The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bath, Somerset, England.

Prehistory Mesolithic – Human activity on Bathampton Down. Iron Age – Hillfort on Bathampton Down. 863 BC (traditional date) – In legend, King Bladud discovers the sacred spring at Bath.

1st to 5th centuries

c. 60s – First Roman temple structures built, around the hot water springs; completed by 76. 2nd century Early: Baths extended. Late: Baths vaulted. 3rd century – By this time, Bath city walls are built for defence. 300–350 – Evidence for Christians in Bath. 5th century – Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, Bath is largely abandoned.

6th to 10th centuries 516 – Battle of Badon: A famous battle against the Saxons, where a progenitor of King Arthur is said to have been victorious; perhaps on Bathampton Down. 577 – Battle of Deorham: Bath is captured by the Saxons and, being north of the River Avon, then falls within the Saxon petty-kingdom of the Hwicce. 628 – Following the Battle of Cirencester, the Hwicce come under the rule of the kingdom of Mercia. 676 – Abbess Berta founds a convent under the protection of Osric, king of the Hwicce. 757 – Cynewulf of Wessex grants land in Bath to monks of St Peter. 781 – Offa of Mercia takes control of the monastery from the Bishop of Worcester. 878 – Bath becomes a royal borough (burh) of Alfred the Great, in his kingdom of Wessex (and also in the county of Somerset). c. 900 – Market active. 973 – 11 May (Whitsunday): Edgar, King of England 959–975, is crowned and anointed with his wife Ælfthryth at Bath Abbey by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Church of St Swithin, Walcot, is founded at about this date. c. 980 – Ælfheah becomes abbot of Bath.

11th to 17th centuries 1087 – Town, Abbey and mint pass to John of Tours. 1090 – John of Tours, Bishop of Wells, moves the episcopal seat to Bath, giving it city status. Early 12th century? – King's Bath built. 1102 – Bath fair active. 1137 – Major fire. 1148–1161 – Abbey consecrated between these dates. c. 1174 – St John's Hospital founded. 1273 – Old Bridge extant. 1285 – Church of St Michael's Within built in St John's Hospital. c. 1333 – Monks of the abbey establish a weaving trade in Broad Street. 1371 – Market mentioned in charter. c. 1435 – Hospital of St Catherine established. 1482 – "Sally Lunn's House" built. c. 1495 – St Mary Magdalen, Holloway, built as a chapel to a leper's hospital. 1499 – Abbey found derelict by Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who begins its reconstruction.

1533 – Rebuilding of Abbey substantially completed by this date. 1539 – January: Dissolution of the monasteries: Abbey surrendered. 1552 King Edward's School founded as a grammar school. Approximate date: First market house built. 1572 The roofless Abbey is given to the corporation of Bath for restoration as a parish church. Dr. John Jones makes the first public endorsement of the medicinal properties of the city's water. 1576 – Queen's Bath built. 1578 – Drinking fountain installed in the Baths. 1590 – Bath chartered (city status confirmed) by Elizabeth I. 1597 – Deserving poor given free use of the mineral water. 1608 – Bellott's Hospital established. 1613 and 1615 – Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI and I, visits Bath for her health. 1616 – Abbey Church consecrated. 1625–1628 – Guildhall rebuilt. 1643 – 5 July: Battle of Lansdowne fought near the city. 1657 – Regular coach service from London. 1676 – Dr. Thomas Guidott publishes A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water, the first published account of the medicinal properties of the city's water. 1677 – West Gate pub in business. 1680 – Supposed origin of the Sally Lunn bun. 1687 – Mary of Modena, queen consort of James II of England, visits in the hope that Bath waters would aid conception; by the end of the year she is pregnant with James Francis Edward Stuart.

