Historic Roman Baths are drained for cleaning
November 2008
Visitors to the Bath & North East Somerset
Council-run Roman Baths in Bath on the morning of Thursday 13th
November were treated to the rare sight of the Great Bath empty of
hot water. Once it had been drained, teams of Bath & North East
Somerset Council staff spent six hours scrubbing ochre-coloured
mineral-rich sediment from the bottom of the pool.
The Great Bath is the largest of the
recreational swimming pools in the centre of this vast 2000-year
old temple and religious bathing complex. A quarter of a
million gallons (1,106,400 litres) of hot water flow through the
site every day from the thermal spring at the heart of the site,
the only natural hot spring in the United Kingdom. To drain
the Great Bath, the hot water was diverted through the original
Roman overflow, a method of cleaning that has not changed in 2000
years. Once the Roman-designed sluice-gate was closed, the
Great Bath filled up again at the rate of 13 litres per
second.
"We wanted to photograph the Great Bath
in order to illustrate stories from the past," said Stephen Clews,
Manager of the Council-run Roman Baths, "so Bath & North East
Somerset Council staff were careful to drain it completely on this
occasion. In Roman days, a formidable team of stonemasons,
sculptors, tile-makers and builders must have been drafted in from
far and wide by the Romans to construct such an impressive and
substantial building. We are keen to put stories of the
people who lived here 2000 years ago back into the stones that
remain."
The Roman Baths is currently undergoing
a five-year £5 million redevelopment to conserve the ancient
monument, to re-interpret the stories behind it for nearly 1
million people who visit it each year from all over the world, and
to make it much more accessible for people with reduced
mobility.
ENDS