Bristol and Bath

The port of Bristol became rich in the nineteenth century by importing sugar, rum and tobacco and also by exporting slaves. It is still a rich city and is now the centre of the aviation industry. Rolls Royce makes aeroplane engines just outside Bristol.

The Roman town of Bath is near Bristol. The Romans settled there because of its natural hot spring, the only one in Britain. They built a temple to the goddess Minerva in front of the spring. In the eighteenth century, the town became popular with the Royal Family and the aristocracy. They came to bathe in the hot spring, drink the spa water from the fountain and socialise with their upper-class friends.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain; Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 80