The Roman Baths in Bath are among the best-preserved ancient spa complexes anywhere in the world, built around a spring that has pumped out roughly a million litres of water every day for at least two millennia. The Celts were here first, worshipping a goddess named Sul at what they considered a sacred spring.
When the Romans arrived in AD 43, they had the diplomatic good sense not to replace Sul but to merge her with their own goddess Minerva, producing the hybrid deity Sulis Minerva and constructing a full temple and bathing complex around her waters. The city they called Aquae Sulis grew to become one of Roman Britain's most celebrated destinations.
The baths themselves vanished for centuries, only to be rediscovered in 1755. By the late 1700s, some 30,000 visitors a year were making the journey to Bath. VoiceMap's tours trace this layered history, following the city through its Roman, medieval and Georgian incarnations and explaining how a Celtic spring became the foundation of an entire city.