Roman Baths

Roman Baths

The Roman Great Bath:
This magnificent centrepiece of the Roman baths is a pool, lined with 45 sheets of lead, and filled with hot spa water. 
It once stood in an enormous barrel-vaulted hall that rose to a height of 40 metres.  For many Roman visitors this may have been the largest building they had ever entered in their life.
The bath is 1.6 metres deep which is ideal for bathing and has steps leading down on all sides.  Niches around the baths would have held benches for bathers and possibly small tables for drinks or snacks.
The Great Bath was the centrepiece of the Roman bathing establishment. It was fed with hot water directly from the Sacred Spring and provided an opportunity to enjoy a luxurious warm swim. Access is by four steep steps that entirely surround the bath.
 
On the centre of the north side there was originally a fountain feature fed by its own lead pipe from the Sacred Spring. At some point this was replaced with a smaller and rather curious fountain which is made from a re-used funerary monument with a hole cut through it to allow the passage of a pipe.
A large flat slab of stone is set across the point where hot water flows into the bath. It is known today as the diving stone.

Sacred Spring:
At the very heart of the site is the Sacred Spring.  Hot water at a temperature of 46°C rises here at the rate of 1,170,000 litres (240,000 gallons) every day and has been doing this for thousands of years.
In the past this natural phenomenon was beyond human understanding and it was believed to be the work of the ancient gods. In Roman times a great Temple was built next to the Spring dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva, a deity with healing powers.
The mineral rich water from the Sacred Spring supplied a magnificent bath-house which attracted visitors from across the Roman Empire.

Temple:
The Temple at Bath is one of only two truly classical temples known from Roman Britain. It was the place where the cult statue of the goddess Sulis Minerva was housed.

Heated rooms and plunge pools
The western range of baths includes a sequence of pools and heated rooms with good surviving hypocaust pilae showing how their heating system would have worked. The cold circular plunge pool is 1.6 metres deep, just looking at it makes you shiver.

VISITOR INFORMATION:

The Roman Baths is open daily apart from 25 and 26 December, at the following times.
January - February
0930 - 1630, exit 1730
March - June
0900 - 1700 - exit 1800
July - August
0900 - 2100 - exit 2200
September - October
0900 - 1700 - exit 1800
November - December
0930 - 1630 - exit 1730