Buildings in Modern Day Bath

[nox_candida]

Setting: Modern Day UK--all over, but my questions specifically have to do with Bath
Searches: "Abandoned buildings in Bath", "Derelict buildings in Bath", "Hampton Row Bath, UK", "Temples and Shrines in Bath", "Temples and Shrines in Aquae Sulis", "Aquae Sulis places closed to public

Comments

[reconditarmonia]

Does it have to be actually inaccessible to the public? It's been a while since I've been to Bath, but I'm sure there are parts of the baths that are simply cordoned off.

[nox_candida]

It works out much better for me if it is. From this answer and the one below, it sounds like I'll have to look farther afield. Thanks for the response. :)

[eriolgal]

I was in Bath earlier this year, although I'm far from an expert.

From what I recall of the Roman Baths, pretty much every major area of the old Roman temple is fairly well-traveled. A lot of it is accessible to the public, and the other bits are occupied by other parts of the museum (the restaurant, the gift shop). They may have empty storage closets and the like, but I think that's about as much empty space as you can get there.

[nox_candida]

Ah, okay. I was afraid it was something like that. I don't think a storage closet or anything would work for me; it would need to be a bigger space than that, given what the room is being used for. Thanks for the help. :)

[reconditarmonia]

Is that an important limitation? How does magic work in your fictional universe - can it not make spaces larger on the inside than on the outside?

[nox_candida]

Magic is a little tricky in the universe; it requires pairs of people to make it happen and the cost of performing magic is proportional to what's being performed. That is, if the magic is involved and a big thing (and hiding an entire room or making something bigger than it seems would qualify) the toll on the people casting the magic is high--even with runes, herbs and rods (which are all implements designed to lower the cost of casting spells). That's especially true if the spell(s) cast need to be refreshed or maintained. So, long story short: given that the person who's imprisoned the two magical characters doesn't have long-term access to more than one pair of magic casters, he needs a space that's already big enough to put them in.

[randomstasis]

I don't know if Bath runs the buried Roman tours like London and other cities, but even those are guided only, rarely scheduled and sensitive sites are cordoned off so you can look but not pass through.
"still mostly buried under magnificent Georgian streets, the Roman ruins in Bath are unsurpassed in Britain. About 2m below the present level of the city" There's an older photo of the cross-section here too. http://www.bath.co.uk/bathcouk/?cat=155
and even if, as another poster says, the entire complex is open to the public, I doubt the hypocausts are-http://www.villa-rustica.de/tour/tour04e.html

[nox_candida]

Ooh, this sounds really promising. I will definitely look into that. Thanks for the help. :)

[randomstasis]

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more unlikely it seems that all areas of the baths themselves are accessible anyway. It's a unique and important site. According to accepted methodology, it would be terribly irresponsible to clean up the entire site; archeologists have learned the hard way to leave portions of a site intact, both to answer new research questions and because new techniques are being discovered all the time. Glancing at the descriptions and the tours, the numbers of rooms and pools don't seem to add up, not even considering anterooms, halls, etc.

[nox_candida]

Yeah, that makes a ton of sense to me, now that you mention it. Based on the (rather crude) image of the open areas, it would seem that your supposition that the room with the hypocausts isn't there, nor anything that might be under the bath itself.

[enemyfrigate]

I too was in Bath last autumn, and spent quite a lot of time photographing the Roman Baths. That reminds me I need to post those photos to Flickr... I agree with the other posters that the baths complex is pretty well opened up to view, but consider that the entire area has been inhabited by people for hundreds of years. Older buildings often have nooks and crannies and cellars and such that are blocked off or very inconvenient or even forgotten because of the way a building has been adapted. I think it's very plausible for there to be *something* like that in the surrounding structures

[nox_candida]

Older buildings often have nooks and crannies and cellars and such that are blocked off or very inconvenient or even forgotten because of the way a building has been adapted. I think it's very plausible for there to be *something* like that in the surrounding structures.

Now that's something I haven't considered. I suppose it would be easy enough to simply say that there is a room that hasn't been found or has been lost. Though, do you think that might throw someone out of a story? I mean, we are talking about a major tourist attraction that has recently done restoration on the surrounding buildings and opened up a whole new bathing complex.

Depending on your magical system, too, a room like that could simply be hidden from notice (like Grimmauld Place in the HP books).I think with the way I have magic functioning in this world, that would be tricky. The character who has imprisoned the magical characters is only sort of magical and he certainly doesn't have the power on his own to imprison them. He's had to rely on a few less

[enemyfrigate]

I think it would be plausible. Most people expect that big buildings/historical sites have off exhibit areas, so to speak. There's the Pump Room above, which needs back of house stuff, and I'm sure the shop has storage space.

IIRC, there are plenty of older buildings around there with shops on the lower floors, and flats or office space above. There have to be cellars as well, at least in some buildings.

But I think you could get away with it. Just write it confidently, and people will go along - and the few people with serious insider knowledge of the Roman Baths/Pump Room will just have to lump it. ;)

[nox_candida]

Just write it confidently, and people will go along - and the few people with serious insider knowledge of the Roman Baths/Pump Room will just have to lump it. ;)

Good call, lol. Thanks for the suggestions and the help. I'll probably pick something under ground or a room not likely to be on a tour and use that. :)

[fififolle]

I went to Bath this year. I reckon there's loads of first floor (upstairs spaces) and other space you could use. If you look at this floor plan http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/P10Rbath.htm and this picture above the large central rectangular bath http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/14/bc/91/the-roman-baths.jpg you can see that there are upper rooms above the round cold pool next to it. I'm pretty sure the tour did not involve going up there. You came into the complex where those arch windows are, then you go down to the lower level where the pools and hypocausts are, but pretty sure there are loads of out-of-bounds areas, especially in the upper level, but looking again at that diagram, I swear we didn't get to the areas on the very left, in fact everything beyond that large very circular pool!