Description

STALL STREET
656-1/41/1606 (East side)

King's Bath

(Formerly Listed as:
ABBEY CHURCH YARD, King's Bath)
12/06/50

GV I

Open-air plunge bath. Medieval, probably C12, foundations, with mainly C17 super-structure; later alterations in C18, C19 and 1970's.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar and rubble.
PLAN: Open bath with seated recesses round sides. Remains of Jacobean strapwork balustrading around top, probably donated by grateful client, Sir Francis Stonor, in 1624.
EXTERIOR: Niche contains worn statue, supposedly of Bladud, legendary discoverer of spring and healing properties, and thus ultimate founder of Bath's fame and fortune. Bath immediately above Roman reservoir built round spring head in late C1.
HISTORY: Bath was first constructed during the Saxon period and used as a part of the bathing and curative establishment run by the monks of Bath Abbey, probably from the C10 onwards. They continued to control it until the Reformation when it passed first to the King (hence King's Bath), and then to the Town Council, who were granted the Prior's privileges by Elizabeth I in 1590. This was the major bath in use at this spring until the addition of the (demolished) Queen's Bath in c1576 and the opening of the (demolished) Kingston Baths in 1762. Thomas Johnson's 1675 view of the King's Bath (British Museum) depicts the statue, the arcading and the strapwork balustrade in situ. This bath was the principal attraction for visitors until the Pump Room was opened in 1706, and drinking the waters became an accepted part of any cure. Behaviour in the bath was considered scandalous, one of the aspects of Bath life to be regulated by Beau Nash. Nude bathing was prohibited in 1737, and the sexes were segregated in 1753. The present appearance of the bath is due to the lowering of the water level in the 1970s to facilitate the opening up of further parts of the Roman establishment as a part of the extensive programme of reassessment by Professor Barry Cunliffe and the Bath Archaeological Trust.
SOURCES: Barry Cunliffe, `The Roman Baths - A View over 2000 Years¿ (Bath 1993); M. Hamilton, `Bath before Beau Nash¿ (Bath 1978), 32-45; Lees-Milne J and Ford D: Images of Bath: London: 1982-; -).
Sited within the Roman Baths Scheduled area ref: OCN BA 82

Listing NGR: ST7505364729

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526155

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)