Roman Baths - Bath - Haunted?
Roman Baths - Bath This is the most famous part of Bath, but are there any ghosts lurking around the ancient springs and underground tunnels of the Baths? History - The Roman Baths are a well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60-70AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing—were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th Century AD. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the original Roman baths were in ruins a century later. The area around the natural springs was redeveloped several times during the Early and Late Middle Ages. The Roman Baths are preserved in four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House, and a museum which holds artefacts from Aquae Sulis. However, all buildings at street level date from the 19th century. It is now a major tourist attraction in the UK, and together with the Grand Pump Room. Archaeological evidence indicates that the site of the baths may have been a centre of worship used by Celts, the springs were dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with Minerva. The name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to the town's Roman name of Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"). The temple was constructed in 60–70 AD and the bathing complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years During the Roman occupation of Britain, and possibly on the instructions of Emperor Claudius, engineers drove oak piles to provide a stable foundation into the mud and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century it was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted building, and included the caldarium (hot bath), tepidarium (lukewarm bath), and frigidarium (cold bath). After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the first decade of the 5th century, these fell into disrepair and were eventually lost due to silting up and flooding. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle suggests the original Roman baths were destroyed in the 6th century. About 130 curse tablets have been found, many of the curses are related to thefts of clothes whilst the victim was bathing. The baths have been modified on several occasions, including the 12th century and the 16th century, when the city corporation built a new bath (Queen's Bath) to the south of the spring. Anne of Denmark came to Bath twice for her health. The spring is now housed in 18th-century buildings, designed by architects John Wood, the Elder and John Wood, the Younger, father and son. Visitors drank the waters in the Grand Pump Room, a neo-classical salon which remains in use, both for taking the waters and for social functions. Victorian expansion of the baths complex followed the neo-classical tradition established by the Woods. Hauntings - There are no recorded stories of hauntings in the Roman Baths, not that can be found in the public domain so far as I have looked.. Although people who have worked there have said about an eerie feeling late at night, with one entry on Trip Advisor saying they had their hair pulled whilst there. There have been several sightings of Roman soldiers in the area, including in the basement under the Gainsborough Hotel, just across from the Baths, where Roman artefacts have been unearthed. An early Roman military presence has been found just to the North-East of the bath complex in the Walcot area of modern Bath. Not far from the crossing point of their road There are about half a dozen altar stones dedicated to various gods by men from nearly every Roman legion stationed in Britain, and almost an equal number of tombstones recording their earthly remains. There is, however, but a single inscription which mentions a Roman auxiliary regiment, on the tombstone of a retired cavalryman (RIB 159 infra). The presence of these military men here in a thriving Spa-town, where veteran soldiers and retired statesmen would
often come to ‘take the waters’, cannot be taken as conclusive evidence that Bath was ever occupied by the Roman military. So sightings of Roman soldiers could just be circumstantial and cliche to the area.. Have you ever experienced anything paranormal or unexplained at the Roman Baths or Pump Rooms? Source - Wikipedia, Roman Britain Photo - Bath Chronicle, Know Your Place & olliemtdog/ Unsplash #romanbaths #ghostsofbath #romanghosts #romansoldiers #hauntedbath #spookybath #somerset #paranormal #bathparanormal #aquaesulis #romanbath
