Watch as historic Roman bath drained for latest scrub

The West Country’s most iconic Roman bath has been drained of its hot spa water as part of a major clean-up operation.

Custodians pulled the plug on the Great Bath in Bath, Somerset, earlier today (June 18) - draining in excess of one million litres of hot water.

The pool is due to be cleaned, to prevent it from becoming too murky and to stop algae from growing.

Watch our timelapse of the draining of the Great Bath below:

The Great Bath in numbers:

The baths were built in AD76 and the mineral water in them is heated by bubbling, natural hot springs.

Bathing in its waters was a common sight during Roman times but is now forbidden.

The baths are a major tourist attraction and receive more than one million visitors a year.

The thermal water, which is open to sunlight, creates the perfect conditions for algae to multiply - giving the water its characteristic green tinge.

Modern-day items recovered in previous cleans include umbrellas, traffic cones and even a moped.

Once the Roman sluice-gates are re-opened, the Great Bath will refill from the spring at a rate of 13 litres per second.