The English Connection: At the height of its power the Roman Empire had conquered most of Europe, including about 1,600 so. mi. of Britain, its farthest outpost. And in the ruins of Aquae Sulis, the famed spas of Bath, lay the vestige of the rise and fall, and redevelopment of plumbing technique.
By the time the Romans reached Britain in 43 A.D., the curative powers of the hot baths were already part of English legend. Back in 863 B.C., the waters had supposedly healed the leprosy of its Celtic discoverer, Prince Bladud (the father of King Lear, who was to be immortalized by Shakespeare). Bladud founded the city of Bath, and dedicated the springs to the goddess Minerva. The Roman name of Aquae Sulis means "Waters of Minerva."
Aquae Sulis was at a strategic crossroads for the Roman troops, and the natural hot springs made it a logical setting for the baths of the Emperor Claudius. In addition, the springs produced a constant supply of soothing mineral waters, heated by Nature to a temperature of 46.5 C. Important too was that available sources of building stone and lead were close by.
Following Roman custom, Claudius developed Aquae Sulis in the image of the great baths back home, but scaled in size to its smaller location. At that, the complex must have comprised approximately 23 acres.
One monumental hall led into another as the floor plan radiated to various heated rooms, steam rooms, baths and swimming pools, plus a gymnasium and social rooms for eating and drinking. A play field was attached to the complex as well.
The small, circular pool was probably built for women and children, who at first used the pool only at stated hours and separate from the men. But eventually regulations broke down and both sexes intermingled throughout the pleasure complex.
The Romans controlled the site for about 500 years, but their influence floundered, waned and just about expired in phase with the decline of the Empire, whose ruination became complete by the sixth century A.D. By then Roman garrisons in Britain had been invaded by hordes of Picts, Saxons, Scots and Irish, and could count on no help from Rome, which was in trouble itself. When the last Roman garrisons fled the isle of Britain, the secrets of sanitary design went with them.
Replacing them were the Barbarians, leveling cities and decimating populations as they hacked their way across the continent. Civilization reeled and regressed. Sanitation technology reverted to its basest forms.
The early Christians rejected most anything Roman, including the value of cleanliness. They considered it unsanitary to be clean, sinful to display material wealth. "All is vanity," stated an early Christian writer. St. Benedict pronounced that "to those that are well, and especially for the young, bathing shall seldom be permitted." A 4th century pilgrim to Jerusalem would brag that she had not washed her face for 18 years so as "not to disturb the holy water" used at her baptism.
By the Middle Ages, the "hot houses" or "stews" of the Roman baths carried the stigma of debauchery and wild parties. During the reign of Richard the Lionhearted, the little rooms or "bordellos" of the baths became synonymous with brothels.
In 1348 the first wave of Black Plague entered England through the town of Melcombe in Dorset County. One third of the population would be wiped out, as rats and fleas thrived in the filth and garbage steeped in and about and all around.
The Dark Ages had begun.
