In search of Bath's 'soul'
In order to look forward, Bath must first look to its past and
understand the layers of history and culture which represent the
soul of the city.
Hot springs
Bath exists because of its three thermal springs, the only
naturally hot springs in the United Kingdom. Regarded as sacred
since ancient times, the King’s, Cross and Hetling Springs have
been the focal point for legend, pilgrimage, worship, healing,
enjoyment and commercial gain for thousands of years.
The city has evolved in a series of distinctive cycles of growth
followed by stagnation. The most significant of these, the Roman,
Monastic, Elizabethan, Georgian and Victorian eras, were all
inspired by the rediscovery or reinterpretation of the hot springs
and left a physical, economic and cultural legacy of outstanding
beauty and international significance.
Social and cultural renaissance
This continuum of cyclical change reached its zenith in the 18th
century when, emboldened by Royal patronage, Bath reinvented itself
as the leading national resort for health, pleasure and
fashion.
The resulting renaissance drew ‘refined’ society to take the
waters: the aristocratic, the rich and famous, the talented, the
beautiful and the aspiring, as well as the corrupt and
debauched.
Famous names included architects John Wood (the Elder and
Younger), Thomas Baldwin and Robert Adam; entrepreneur,
quarry-owner and philanthropist Ralph Allen; dandy, gambler and
master of ceremonies Richard ‘Beau’ Nash; painters Thomas
Gainsborough and Thomas Lawrence; writers Jane Austen, Alexander
Pope and Tobias Smollett; leading political and military figures
Horatio Nelson, William Pitt, Admiral Phillip and General Wolfe;
scientists William Herschel (who discovered the planet Uranus from
Bath in 1781) and his sister Caroline; and leading national medic
Dr Oliver, the first honorary physician at Bath’s newly opened
Royal Mineral Water Hospital (and inventor of the Bath Oliver
biscuit).
Directly or indirectly these and other luminaries contributed to
a century of unparalleled creativity and productivity.
The 18th century, more than any other in the city’s history,
shaped the unique qualities of design that make Bath an
acknowledged masterpiece among European cities and continue to
support the city’s economy centuries later.
The growth of industry
During the 19th century in Bath another significant but
distinctly different cycle of growth occurred which bore little
relation to the hot springs or to the fine buildings, spaces and
landscape of the city centre.
The impact of the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the
Kennet and Avon Canal and the Great Western, Midland and
Somerset and Dorset railways led to a major expansion of Bath to
the south and west.
While the city centre was reinventing itself as a genteel,
middle-class Victorian spa resort, offering the latest hydropathic
technology and treatments, new forms of heavy industry were
spreading along the river valley, providing employment in large
engineering companies and energy suppliers, and generating new and
much needed housing for their workers.
Brunel’s Great Western Railway opened in the city in 1840, the
same year that the world’s first postage stamp was sent from
Bath.
The city was also a significant centre for book-binding and
printing during this era, not least the Pitman Press which operated
under the direction of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of the world’s
most widely used system of shorthand.
Perhaps the most significant name in Bath’s industrial history
was that of the company Stothert and Pitt, which became one of the
world’s leading manufacturers and exporters of cranes and other
forms of heavy industry. In 1980, the Director of the British
Science Museum declared that the work of Stothert & Pitt was
Bath’s greatest contribution to world history.
During the second half of the 20th century, Bath’s reputation as
a leading spa and health destination and its success as a centre
for manufacturing industries slowly died. The spa treatment
buildings closed amid controversy over the safety of the hot
springs and major factories such as Stothert and Pitt disappeared
from the city’s landscape, leaving large areas of redundant land
along the western riverside.
A place of healing and enrichment
While the above summary only skims the surface of Bath’s
fascinating history and evolution, key themes emerge which help
define the'soul' or cultural heritage of the city.
Bath has been, since at least Roman times, a place to spend time
to nourish and heal the body, to enrich and enliven the spirit and
to stimulate and inspire the mind. It has also been a place of
industry where innovation, particularly in the fields of design and
engineering, broadened the size, population and reputation of the
city, eventually bequeathing an area of land that today holds the
key to its future expansion and success.
Moreover, throughout its history, Bath has attracted and
fostered passionate and talented individuals whose boldness,
imagination and initiative have shaped the distinctive spirit, form
and character of the city.
In order for Bath to prosper in the future, it must create and
communicate the right culture and conditions to the wider world to
excite, attract and foster the innovators and entrepreneurs of
tomorrow.