Bath city walls the Romans, to surround their town (known then as "Aquae Sulis"), probably in the 3rd century. The Anglo-Saxons by the 10th century had established Bath as a fortified "burh" (borough), utilising the existing town walls, and maintaining Bath as a centre of regional power. Bath, located on the northern edge of the kingdom of Wessex, would have guarded against any attack from neighbouring Mercia, which was held by the Danes for a time. The height of the walls was increased on the orders of King Stephen during The Anarchy. Bath's medieval walls included four gates. The North and South Gates
Celtic animism foci for healing cults: Sulis was prayed to as a healer at Aquae Sulis and the goddess Arnemetia was hailed as a healer at Aquae Arnemetiae. Nemausus, for example, was not only the Gallic name for the town of Nîmes but also that of its presiding spring-god. He had a set of three female counterparts, the Nemausicae. In the same region, the town of Glanum possessed a god called Glanis: an altar from a sacred spring is inscribed 'to Glanis and the Glanicae'. Meteorological patterns and phenomena, especially wind, rain and thunder, were acknowledged as inspirited and propitiated. Inscribed dedications