King Bladud's Pigs in Bath is a summer 2008 public art event to celebrate Bath, its origins and its artists and provide residents and visitors with some artistic enjoyment. One hundred life-size pig sculptures turned into works of art are on display throughout the summer all around Bath and beyond - to be gathered in at the end of September, then auctioned off in October for the benefit of the Two Tunnels Project

The legend

The year is 863BC. Bladud, King of the Britons and father of the unfortunate King Lear who was immortalised by Shakespeare, had spent much of his youth studying in Athens where he contracted leprosy.
Returning home and realising that an imperfect prince could not inherit the throne, he left the royal palace in disguise to take a job as a swineherdsman in an un-traveled part of the country.
This was certainly the Avon Valley, and may well have been the area we know today as Keynsham - remembering that this was more than 1,000 years before the Romans built villas in Keynsham and a full 1,500 years before the Saxons founded our town.
As Bladud drove his pigs in search of acorns he crossed the River Avon at shallows north of Saltford - at a place, which subsequently took its name from the legend - Swineford.
The rest of the story is famous. Bladud's pigs also contracted his disease but were cured when they rolled in the hot mud around Bath's springs.
Observing the miracle, Bladud also bathed in the hot murky water and he too was cured. _Returning home in triumph he went on to become King. In gratitude for his cure, Bladud founded a city at Bath and dedicated its curative powers to the Celtic goddess Sul and 900 years later the Romans called the city Aquae Sulis - the Waters of Sul.

for more information please go to www.kingbladudspigs.org/