One of the places that Chris had not visited in her home country is Bath, in Somerset, and so we took a day trip there to check it out.
Most of Bath’s buildings are made from the local, golden-coloured, Bath Stone. The dominant architectural style is Georgian, which evolved from the Palladian revival style that became popular in the early 18th century. The city became a fashionable and popular spa and social center during the 18th century and it’s still a popular tourist destination, for good reason. It’s beautiful!
Bath is named, rather logically, for its Roman baths. Taking advantage of naturally occurring hot springs, Romans built the bath complex starting around 60AD with additional work done over the next three centuries. They had plenty of hot water to feed the baths. Around 1.3 million liters of water flow from the springs every day at a temperature of around 40° C (104° F.) There is some debate about the source of the water but the generally accepted hypothesis is that rain water falling on the Mendip Hills to the south of the city infiltrates the limestone and flows to the north, beneath the North Somerset coal field to a depth of 2.5 km from where it obtains its heat. It then rises up through fractures in the rocks beneath the city to the hot springs.
Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious center; Edgar the Peaceful was crowned ‘the first King of all England’ in 973AD at the Abbey. The Thousand Year celebration of this event happened in 1973! 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.
One of the places we visited was the Fashion Museum, which has an extensive exhibit of historic costumes, and a place where visitors can try on some example clothing. Fun! The overwhelming feeling I had when looking at all the costumes was how much time and effort (and wealth!) was required to have an outfit made. The fabric was all loomed by hand, and then the garment was all sewn and decorated by hand. Some very intricate work. Only in 1736 was printed cotton fabric legalized (yes, it was illegal until then due to lobbying by the wool industry in the UK) so that less affluent people could now acquire a broader choice of clothing.
Bath has lots of visitors and the streets are busy with people. We found a nice restaurant and waited for the streets to clear out before heading home. Great dinner of monkfish, fries and a cabbage dish, following a crab salad and a prawn salad.
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