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Bladud's Pigs
The pigs found the cure. The prince just followed.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Roman baths over the hot spring
- Legend from
- Geoffrey of Monmouth; later local tradition
- Tone
- Light-hearted
An exiled prince, a herd of sick pigs, and a pool of hot mud.
Geoffrey of Monmouth made Bladud a king of the Britons and the founder of Bath. Later Somerset tradition adds the best-known part. Young Prince Bladud caught leprosy and was sent from court, so he took work as a swineherd near Keynsham. His pigs caught the disease too, but crossing the river at Swineford they wandered off and wallowed in warm mud, and came out clean. Bladud followed them, bathed in the hot springs, was cured, and returned home to found a city over the waters. He later died trying to fly.