The city of Bath in South West England was founded in the 1st century AD by the Romans who used the natural hot springs as a thermal spa. It became an important centre for the wool industry in the Middle Ages but in the 18th century under the reigns of George l, ll and III it developed into an elegant spa city, famed in literature and art.
Bath is a historical city in the south of England. It is formerly in the district of north-east somerset. Baths current population is 196,409 people. Baths main attraction is its historic Roman Baths dating back to as far as the second half of the first century until the third century AD. The archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman Baths' main spring was treated as a shrine by the Celts and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with Minerva; however, the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to Bath's Roman name of Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis"). Archaeologists have retrieved curse tablets—messages to her carved upon metal—from the holy spring. The curses on the Latin-language tablets were directed at persons who the authors believed had mistreated them. For instance, if a citizen had his clothing stolen in the baths, he may write a curse on a tablet for the goddess to read, naming the culprits.
A bathing complex was developed over a 300-year period after a temple was established in AD 60–70. To create a solid foundation, engineers hammered oak pilings into the sludge. They also built a lead-lined stone chamber to enclose the spring. The caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath) were all contained within a wooden barrel-vaulted edifice that surrounded the spring in the second century. The settlement afterwards received protective walls, most likely in the third century. The baths finally disappeared as a result of silting and rising water levels after Roman control failed in the first decade of the fifth century. A treasure of 30,000 silver Roman coins was discovered in March 2012, making it the largest find in England. Another famous historical event that the residents of Bath are proud of is that Edgar of England was crowned King in Bath Abbey in 973.
In the 11th-16th Century, King William Rufus granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours, who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath in 1088. He planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a church house, with the bishop's palace beside it. New baths were built around the three springs. Later bishops, however, returned the episcopal seat to Wells, while retaining the name of Bath in their title as the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The religious house at Hinton Charterhouse was founded in 1232 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury who also founded Lacock Abbey. Several significant fights between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians took place in Somerset, a predominantly Parliamentarian region, during the English Civil War. A famous battle between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians was fought right outside the city on the 5 of July 1643, called the battle of Lansdowne.
Thomas Guidott, who had studied chemistry and medicine at Wadham College in Oxford, relocated to Bath and opened a practise there in 1668. He developed an interest in the waters' therapeutic qualities and authored A discourse of Bathe, and the hot springs there, in 1676. Additionally, some research into the water's nature. This made the country aware of the hot mineral waters' healing benefits, and soon the elite began to arrive to enjoy them. From 1936 to 1940, Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie lived in exile in Bath's Fairfield House. Bath was the target of three air assaults during World War II, between the evening of April 25 and the early morning of April 27, in retaliation for RAF raids on Lübeck and Rostock, Germany, which were a part of the Luftwaffe operation known as the Baedeker Blitz. More than 19,000 structures were damaged or destroyed, and more than 400 people were murdered during the Bath Blitz. Along with the Assembly Rooms, homes in Royal Crescent, Circus, and Paragon were destroyed by fire. The east side of Queen Square was hit by a 500-kilogram (1,100-lb) high explosive bomb, which damaged homes on the south side and damaged the nearby buildings