Another day trip - Saturday 7/16

Saturday was set for a planned trip to Bath, England. There were twelve students, another faculty member, and me on the trip. The trip went along fairly smoothly. In fact, the only drawback was that it was rainy and overcast for much of the first part of the trip. That made it chilly, and a little too uncomfortable for some of the students who forgot to bring jackets.

Bath is a very fascinating site. It has a natural spring of hot mineral water that bubbles up naturally from the ground. It has done that since ancient times. The Celtic tribes who lived in the area before the coming of the Romans in the first century AD knew of the site and worshipped around the spring and attributed the natural phenomenon to the goddess, Sulis. When the Romans came, they saw the value of the hot spring mineral waters and built a large bath complex over the site, using the natural hot water both in their bath houses and in a religious temple. They saw the healing power of the Celtic goddess, Sulis, as most closely matching their own goddess, Minerva, and built their temple to Sulis Minerva. The Roman town that arose around the site was called Aquae Sulis.

Other than the wonderful archaelogical finds that have been found around the area, the most important part of the Roman baths is that they still work the same way they did 2000 years ago. The baths are still in place, though the buildings they were in were taken down or collapsed long ago. When hte springs were found again in the Middle Ages, they were used by local monks to heal the sick. Then again, in the 17th and 18th centuries they were once again made into a spa for health and recreation. Bath was a very popular spot with t rich and famous of those times. Writers, musicians, foreign heads of state, and even English royalty were often seen in and around the city of Bath. One notable writer with a conenction to Bath is Jane Austen.

I guess that's enough history for this blog entry. I will now include some of the pictures I took of the sites in Bath.

The abbey church dominates the downtown area. The abbey itself was torn down back when Henry VIII dissolved the religious monastic houses in the 16th century, but the Abbey church itself still serves as a church for the town of Bath.

The impressive front of Bath Abbey

We were primarily interested in seeing the Roman baths: the ruins left over from the time when Bath was a major Roman city.

EC students  and faculty waiting in the rain to see the Roman baths

the tour includes a model of what the Roman bath complex and temple site would have looked like

this is the frieze from the temple - with a gorgan head in the middle

though the structures above the pool were added in later stages of building (15th-18th century), this pool is still the same sacred pool that the Romans built in the first century - the water still bubbles up into this pool like it has since ancient times

this is the overflow system for the sacred pool - this water flows through the original Roman tunnels, channels, and sluices that the Romans put in - the arch was built in the 1st century AD! 

this is the main hot bathing pool - it still has the original Roman lead lining, and it is still water tight - the water is green because sunlight promotes algae growth in the warm water - the Romans had a huge arched roof over this room - the pedestals for the Roman roof supports can be seen on the far side

a couple of EC London 2011 students by the main pool

me next to the main pool

In addition to the Roman baths, we looked at a few other places, such as the Jane Austen Center.

one of the EC London 2011 students outside the Jane Austen Center in Bath, England

During the train ride back to London, we had the opportunity to see this white horse carved into the hillside near Westbury, England. It calls to mind the prehistoric chalk horse near Uffington, but this one only dates from the end of the 1700s. Still, it is supposed to be on the site of one that dates to much further back in history.

chalk White Horse on a hillside overlooking the town of Westbury in the county of Wiltshire in England