An Afternoon Well Spent at The Roman Baths

Last year, the Roman Baths welcomed over one million visitors. A record number of tourists, school groups, university students and residents of the World Heritage City alike flocked to explore one of Bath’s most established landmarks. 

Even on a cloudy day, the waters here are mineral green, somehow heightened in colour by the butterscotch stone that encloses the ancient baths below modern street level. Filled with rainwater that percolates from the Mendip Hills, the water temperature of 46°C is a result of geothermal energy that rises from deep in the earth’s crust. 

Steam curls from the surface, casting figures that wander along the edge in shrouds of mist. The baths themselves are just as cloudy, stained with an orange rust that indicates the rise and fall of iron-rich water throughout its years of existence. My desire to test the healing waters for myself wanes, however, when I discover that it flows through a series of lead pipes laid when Britain was still an occupied nation. 

The Roman use of the baths began around 60-70AD when a temple was built in honour of the goddess, Sulis. People came here to heal, relax, socialise and worship. The adjoining museum is scattered with artefacts that speak of how much life once existed here. I particularly enjoy the audio-visual element of the exhibition, a result of recent lottery funding granted to the heritage site. Actors dressed in period costume animate what it was like to live, work and worship at the Aquae Sulis. 

Statues of emperors – Caesar, Claudius, Augustus – look down at the steaming water, faces nonchalant to the selfie sticks and camera flashes that dominate this section of the Roman Baths. Although erected when the Sacred Spring was restored in the eighteenth century, these figures feel very much included in the essence of the location. So much history overlaps here. Examples of architecture from various eras can be viewed from this slice of the past. The gothic symmetry of Bath Abbey. The contemporary blend of Stall Street. It’s a good place to watch the passage of time. I suppose that’s why the statues are placed where they are. To observe and admire. 

Though, there’s nothing quite like being level with the Roman Baths. Below the terrace, support pillars carved from limestone rise. Made visible are ancient pathways that people once walked across to make use of the waters. My feet touch architecture constructed when civilisation still believed in such things as higher power and healing water. That thought humbles me somewhat. All of this is available for public viewing – the opportunity to sit with feet dangling over crumbling ledges and write, or simply wonder at the history your fingertips can touch. I’d say it’s an afternoon well spent.