Healing Waters

Bath’s story begins with water. People gathered around its hot springs as far back as 8000 BCE. Legend says Prince Bladud was cured of leprosy almost 3,000 years ago, after bathing with his pigs in the warm mineral-rich mud. The Romans later built a temple to worship the goddess Sulis Minerva and a grand bathhouse to enjoy the healing water.

Opposite Parade Gardens can you spot the steam? Over a million litres of hot spring water flow from the Roman Baths into the river each day through the 2,000-year-old underground drainage system known as the ‘Great Drain’