Bath

Bath is a beautiful city located in the south west of England in Somerset County. The city was first established as a spa town with the Latin name Aquae Sulis by the Romans around AD 60. They built a temple and the famous Roman Baths which have now been restored.

Archeologists suggest the springs in Bath were used for thousands of years prior to the Romans. The springs were popular with the Celtic people who worshiped their Goddess Sulis, and attributed the healing waters to her powers. The Romans adopted these beliefs seeing much in Sulis as in their own Goddess Minerva, and named the town Aquae Sulis, building a shrine to the Goddess Sulis.

 

The hot mineral waters in Bath are the only springs in England. Rain water from the Mendip Hills filters through an underground layer of limestone in the earth. Down, down it travels to about 14,000 feet, where by geological wonder it is then pushed back up through the earth along fissures and cracks in the limestone rock formations to the surface where it flows out into three springs, at a temperature of about 115 degrees. 

The Circus was the masterpiece of John Wood the Elder and is an example of Georgian architecture with fine detailed stone carvings, which begun in 1754 and was completed in 1768. The buildings are constructed from local stone which is a limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate and its warm, honey coloring gives the Circus and much of Bath its distinctive appearance.

 The striking architecture has spawned numerous theories to explain its stark originality. Viewed from the air it forms the shape of a key, perhaps a Masonic symbol? John Wood is also thought to have taken inspiration from the ancient standing stones of nearby Stanton Drew, Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and the Colosseum in Rome.

Aerial Photo of The Circus

Pulteney Bridge in Bath