Roman Baths.
The waters from which Bath gets its fame are believed to owe their origin
to the surface drainage of the E. Mendips, which percolates through some
vertical fissure, perhaps at Downhead, to the heart of the hills, and
are conducted by some natural culvert beneath the intervening coal measures,
washing out as they go the soluble mineral salts, and whilst still retaining
their heat emerge again at the first opportunity at Bath. The Romans
were the first to make use of this natural lavatory, and with their unrivalled
engineering skill founded here a magnificent bathing establishment. Though
the fact of their occupation of the site was long known, the extent and
magnitude of their arrangements have only lately been laid bare. Thanks
to the skill and intelligence with which a thorough investigation of
the site was made by the city architect in 1881, every visitor to Bath has now an opportunity of examining the finest extant specimen of a Roman bathing station in the world. The entrance to these antiquities is through
a corridor to the left of the Pump Room (admission 6d.).
Bath Roman Baths
This passage
opens upon a modern balcony overlooking the great central basin. To investigate
the ruins, a descent must be made by the staircase to the basement. The
Great Bath is a rectangular tank 111 feet by 68 feet, originally lined
with lead ¼ inch thick. It was surrounded with dressing-rooms,
from which steps led down to the water. The great hall which contained
it was covered in with a roof of hollow bricks and concrete (plentiful
specimens of which lie scattered about), supported by carved columns.
On the left is another square bath with a semi-circular tank at each
end, and a series of vapour chambers behind it. The greater part of this
bath was unfortunately destroyed in the 18th cent., to furnish material
for the construction of a new bath. To the right of the great bath is
a fine stepped circular bath, and beyond this again are sudatories. Still
further on, extending beneath the street, in a part not always shown
to the public and somewhat difficult of approach, is a third rectangular
basin of considerable size. Even this does not complete the full tale
of the bathing accommodation once provided. Buried beneath the basement
of the Pump Room itself has been discovered the masonry of a large oval
bath, the outline of which is still marked out in the flooring. The huge
Roman reservoir into which were poured the healing waters as they bubbled
up fresh and fervid from the bowels of the earth cannot now be seen,
for it lies immediately beneath the floor of the King's Bath, but the
visitor can still inspect the overflow conduit which conveyed the surplus
waters to the Avon.
The Roman Baths
The character of the lead and brick work should
be carefully examined if justice is to be done to the skill of the Roman workmen. The specimens of the tessellated pavement that once formed the
flooring of the great hall are worthy of passing notice. The King's Bath,
the great bathing place of the fashionable world in Nash's day, is open
to the air, and may be seen from one of the windows of the corridor.
The various modern baths must be inquired for on the spot. Medicinal
bathing is obtained at the New Royal Bath, in connection with the Grand
Pump Room Hotel. The spring which keeps the whole of this vast array
of bathing appliances going yields three hogsheads per minute, and issues
from the earth at a temperature of 117° Fahr. The chief constituents
of the waters are calcium sulphate, sodium sulphate, magnesium chloride,
calcium carbonate, and sodium chloride, and there are traces of other
minerals |
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