Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset. The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis "the waters of Sulis " c. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre; the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town in the Georgian era.
Georgian architecture , crafted from Bath stone , includes the Royal Crescent , Circus , Pump Room , and the Assembly Rooms , where Beau Nash presided over the city's social life from until his death in Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood, the Elder , and in the 18th century the city became fashionable and the population grew.
Jane Austen lived in Bath in the early 19th century. Bath became part of the county of Avon in , and, following Avon's abolition in , has been the principal centre of Bath and North East Somerset. Bath has over 6 million yearly visitors, [ 5 ] making it one of the ten English cities visited most by overseas tourists.
Sporting clubs from the city include Bath Rugby and Bath City. The hills in the locality such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from the Mesolithic period. Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman baths' main spring may have been treated as a shrine by the Britons , [ 15 ] [ 16 ] and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis , whom the Romans identified with Minerva ; the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, appearing in the town's Roman name , Aquae Sulis literally, "the waters of Sulis".
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 60β70, and a bathing complex was built up over the next years. 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.
