Baths of Sulis-Minerva,  Bath, Somerset, England

<--- Gold plated bronze head of the Celtic Goddess Sulis who was thought by the Romans to be their own goddess Minerva, a member of the Roman Triad by another name.  Thought to have been the head of the cult statue in the temple that was next to the Roman Baths complex at Bath, now in the museum at the site.

Roman Aquae Sullis-Minerva Plan

Model of the Roman built baths a the pool sacred to the Celtic goddess Sulis.

Bath city is still known today for its hot-spring healing waters.  Bathing in and drinking the water of the ancient springs cures all ills, according to city and national publicity agents.

The city lies in the valley of the River Avon 97 miles (156m) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site  and is also recognized as one of the "Great Spa Towns of Europe".  Bath is the Largest city in Somerset.

18th Century Pulteney Bridge, Bath, Somerset, England, is one of four bridges worldwide with shops on both sides from end to end, a national and is a local landmark second only the the Hot Spring and remains of the Roman Baths as a reason tourists and patients visit the city.

The hot springs before the Romans arrived: 

An old picture of the actual Aquae Sulis hot spring, from which the hot water comes that filled the cups that acolytes historically handed out to tourists and the occasional actual cure-seeker.  Runoff from the spring, what  didn't go into the cups, filled the several Roman-built bathing rooms, including the Great Bath in the complex with the copious excess draining into the Avon River.  None of those rooms are now considered safe for bathing, much less drinking.  You can experience naturally heated hot spring water at the nearby modern Thermae Bath Spa or the The Gainsborough Bath Spa, or at several smaller spas in town.  They take water from two other big hot springs in central Bath.     Roof pool or inside. The historic Roman built baths are a fascinating site to visit and to see the original spring said to be sacred to Sulis and to Minerva, an Etruscan goddess that was first welcomed to make up the Roman Capitoline Triad with Jupiter (aka Jove, Veioth before she was also identified with Sulis. When the Romans came to Britain they willingly syncretized their own gods and goddesses with local ones (they did this everywhere) and Sulis was identified with Etruscan/Romanized Minerva.

Above, resealing the Sulis spring. Below, newer view with tacky statuary. The spring was encircled by the Romans with a stone tank, sealed with lead to prevent leakage.  Only two ways for water to flow out, into the baths or through a big drain to the Avon River.  The Roman plumbing (and the Latin word for lead is plumbum) still works.

Bath before the Romans arrived:
Judging by the artifacts that have been dredged up from the site and its surrounding, the hot spring at Bath has had religious significance for at least 7,000 years, which would place the beginning of its known "sacredness" shortly after the withdrawal of the last ice age glaciation. 

The "holiness" of lakes, pools, rivers, wetlands, and springs, and certainly hot springs in the cold environment of just melting glaciers, is well attested by the well known custom of votive offerings of valuables, useful objects, and weapons at those sacred sites by indigenous populations, a custom that continued when the indigenes adopted the Celtic La Tene culture after interacting with European mainland Celts more than half a millennium before the Roman invasions.

In the Roman period, the most common offerings appears to have been coins, but what seems most to fascinate today's tourists are "curse tablet" appeals to the cojoined goddess to cause distress to a person or persons, sometimes known but maybe unknown who cause loss or anguish to a long ago petitioner.  A curse tablet would be a small lead sheet with an inscribed imprecation that would be rolled tightly and tossed into, ideally, the spring or, if the spring itself was closed for the day, the tablet could go into into the biggest  immersion pool that was accessable.  Presumably the offended petitioner would also be cursing under his or her breath. 

But a lot of votive or donative stuff was also tossed in:  you would try to please the goddess(es) to gain favor. 

A link to a 3D interactive model of the Roman Baths site at Bath can be found on the Internet page at https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough

Almost everything on permanent display at the site museum is from the period of the Roman occupation, although much more including pre-Roman artifacts are in the Museum storerooms and archives.  The Roman period bias is understindble: the Bath bureaucracy and the city fathers are pushing the "Roman Experience" to tourists looking for the same.

In fact, the situation was obviously the same during the Roman occupation period.  There were plenty of natural hot springs back home in volcanic Italy, and the constructed thermae with rooms heated by hypocausts that could imitate hot springs were available in any Roman community worthy of its name. 

But notoriously superstitious Romans (from throughout the Empire) might believe that a particularly benign far away Goddess that could be syncretized with one of "our own goddesses" might arrange a cure or grant us a social wish or even help curse an enemy.  The Roman reason for aggrandizing Aquae Sulis-Minerva was to attract that kind of tourist.

At  any modern museum or Roman Bath site you need to find your way around.  The Aquae Sulis-Minerva site has gone high-tech with push-button consoles that light your way.