Curative Waters

Just before Tom started school, we spent a few days in Bath – essentially, a vacation from a vacation. Despite a great population on a tiny island, there really are rolling hills, quaint brick cottages and vast green expanses here in the UK, and these were our views out the train window to Bath.

With the whole city designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site, our walking shoes would need to prove their worth. We joined up with the free Mayor’s Guide tour and started tourist-ing. Immediately, Bath makes an impression with its distinctive white (“Bath”) stone and Georgian townhouses; this is obviously the hub of the upper class. Our guide clearly (and jokingly?) asserted his preference for the Palladian-style and scowled at all Victorian ‘mishaps’ along the way. He also frequently toasted his “hero”, Beau Nash – official Master of Ceremonies of Bath in the early 18th century, which meant ambassador to the rich (in fact, he allowed no one else in the city), dictator of city etiquette and fashionista. Truly, though, he almost single-handedly made Bath the most fashionable resort destination of the time and most of the city is a testament to this period.

Palladian revival aside, Bath is, of course, most famously known for its Roman baths. “As every English school boy knows”, Romans invaded England in 43AD, and they wasted no time (re)discovering the UK’s only hot springs and setting up a temple around it. Unlike their smelly 18th c. counterparts (complete with lice-filled wigs!), the Romans actually used the baths to clean themselves daily, as well as as a social venue. After their fill of steam rooms, their slaves would oil them up and then scrape off their sweat and dirt with a razor-sharp strigil (seemingly still a pleasant experience?!). And, a dive into the cold pools would finish off the experience.

Coincidently (?!), like the year of invasion, there are 43 minerals in Bath spa water. Even though the baths fell in and out of fashion over their 2000 year history, people never stopped making pilgrimages to Bath to seek its healing waters – simply to sit in the pools, but also to drink the water by the gallon as part of the ‘cure’. Leprosy-sufferers were common visitors, so you can imagine the state of the baths... Our (cynical) guide knew of only one proven effect of the water: laxative.

As we headed up to The Circus and Royal Crescent, the city’s most prestigious addresses, the guide had us spend a lot of time imagining the smells that would have accompanied these formal buildings. With no sanitation system / neighbouring field, multi-multi-layered clothing and no bathing culture, the place and especially the people would simply have reeked. In fact, ‘buffer’ housing built adjacent to the Royal Crescent was to divert winds from that open-sewer field. All of these imaginings are in sharp contrast to the elegant building facades. Unfortunately, without a wide angle lens / helicopter, I could not capture the full crescent-effect.

It is interesting to note that the architects of the time were only concerned with the front facades and left the tradesmen free to build anything they wanted in the back, and this led to the expression: “Queen Anne in the front, Mary Anne in the back”. Also, a wonderful feature of almost all houses in Bath (and only few in London) is the basement terrace. Originally the kitchen would have opened on to these outdoor spaces fenced at sidewalk level. Now, they are used as entrance gardens for daylit basement apartments.

We finished off our first day relaxing at Thermae Bath Spa where towel rental cost more than our Ikea towels(!), but it was worth it. Only a few years old, it is the only way to enjoy the hot springs now. A rooftop pool offered great views of the cityscape and powerful jets turned our tired muscles to mush. We alternated between this pool and the blissful, intoxicating heat and scents of the steam rooms: mint and sandalwood. We stayed long enough to enjoy the moon in the night sky and subsequently missed the bus back to the hostel. Much refreshed, the steep, long walk back wasn’t so bad. We even saw a rat on the way – how Victorian!

The next morning, we headed to nearby Stonehenge. There was apparently the potential for seeing crop circles along the winding roads on the way, but it seems university students / ufos have not been out lately. We did, however, see a giant horse carved into chalk hills hundreds of years ago, ancient burial mounds and the first thatched cottages since arriving.

The sky was appropriately grey and eerie for a visit to Stonehenge. The stone circles of this World Heritage site are ~4000 years old. Looking at the stone configurations, it is easy to associate mastery and mystery with Stonehenge. Our visit was solemn as we stood and contemplated the why and how of these structures.



We spent the afternoon exploring Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. Bath Abbey has an impressive interior space equivalent to 8-storeys crowned with intricate fan vaulting. Its facade has curious depictions of angels making their way up and down ladders to heaven (although, we originally thought the upside down ones were fallen angels!).









The Roman Baths are part of a large museum complex that has organized all of its archaeological findings exactly where they would have been in Roman times – a kind of full-scale model in the making. The earthy ceiling drips and humidity is one of their greatest preservation challenges. You emerge from these subterranean foundations and arrive at the open-air Great Bath. It is a rich experience of history and society.










We ended our stay by downing a full serving of Bath spa water - hopefully treated since its days of leprosy and other contagions. When in Rome (sort of)...