Roman Baths Museum

Roman Baths Museum

A Roman bath complex now preserved as a museum, dating from the 1st to 4th centuries, with a museum building constructed in 1889 and 1897 above it. The museum building was designed by John McKean Brydon, with sculpture by G.A. Lawson.

The structures are built in Bath limestone ashlar with Roman tile roofs and asphalted and stone paved terraces. The centrepiece is the Great Bath, a rectangular pool measuring 25 metres by 12 metres by 1.5 metres deep. The stone bath has stepped sides lined with lead sheets, dating from the 1st century. The bath is surrounded by an open Tuscan colonnade with half columns fronting square piers on the north side (beneath the Concert Room) and whole columns elsewhere. The colonnade spans five by three bays, matching the proportions of the original Roman structure. It is topped by a pierced parapet carrying life-size statues by G.A. Lawson of Emperors and Generals connected with Britain: Julius Caesar, Claudius, Hadrian, Constantine the Great, Vespasian, Ostorius Scapula, Suetonius, and Agricola. A replacement statue of Julius Caesar was carved by Lawrence Tindall in 1989–90 following vandalism of the Lawson original.

The north side of the colonnade features a parapet built into a glazed loggia of five semicircular arches with expressed keyed heads, beneath a pent Roman tile roof. This was originally open; the glazing was added by 1925. Two doorways with Gibbs surrounds open onto the terrace at either end.

At the higher level, a rusticated stone wall topped by a balustrade fronts Kingston Parade and York Street. This wall incorporates corner pavilions with sash windows and Gibbs surrounds (two on one section, four on York Street), and a panelled door with Gibbs surround, with the upper floor featuring a keyed lunette abutting the Concert Room.

The west wall of the Great Bath is part of the old Douche and Massage Baths built in 1889 by Major Charles Davis, which was part of the Queen's Bath on York Street. The Roman Baths Museum extends beneath this building, as well as beneath the Grand Pump Room and the Concert Room. Notable associated structures include the reservoir overflow beneath the King's Bath and the Outfall Drain beneath the Concert Room. The East Baths, accessed from the lower level, are situated beneath Kingston Parade.

The Roman Baths were discovered in 1755 when Abbey House, a surviving part of the monastic establishment, was demolished. Kingston Baths were built above the discoveries by Thomas Jelly in 1762 and were not demolished until around 1885. The West Baths were discovered in 1865 when the White Hart in Stall Street was demolished in preparation for building the Grand Pump Room Hotel (1867–1869, demolished 1959). The Great Bath and Circular Bath, together with the reservoir and spring, were discovered and excavated by the City Architect, Major Charles Davis, between 1878 and 1880. These were incorporated into the Douche and Massage Baths in 1889 (mostly demolished 1972), though the Great Bath was left uncovered.

In 1894 a competition was held for a new building to house the Great Bath with a Museum and Concert Room. Brydon won the competition, but his design was subsequently replaced with a cheaper version that included a Concert Room and colonnades to the Great Bath. Brydon's original winning design had included a roofed building to house the Great Bath (the bath had been roofed in the Roman period), but this element was removed in the revised scheme.

The Roman Baths are a Scheduled Monument (Bath and North East Somerset County Monument No. 82) and are considered the finest non-military Roman survival in Britain. They are situated within the Roman Baths Scheduled area.