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The City of Bath traces its history back to Roman times, when the Romans came to take advantage of and to worship at its hot springs. While the medieval inhabitants of Bath made some use of its springs, the main medieval trade was in cloth. The city was to come into pre-eminence - a veritable renaissance - when the continental spa craze swept the country, and the waters of the town became foremost in Britain in the 18th century.

Bath reached dizzy social heights when the medieval city was totally redesigned and rebuilt in the most elegant style by the father and son architects, John Woods, the Elder and Younger. The apogee was reached when the central figure of court and fashion, the royal favourite, Beau Nash (1674-1762) chose to make the city his most favoured haunt and organised the social life in the city. His achievement was to introduce a social code that was to be more informal compared to London. This fact was of considerable importance to socially aspirant and increasingly assimilated Sephardim, with financial means, but no English social background. Nash lived in Bath from 1705-61, with him high society came in their hordes and Bath became the place of fashion to be seen in.Read More

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