Editing Bath, Somerset (section)

===Roman baths and town===
{{main|Aquae Sulis}}
[[File:Roman Baths c1900 2.jpg|thumb|alt=A late-nineteenth-century Photochrom of the Great Bath at the Roman Baths. Pillars tower over the water, and the spires of Bath Abbey&nbsp;– restored in the early sixteenth century&nbsp;– are visible in the background.|19th-century [[photochrom]] of the Great Bath at the [[Roman Baths (Bath)|Roman Baths]]. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a later construction and was not a feature of the building in Roman days.]]

Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the [[Roman Baths (Bath)|Roman baths']] main spring may have been treated as a shrine by the [[British Iron Age|Britons]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://visitbath.co.uk/spa-and-wellbeing/history-of-baths-spa |title=History of Bath's Spa |publisher=Bath Tourism Plus |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315003815/http://visitbath.co.uk/spa-and-wellbeing/history-of-baths-spa |archive-date=15 March 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Page |first1=William |title=Romano-British Somerset: Part 2, Bath |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol1/pp219-288 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History |access-date=3 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930191857/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol1/pp219-288 |archive-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was dedicated to the goddess [[Sulis]], whom the [[Roman mythology|Romans]] identified with [[Minerva]]; the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, appearing in the town's [[List of Roman place names in Britain|Roman name]], ''{{lang|la|Aquae Sulis}}'' (literally, "the waters of Sulis").<ref>A L Rowse, ''Heritage of Britain'', 1995, Treasure of London, {{ISBN|978-0-907407-58-4}}, 184 pages, Page 15</ref> Messages to her scratched onto metal, known as [[Bath curse tablets|curse tablets]], have been recovered from the sacred spring by archaeologists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/RIB/RIBIV/jp4.htm |title=A Corpus of Writing-Tablets from Roman Britain |work=Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, Oxford |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828220302/http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/RIB/RIBIV/jp4.htm |archive-date=28 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> The tablets were written in [[Latin]], and laid curses on personal enemies. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a curse against the suspects on a tablet to be read by the goddess.

A temple was constructed in AD&nbsp;60–70, and a bathing complex was built up over the next 300&nbsp;years.<ref name="worldheritageplan">{{cite web |url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/2.3Des.htm |title=City of Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan |work=Bath and North East Somerset |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614100836/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/2.3Des.htm |archive-date=14 June 2007 |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref> Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation, and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden [[barrel-vaulted]] structure that housed the [[caldarium]] (hot bath), [[tepidarium]] (warm bath), and [[frigidarium]] (cold bath).<ref name="timetravel">{{cite web |url=http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/stones/romanbaths.shtml |title=The Roman Baths |work=TimeTravel Britain |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409020816/http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/stones/romanbaths.shtml |archive-date=9 April 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The town was later given [[Bath city walls|defensive walls]], probably in the 3rd century.<ref name="Alfreds Borough">{{cite web |url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/alfredsborough.shtml |title=Alfreds Borough |work=Bath Past |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611024156/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/alfredsborough.shtml |archive-date=11 June 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost as a result of rising water levels and silting.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Southern |first1=Patricia |title=The Story of Roman Bath |date=2012 |publisher=Amberley |isbn=978-1445610900 |pages=202–203 }}</ref>

In March 2012, a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig. The coins, believed to date from the 3rd century, were found about {{cvt|150|m|ft}} from the Roman baths.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hough |first1=Andrew |title=Hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins discovered in Bath |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9161483/Hoard-of-30000-silver-Roman-coins-discovered-in-Bath.html |access-date=4 May 2015 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504213126/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9161483/Hoard-of-30000-silver-Roman-coins-discovered-in-Bath.html |archive-date=4 May 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>