Another beautiful, sunny day! What a gift to have warm, spring weather in England! Had a quick breakfast at Pax, took the underground to Paddington Station and then caught the train to Bath. The trip was about one and half hours with beautiful pastoral scenery!
When we arrived in Bath, we initially went the wrong way through a tunnel and crossed a bridge over the Bristol Avon River (not to be confused with the Avon River in Stratford!). The view was beautiful and we got some words of wisdom from a sign outside a wine bar but realized we needed to head the opposite direction.
We followed the signs to the Bath Abbey and city square. There were numerous street artists and performers in the square; one of our favorites was the metallic biker.
We purchased tickets to the Roman Baths and joined the hordes of tourists visiting the site. Audio phones made it easy to follow the history of this amazing site despite the crowds. The Roman Baths at Bath are a UNESCO World Heritage site and are the best preserved ancient baths and temple complex in Northern Europe. This site is the only known thermal hot springs in the entire United Kingdom and thus became the site that the Romans chose to build a temple and public bath complex in the first century AD.
Known as Aquae Sulis, the Water of Sulis, Bath, in Roman times, was a pilgrimage destination. People of all ages and stations in life came here from all over the empire to soak in the curative waters and pray to the Goddess Minerva. We entered the baths from the tops floor overlooking a large green thermal pool. The water coming from the thermal spring is a constant 115 degree F, flowing at 250,000 gallons per day and is actually colorless but looks green because of algae growing in the pool. Large stone statues of Roman emperors and generals ring the upper level of the pool. We had a magnificent view of Bath Abbey with some interesting photo opportunities through the stone railing from this level.
We descended to ground level to see the source of the thermal springs. Water from the ground is channeled into the pool and continuously recycled.
The water is also drinkable and we were able to sample a taste from the pump room – it contains 43 different minerals with calcium and sulfur as well as sodium and chloride being most prominent. There is some iron in water which results in its rust colored appearance.
As we’d seen in other English historical venues, there were reenactment actors at pool side interacting with the crowd and portraying how Romans might have behaved while operating the baths.
We continued underground to see the separate undressing rooms, cold plunge pool, warm and hot steam rooms and massage facilities for men and women. This level contained hypocausts, or underfloor heating, that kept the floors comfortable for barefoot bathers. Few people would have seen the hypocausts in Roman times except workers charged with cleaning them of soot.
Bathing was an important ritual for the Romans with a physical, social and religious context evidenced by the fact that a temple to the Goddess Minerva and other public buildings were contained within the complex. The temple was set on a podium and faced a public courtyard with a high altar upon which animals were sacrificed.
We left the baths and made a reservation for 4 pm that afternoon to climb the clock tower of Bath Abbey; this was highly recommended by a woman on the train. We had lunch in an outdoor café on the square, enjoying both the sunshine and music of various street musicians.
After lunch, we explored the Bath Abbey while waiting for the clock tower tour. The current church was built in 1499 by the Bishop of Bath during Tudor times although Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1539. It was repaired in the 17th century to become the parish church for the city of Bath and continued to be enlarged and repaired during the 18th and 19th centuries. The building was damaged by bombs during WWII, was subsequently repaired and is an active parish church today. Large stained glass windows in both the east and west walls depict Biblical scenes and there are 617 memorials in the walls and 891 gravestones in the floor. These ledger stones commemorate a broad cross section of Bath society between 1625-1845.
We met our guide and group a few minutes before 4 pm and checked our backpacks and bags before starting the climb up a narrow interior stone staircase. Most of the tour would be in very tight quarters! We climbed about 120 steps before emerging outside to walk along the lower roof, giving us a great bird’s eye view of the square below!
We paralleled the river as we walked along the roof line protected from falling by a concrete barrier with portals. The view was magnificent and the portals in the wall allowed for some interesting photography.
We entered a small room in the tower on the other side of the roof. Here we could see the numerous ropes used to chime the church bells.
After brief instruction, we split into two groups since climbing further into the clock and bell towers would be impossible for more than 8 people. My group visited the clock tower first and actually saw the clock face and mechanism from behind. In prior years before the clock was mechanized, someone stayed in the tower and moved the hands.
Next we visited the bell tower which was even tighter than the clock tower. There are multiple cast iron bells in the tower that can be chimed to play tunes. The actual bell ringer does not have to go into the tower cubby but can pull the ropes from the small room we initially entered. Our guide mentioned that the gentlemen who rings the bells has been doing so for 50 years so at 85 years old, he still climbs the 121 stairs several times a week to chime the bells. When questioned why not automate, our guide explained that there is an automatic chiming system but it has not worked well ever since it was installed.
Our final climb of another 100 steps took us to the outside roof of the tower. Here we were able to get an impressive 360 degree view of the town including a bird’s eye view of the Roman Baths next door.
After our tour, we did some souvenir shopping – our favorite retailer was Bath Aqua Glass with its lovely blown glass jewelry, ornaments and vases. Shops began closing around 6 pm. We hurried back to the station to catch our train. We arrived in Paddington around 7:45 and dined at the Mad Bishop and the Bear Pub right in the station. You have to love these English pub names! With full stomachs and tired feet, we took the tube back to Pax. Tomorrow we have theater tickets in the West End so will explore central London!