Bath is
at the bottom of the Avon Valley, and near the southern edge of the
Cotswolds, a range of limestone hills designated as an Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hills that surround and make up the
city have a maximum altitude of 238 metres (781 ft) on the Lansdown
plateau. Bath has an area of 29 square kilometres (11 sq mi).[54]
Cleveland House and the cast iron bridges of Sydney Gardens over the Kennet and Avon Canal
The
surrounding hills give Bath its steep streets and make its buildings
appear to climb the slopes. The flood plain of the River Avon, which
runs through the centre of the city, has an altitude of about 18 metres
(59 ft) above sea level. The river, once an unnavigable series of
braided streams broken up by swamps and ponds, has been managed by
weirs into a single channel. Nevertheless, periodic flooding, which
shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city,
was normal until major flood control works in the 1970s.
The
water which bubbles up from the ground, as geothermal springs,
previously fell as rain on the Mendip Hills. It percolates down through
limestone aquifers to a depth of between 2,700 and 4,300 metres (c.
9,000-14,000 ft) where geothermal energy raises the water temperature
to between 64 and 96 °C (c. 147-205 °F). Under pressure, the heated
water rises to the surface along fissures and faults in the limestone.
This process is similar to an artificial one known as Enhanced
Geothermal System which also makes use of the high pressures and
temperatures below the Earth's crust. Hot water at a temperature of 46
°C (115 °F) rises here at the rate of 1,170,000 litres (257,364 imp
gal) every day, from a geological fault (the Pennyquick fault). In
1983, a new spa water bore-hole was sunk, providing a clean and safe
supply of spa water for drinking in the Pump Room. There is no
universal definition to distinguish a hot spring from another
geothermal spring, though by several definitions, the Bath springs can
be considered the only hot springs in the UK. Three of these springs
feed the thermal baths.
Culture
The 18th-century Pulteney Bridge by Robert Adam
Bath
became the leading centre of fashionable life in England during the
18th century. It was during this time that Bath's Old Orchard Street
Theatre was built, as well as architectural developments such as
Lansdown Crescent, the Royal Crescent,The Circus and Pulteney Bridge.
Today,
Bath has five theatres – Bath Theatre Royal, Ustinov Studio, the egg,
the Rondo Theatre, and the Mission Theatre – and attracts
internationally renowned companies and directors, including an annual
season by Sir Peter Hall. The city also has a long-standing musical
tradition; Bath Abbey is home to the Klais Organ and is the largest
concert venue in the city,with about 20 concerts and 26 organ recitals
each year. Another important concert venue is the Forum, a 1,700-seat
art deco building which originated as a cinema. The city holds the Bath
International Music Festival and Mozartfest every year. Other festivals
include the annual Bath Film Festival, Bath Literature Festival (and
its counterpart for children), the Bath Fringe Festival and the Bath
Beer Festival, and the Bach Festivals which occur at two and a half
year intervals. An annual competition for the Bard of Bath aims to find
Bath's best poet, singer or storyteller. The Bard uses the title to
develop artistic projects in the area and leads evening bardic walks
around the city. The title resurrects an Iron-Age Celtic Druid
tradition where Druids were the law-makers, judges and ceremonial
leaders, Ovates were mediums, healers and prophets and Bards were
poets, musicians and history-keepers. All of them held high status and
a place in mystical/religious circles.
The
city is home to the Victoria Art Gallery, the Museum of East Asian Art,
and Holburne Museum of Art, numerous commercial art galleries and
antique shops, as well as numerous museums, among them Bath Postal
Museum, the Fashion Museum, the Jane Austen Centre, the Herschel Museum
of Astronomy and the Roman Baths.The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific
Institution, now in Queen Square, and founded in 1824 on the base of a
1777 Society for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting,
Manufactures, Commerce and the Fine Arts, has an important collection
and holds a programme of talks and discussions.
Bath in the arts
Two
of 104 decorated pigs on display in the city. This was a public art
event, called "King Bladud's Pigs in Bath" celebrating the city, its
origins and its artists. Decorated pig sculptures were on display
throughout the summer of 2008, to be later auctioned to raise funds for
Bath's Two Tunnels Greenway.
During
the 18th century Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Thomas Lawrence lived and
worked in Bath. John Maggs, a painter best known for his coaching
scenes, was born and lived in Bath with his artistic family.William
Friese-Greene began experimenting with celluloid and motion pictures in
his studio in Bath in the 1870s, developing some of the earliest movie
camera technology there. He is credited as the inventor of
cinematography.
