ALDEBURGH, or ALDBOROUGH—is situated in the county of Suffolk, 25 miles E.N.E. of Ipswich.
The borough was incorporated by a charter of Edward VI, and in former times was a place of considerable extent, but the old town known to the Romans was gradually submerged by the encroachments of the sea.
BATH.—107½ miles W. by S. of London. On the banks of the Avon.
Aquae Solis, corrupted by the Anglo-Saxons to Akemannes-ceaster—the invalids' city—reached by the Akemannes Way.
For many centuries it has been known by its truly descriptive name of Bath.
Tradition says it was founded by the British King Bladud, 863 B.C.; but there is no real evidence of an early British settlement, though the hot springs must have been known from the beginning. However, the name of Aquae Solis is thought to point to a British goddess, Sol or Solis, somewhat equivalent to the Roman Minerva. It was never a Roman military station, being used apparently solely as a Spa.
The remains of the Roman Baths were first uncovered in 1755, when the Duke of Kingston pulled down the old priory to form the Kingston Baths. The remains disclosed included a bath, hypocaust, channels and pipes for the passage of water and hot air, and tesselated pavements. But very little use was made of the discovery for, though some antiquaries took an interest in it, and a few relics were removed and preserved, the spot was filled in and the site covered with buildings for another 120 years. In 1878, however, public interest was aroused, a number of houses were removed, and a large area (of which that opened in 1755 was only a small part) was cleared, with the result that an extensive system of baths in a remarkable state of preservation was laid bare.
The great bath, some 70 feet long and 28 feet wide, was found to be floored with lead two-thirds of an inch thick, in a perfectly sound condition. The service-pipe being cleared out, the bath still held water as it had done 1,500 years before.