Aquae Sulis

Aquae Sulis (Latin for Waters of Sulis) (now the city of Bath, Somerset) was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia, established in the first few years after the Romans arrived in Britain. It is situated where the Fosse Way crosses the River Avon, in an area of naturally occurring hot springs. The settlement had developed into an important walled temple and bath complex by the 3rd century AD, and appears to have served as a visitor attraction before falling into disrepair and eventual decline by the start of the 5th century. The Antonine Itinerary register of Roman roads lists the town as Aquis Sulis. Ptolemy records the town as Aquae calidae (warm waters) in his 2nd-century work Geographia, where it is listed as one of the cities of the Belgae. The Roman town walls were retained by later inhabitants, and within them a monastery was established in the 7th century, developing to become Bath Abbey. The Roman Baths, long flooded and silted up, were being improved and developed for visitors in Elizabethan times, along with the grant of a city charter. By the 18th century Bath led the field in the fashion for bathing and spa resorts and the 'King's Bath' was given a Georgian makeover. By the 1900s the Great Bath itself had been discovered, excavated and given a neo-classical superstructure. The city's Georgian architecture, combined with the impressive Roman remains and visitor complex, has resulted in Bath becoming one of Britain's major tourist destinations. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, and is included in a second such designation as one of the eleven 'Great Spa Towns of Europe'.