Jane
Austen lived in the city from 1801 with her father, mother and sister
Cassandra, and the family resided in the city at four successive
addresses until 1806. However, Jane Austen never liked the city, and
wrote to her sister Cassandra, "It will be two years tomorrow since we
left Bath for Clifton, with what happy feelings of escape."Despite
these feelings, Bath has honoured her name with the Jane Austen Centre
and a city walk. Austen's later Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are
largely set in the city and feature descriptions of taking the waters,
social life, and music recitals. Taking the waters is also described in
Charles Dickens' novel The Pickwick Papers in which Pickwick's servant,
Sam Weller, comments that the water has "a very strong flavour o' warm
flat irons", while the Royal Crescent is the venue for a chase between
two of the characters, Dowler and Winkle. Moyra Caldecott's novel The
Waters of Sul is set in Roman Bath in 72 AD. Richard Brinsley
Sheridan's play The Rivals takes place in the city, as does Roald
Dahl's chilling short-story, The Landlady.
Many
films and television programmes have been filmed using the architecture
of Bath as the backdrop including: the 2004 film of Thackeray's Vanity
Fair,The Duchess (2008),The Elusive Pimpernel (1950)and The Titfield
Thunderbolt (1953).
In
August 2003 the Three Tenors sang at a special concert to mark the
opening of the Thermae Bath Spa, a new hot water spa in Bath City
Centre; delays to the project meant the spa actually opened three years
later on 7 August 2006.
Parks
High resolution view over Bath city centre from Alexandra park
The
city has several public parks, the main one being Royal Victoria Park,
which is a short walk from the centre of the city. It was opened in
1830 by an 11-year-old Princess Victoria, and was the first park to
carry her name.The park is overlooked by the Royal Crescent and is 23
hectares (57 acres) in area. It has a variety of attractions. including
a skateboard ramp, tennis courts, bowling, a putting green and a 12-
and 18-hole golf course, a pond, open air concerts, and a popular
children's play area. Much of its area is lawn; a notable feature is
the way in which a ha-ha segregates it from the Royal Crescent, while
giving the impression to a viewer from the Crescent of a greensward
uninterrupted across the Park down to Royal Avenue. It has received a
"Green Flag award", the national standard for parks and green spaces in
England and Wales, and is registered by English Heritage as a Park of
National Historic Importance. The 3.84 hectares (9.5 acres) botanical
gardens were formed in 1887 and contain one of the finest collections
of plants on limestone in the West Country.[82] The replica of a Roman
Temple was used at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. In
1987 the gardens were extended to include the Great Dell, a disused
quarry that was formally part of the park, which contains a large
collection of conifers.
Other
parks in Bath include: Alexandra Park, which crowns a hill and
overlooks the city; Parade Gardens, along the river front near the
Abbey in the centre of the city; Sydney Gardens, known as a
pleasure-garden in the 18th century; Henrietta Park; Hedgemead Park;
and Alice Park. Jane Austen wrote of Sydney Gardens that "It would be
pleasant to be near the Sydney Gardens. We could go into the Labyrinth
every day." Alexandra, Alice and Henrietta parks were built into the
growing city among the housing developments.There is also a linear park
following the old Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway line, and, in a
green area adjoining the River Avon, Cleveland Pools were built around
1815. It is now the oldest surviving public outdoor lido in England,and
plans have been submitted for its restoration.
Food
Sally Lunn's, home of the Sally Lunn Bun
Bath
is linked to a variety of foods that are distinctive in their
association with the city. The Sally Lunn buns (a type of teacake) have
long been baked in Bath. They were first mentioned by that name in
verses printed in a local newspaper, the Bath Chronicle, in 1772.At
that time they were eaten hot at public breakfasts in the city's Spring
Gardens. They can be eaten with sweet or savoury toppings. These are
sometimes confused with Bath buns which are smaller, round, very sweet,
very rich buns that were associated with the city following The Great
Exhibition. Bath buns were originally topped with crushed comfits
created by dipping caraway seeds repeatedly in boiling sugar; but today
seeds are added to a 'London Bath Bun' (a reference to the bun's
promotion and sale at the Great Exhibition).The seeds may be replaced
by crushed sugar granules or 'nibs'.
Bath
has also lent its name to one other distinctive recipe – Bath Olivers –
the dry baked biscuit invented by Dr William Oliver, physician to the
Mineral Water Hospital in 1740.Oliver was an early anti-obesity
campaigner and the author of a "Practical Essay on the Use and Abuse of
warm Bathing in Gluty Cases". In more recent years, Oliver's efforts
have been traduced by the introduction of a version of the biscuit with
a plain chocolate coating. The Bath Chap, which is the salted and
smoked cheek and jawbones of the pig, takes its name from the city. It
is still available from a stall in the daily covered market. Although
there is a brewery named Bath Ales, located a few miles away in
Warmley, Abbey Ales are brewed in the city.
