Bathwick fumarole

The hot springs of Bath are best known for the constant flow of hot water that emerges in the city centre.

 

Less well known (apart from the placename it imparts) is the spring that flows from the bed of the tidal Avon in Hotwells, Bristol.

 

The fumarole of Bathwick Hill is perhaps Bath's most curious geological feature, and it has an unlikely history, as no records of it exist prior to the collapse of the ill-fated Lyncombe Vale spa building around two thirds of a mile to the west - unwisely built directly above the spring from which it intended to profit.

 

Subsequent to this collapse, the Bathwick fumarole was first seen to emerge beneath a privy at the foot of the garden of one of the villas on Bathwick Hill. (These privies are often known by the local name 'Ajax' after the first of their kind at Kelston*.)

 

This fumarole is usually inconspicuous, but at times of low temperature and high pressure, it occasionally bursts forth, emitting a cloud of vapour that, trapped beneath a temperature inversion on the north facing slopes there, condenses to form a spectacular cloud. If you witness this, you should count yourself as extremely fortunate.

 

Here, the fumarole is seen to be in full flow, perhaps encouraged by the low temperatures (-6 degrees centigrade) of the morning of the 2nd February 2012.

 

*This example was first excavated in the early seventies by the De Cordele family, residents of Kelston at that time.

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