Bath - Circus

Bath a city with a population of nearly 100.000, is named after its Roman-built baths. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis around 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon.

Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century. The building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries.

Claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town. In the 16th and 17th centuries, aristocrats and even monarchs came here for a cure and made the place famous. The Queen of England was a guest in 1702. The steep rise as a fashionable spa resort of world renown began. By 1800, the population had grown to 34,000 thanks to the spa, making Bath the eighth largest city in England.

The Circus is a historic ring of large townhouses forming a circle with three entrances. Designed by architect John Wood, the Elder, it was built between 1754 and 1769, and is a pre-eminent example of Georgian architecture. "Circus" means a ring, oval or circle in Latin.

The Circus is divided into three segments of equal length, with a lawn in the centre. Each segment faces one of the three entrances, ensuring a classical façade is always presented straight ahead.

The Circus was designed by the architect John Wood, the Elder. Convinced that Bath had been the principal centre of Druid activity in Britain, Wood surveyed Stonehenge, which has a diameter 99 m at the outer earth bank, and designed the Circus with a 97 m diameter to mimic this.

Wood died less than three months after the first stone was laid. His son, John Wood, the Younger, completed the project to his father's design. In the centre of the Circus - looking up.