375
yards (1,257 m) and was allocated 1000 men for defence.[28] During the reign of Edward the
Elder coins were minted in Bath based on a design from the Winchester mint but with 'BAD' on
the obverse relating to the Anglo-Saxon name for the town, Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning
"at the baths",[29] and this was the source of the present name. Edgar of England was crowned
king of England in Bath Abbey in 973, in a ceremony that formed the basis of all future English
coronations.[30]

William Rufus granted the town, abbey and mint to a royal physician, John of Tours, who
became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath,[31][32] following the sacking of the town during the
Rebellion of 1088.[33] It was papal policy for bishops to move to more urban seats, and John of
Tours translated his own from Wells to Bath.[34] The bishop planned and began a much larger
church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with the bishop's palace beside it.[35]
New baths were built around the three springs. Later bishops returned the episcopal seat to Wells
while retaining the name Bath in the title, Bishop of Bath and Wells. St John's Hospital was
founded around 1180 by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin and is among the oldest almshouses in
England.[36] The 'hospital of the baths' was built beside the hot springs of the Cross Bath, for their
health-giving properties and to provide shelter for the poor infirm.[37]

Administrative systems fell within the hundreds. The Bath Hundred had various names including
the Hundred of Le Buri. The Bath Foreign Hundred or Forinsecum covered the area outside the
city and was later combined into the Bath Forum Hundred. Wealthy merchants had no status
within the hundred courts and formed guilds to gain influence. They built the first guildhall
probably in the 13th century. Around 1200 the first mayor was appointed.[38]

Early Modern

The Circus

By the 15th century, Bath's abbey church was dilapidated[39] and Oliver King, Bishop of Bath
and Wells, decided to rebuild it on a smaller scale in 1500. The new church was completed just a
few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII.[40] The abbey church became
derelict before being restored as the city's parish church in the Elizabethan era, when the city
experienced a revival as a spa. The baths were improved and the city began to attract the
aristocracy. A Royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590 confirmed city status.[41]
During the English Civil War, the city was garrisoned for Charles I. Seven thousand pounds was
spent on fortifications, but on the appearance of parliamentary forces the gates were thrown open
and the city surrendered. It became a significant post for the New Model Army under William
Waller.[42] Bath was retaken by royalists following the Battle of Lansdowne fought on the
northern outskirts of the city on 5 July 1643.[43] Thomas Guidott, a student of chemistry and
medicine at Wadham College, Oxford, set up a practice in the city in 1668. He was interested in
the curative properties of the waters, and he wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters
there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water in 1676. It brought the health-giving
properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country, and the aristocracy arrived to
partake in them.[44]

Royal Crescent and Circus from the air (connected by link road, thus creating the famous
"question mark" formation). Georgian taste favoured the regularity of Bath's streets and squares
and the contrast with adjacent rural nature.

Several areas of the city were developed in the Stuart period, and more building took place
during Georgian times in response to the increasing number of visitors who required
accommodation.[45] Architects John Wood the Elder and his son laid out the new quarters in
streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and
classical decorum.[46] Much of the creamy gold Bath stone, a type of limestone used for
construction in the city, was obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines
owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764).[47] Allen, to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone,
commissioned the elder John Wood to build a country house on his Prior Park estate between the
city a