The History of Bath
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Prince Bladud lived around 800 BC and was the son of Lud Hudibras, King of the Britons. Bladud travelled abroad in his youth and contracted a skin disease, thought to be leprosy. On his return, he was banished from the tribe and found work as a swineherd in the Avon valley. Food was scarce and his pigs became infected and diseased. His search for food brought him to Swainswick, where a farmer advised him to look for acorns on the far side of the river. He came to a place where the pigs began to wallow in hot mud. To entice them out, he climbed an oak tree, collected some acorns and made a trail out of the mud. As the pigs came out, he scraped them clean and found their skin was cleansed and cured. Leaving the pigs to their food, Bladud jumped in and bathed himself in the mud. He emerged to find his skin clear and his disease healed. Bladud returned to the tribe where he later became King. In due course, he sent his servants to Bath to establish a settlement, building a temple by the hot springs around which the City grew.
The Reality
It was the Celts who peopled the area approximately 2000 years ago. They lived at hill-forts and settlements around the valley at Little Solsbury (abandoned in 300 BC) and Bathampton Down (abandoned 450 BC). It is believed that the Celtic King Togidubuns and local craftsmen erected a temple on this site, to worship the goddess Sulis.