1700s

1702–1703 – Queen Anne visits. 1704 – First pump-room built; Richard "Beau" Nash is appointed Master of Ceremonies. 1705 – First theatre in the city built. 1707 – Bath Turnpike Trust established. 1708 – Harrison's Assembly Rooms, with a riverside walk, open. 1711 – Bluecoat school founded as a charity. 1712 – March: Ralph Allen appointed postmaster. 1715 – Church of St Michael's Within in St John's Hospital rebuilt to the design of William Killigrew. 1720 – Ralph Allen begins to control the Cross and Bye Posts in the south west of England. 1717 – Approximate date: Green Street developed. 1721 – Bluecoat school opens. 1724 – James Leake (bookseller) in business. 1725–1727 – Guildhall extended. 1725 John Wood, the Elder, newly returned to Bath, presents his plans for the city to Ralph Allen. Approximate date: the physician William Oliver settles in Bath. 1726 Ralph Allen begins buying up Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines for building stone. James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, buys Chandos House to let as lodgings. 1727–1728 – John Wood, the Elder, executes his first private commission in Bath, a new building for St John's Hospital. 1727–1736 – Beaufort Square laid out by John Strahan. 1727 Gilt bronze head from cult statue of Sulis Minerva from the Roman Temple is found by workmen excavating a sewer, and placed in the guildhall. 15 December: River Avon made navigable downstream to Bristol. Approximate date: construction of Ralph Allen's Town House begins. 1728 St John's Gate ("Trim Bridge") built. First Bath Racecourse recorded. 1728–1736 – Queen Square laid out by John Wood, the Elder. 1730s – Parade Gardens laid out. 1731 – A tramroad is opened to carry building stone from Ralph Allen's Combe Down mine through his Prior Park estate down to the Kennet and Avon Canal. c. 1733 Thomas Warr Attwood becomes de facto first Bath City Surveyor and Bath City Architect. First printing press established in the city, by Felix Farley of Bristol. 1734 Royal visit by William IV, Prince of Orange, marked by an obelisk of 1735. Construction begins on Ralph Allen's house at Prior Park to the design of John Wood, the Elder. 25 December: St Mary the Virgin opened near Queen Square as the city's first proprietary chapel (foundation stone laid 25 March 1732; designed by John Wood, the Elder). 1735 Construction of New Bridge to carry the Bristol Road over the Avon begins. Gay Street laid out by John Wood, the Elder. 1738 – Royal visit by Frederick, Prince of Wales with Princess Augusta, marked by erection of an obelisk in Queen Square. 1739 Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (Royal Mineral Water Hospital, "The Min") established as The Hospital or Infirmary in the City of Bath; it will be built to plans of 1738 by John Wood, the Elder. Portrait painter William Hoare settles in Bath. c. 1741 – North Parade built by John Wood, the Elder. 1742 Ralph Allen is elected mayor, and his residence at Prior Park is completed. Church of St Swithin, Walcot, rebuilt following storm damage in 1739. William Frederick (bookseller) in business. 1743–1749 – South Parade built to the design of John Wood, the Elder. 1744 27 February: The Bath Journal, the city's first newspaper and a predecessor of the Bath Chronicle, begins publication. Sham bridge in Ralph Allen's Prior Park Landscape Garden estate designed by Alexander Pope. 1745 – Beau Nash forced to retire as Master of Ceremonies due to anti-gambling laws. 1747 – Bath Pauper Scheme originates. 1750 27 October: Old Orchard Street Theatre opens as St James' Theatre. Approximate date: Bath Oliver biscuit devised by William Oliver. 1751 – Pump Room enlarged, truncating the King's Bath. 1752 – King Edward's School rebuilt in Broad Street. 1754 February: The Circus house construction begins to the design of John Wood, the Elder. Old Bridge rebuilt. 1754–1755 – North and South Gates demolished (West Gate demolished c. 1776). 1755 Bath Advertiser newspaper begins publication. Roman Bath rediscovered. Kingston Baths built for Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull on the site of the Abbey cloister. Palladian bridge in Ralph Allen's Prior Park Landscape Garden built to a design by Richard Jones.

1758–1774 – Portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough resident at 17 The Circus. 1759 – William Pitt, Secretary of State, from 7 The Circus, orders James Wolfe to capture Quebec City. 1760 – Gay Street developed. 1762 – Sham castle built as an eye-catcher in Ralph Allen's Prior Park Landscape Garden to a design by Richard Jones. 1762–1763 – Milsom Street built. 1765 – 6 October: The second chapel of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is opened in The Paragon; George Whitefield is the first preacher. 1766 Christopher Anstey publishes his long satirical epistolary poem The New Bath Guide. Astronomer William Herschel arrives in Bath, initially as organist of the Octagon Chapel (completed 1767); his house in New King Street is built. 20 December: Royal Crescent house construction begins to the design of John Wood, the Younger. 1767–1768 – Brock Street built to the design of John Wood, the Younger. 1768 – The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich, assume these titles having been granted Royal Patents, making them England's only legal provincial theatres. 1769 – The Circus ("King's Circus") houses completed to the design of John Wood, the Younger. 1769–1774 – Pulteney Bridge constructed to the design of Robert Adam.Commemorative inscription.

1771 – 30 September: New (Upper) Assembly Rooms, built to the design of John Wood, the Younger, open with Capt. William Wade as Master of Ceremonies. 1772 – 18 March: Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan elopes with soprano Elizabeth Ann Linley from her home in Royal Crescent. 1774 – Royal Crescent houses completed to the design of John Wood, the Younger. 1775–1777 – Hot Bath built to the design of John Wood, the Younger. 1775 – 15 November: Architect Thomas Warr Attwood is killed by the collapse of a derelict building which he is inspecting on the site of the intended new Guildhall and is succeeded as Bath City Surveyor by Thomas Baldwin. 1777–1779 – Wesleyan church built in New King Street. 1777 28 August: Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce founded. Church of St Swithin, Walcot, rebuilt to the design of John Palmer, opens. Card room added to the Assembly Rooms. Real tennis court opens in Julian Road. 1778–1782 – Sarah Siddons appears at the Old Orchard Street Theatre. 1778 – New Guildhall is completed to the design of Thomas Baldwin, and the previous one is demolished. 1779 – 28 December: Bath Philosophical Society founded; ceases 1787. 1780 13 June: Anti-Catholic unrest. Roman Great Bath rediscovered. First record of the Sally Lunn bun. Approximate date: Oxford Row built. 1781 – 13 March: William Herschel makes the first observation of the planet Uranus from his back garden in New King Street.Although initially recording it as a comet. 1783–1784 – Cross Bath built by Thomas Baldwin. 1784 – 2 August: John Palmer demonstrates his mail coach system. 1787–1788 – Camden Crescent built by John Eveleigh. 1788–1794 – Laura Place built by Thomas Baldwin and John Eveleigh. 1788 – Bath Casualty Hospital (a predecessor of the Royal United Hospital) opens. 1789–1793 – Lansdown Crescent built by John Palmer. 1789 July: Bath Improvement Act 1789 (29 Geo. 3. c. 73) passed by Parliament, giving the city council powers to purchase, demolish and rebuild. South Colonnade for Grand Pump Room scheme completed by Thomas Baldwin. Congregational church opened in Argyle Street. 1790 9 April: Thomas Baldwin is appointed first architect and surveyor to the Improvement Commissioners formed under the Bath Improvement Act 1789. North Colonnade for Grand Pump Room scheme completed by Thomas Baldwin.