'Bath' is a
city in
Somerset,
England most famous for its historic
baths fed by three
hot springs. It is situated
99 miles (159 km) west of
Central London and
13 miles (21 km) south east of
Bristol.
The city is founded around the
only naturally occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom. It was first documented as a
Roman spa, although tradition suggests that it was founded earlier. The waters from its spring were believed to be a cure for many afflictions. From
Elizabethan to
Georgian times it was a resort city for the wealthy. As a result of its popularity during the latter period, the city contains many fine examples of
Georgian architecture, most notably the
Royal Crescent. The city has a population of over 90,144 and is a
World Heritage Site.
History
Celtic and Roman
Main articles: Aquae Sulis
The archaeological evidence shows that the site of the
Roman Baths' main spring was treated as a shrine by the
Celts, and dedicated to the goddess
Sulis. The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They knew it as ''Aquae Sulis'' (literally "the waters of Sul"), identifying the goddess with
Minerva. In Roman times the worship of Sulis Minerva continued and messages to her scratched onto metal have been recovered from the Sacred Spring by archaeologists. These are known as
curse tablets. These curse tablets were written in Latin, and usually laid curses on other people, whom they feel had done them wrong. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the Baths, he would write a curse on a tablet, to be read by the Goddess Sulis Minerva, and also, the "suspected" names would be mentioned. The collection from Bath is the most important found in Britain.
During the
Roman period increasingly grand temples and bathing complexes were built, including the Great Bath. Rediscovered gradually from the 18th century onward, they have become one of the city's main attractions. The city was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century. From the later 4th century on, the
Western Roman Empire and its urban life declined. However, while the great ''
suite of baths'' at Bath fell into disrepair, some use of the hot springs continued.
The Great Bath at the
Roman Baths. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a later reconstruction.
Bath Abbey From The Roman Baths Gallery
Post-Roman and Saxon
It has been suggested that Bath may have been the site of the
Battle of Mons Badonicus (circa 500 AD), where
King Arthur is said to have defeated the
Saxons, but this
is disputed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions Bath falling to the
West Saxons in 577 after the
Battle of Deorham. The
Anglo-Saxons called the town 'Baðum', Baðan or Baðon, meaning "at the baths," and this was the source of the present name. In 675,
Osric, King of the
Hwicce, set up a monastic house at Bath, probably using the walled area as its precinct.
King Offa of
Mercia gained control of this monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to
St. Peter. Bath had become a royal possession. The old Roman street pattern was by now lost, and
King Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct.
Edgar of England was crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973.
Norman, Medieval and Tudor
King
William Rufus granted the city to a royal physician,
John of Tours, who became Bishop of
Wells and Abbot of Bath in 1088. It was papal policy for bishops to move to more urban seats, and he translated his own from Wells to Bath. He planned and began a much larger church as his cathedral, to which was attached a priory, with the bishop's palace beside it. New baths were built around the three springs. Later bishops, however, returned the episcopal seat to Wells, while retaining the name of Bath in their title.
By the 15th century, Bath's abbey church was badly dilapidated and in need of repairs.
Oliver King,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild it on a smaller scale. The new church was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539 by
Henry VIII. The abbey church was allowed to become derelict before being restored as the city's parish church in the
Elizabethan period, when the city revived as a
spa. The
baths were improved and the city began to attract the aristocracy. Bath was granted
city status by Royal Charter in
1590.
17th century
During the
English Civil War the
Battle of Lansdowne was fought on
July 5 1643 on the outskirts of the city at
Lansdowne hill.
Sally Lunn, (aka Solange Luyon) a Huguenot refugee, came to Bath and found work with a baker in Lilliput Alley (now North Parade Passage), creating the
Sally Lunn bun.
In 1668
Thomas Guidott moved to Bath and set up his practice there. He was a student of chemistry and medicine at
Wadham College Oxford. He became interested in the curative properties of the waters and in 1676 he wrote ''A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water''.
This brought the health-giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country and soon the aristocracy started to arrive to partake in them.
18th century
The
Royal Crescent from the air: Georgian taste favoured the civilised regularity of Bath's streets and squares and the delightful contrast with rural nature immediately at hand.
There had been much rebuilding in the
Stuart period, but this was eclipsed by the massive expansion of the city in
Georgian times. The old town within the walls was also largely rebuilt. This was a response to the continuing demand for elegant accommodation for the city's fashionable visitors, for whom Bath had become a pleasure resort as well as a spa. The architects
John Wood the elder and his son
John Wood the younger laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical facades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. The creamy gold of
Bath stone further unified the city, much of it obtained from the
limestone Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under
Combe Down, which were owned by
Ralph Allen (1694–1764). The latter, in order to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone, commissioned the elder John Wood to build him a country house on his
Prior Park estate. A shrewd politician, he dominated civic affairs and became mayor several times.
The early 18th century saw Bath acquire its first purpose-built theatre, pump room and assembly rooms. Master of Ceremonies
Beau Nash, who presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments.
Bath elected two members to the
unreformed House of Commons.
19th century
By the 1801 census the population of the city had reached 40,020 making it amongst the largest cities in Britain.
[1]
Jane Austen moved to the city with her father, mother and sister Cassandra in 1801, and the family remained in the city at four successive addresses until 1806.
[2]
William Thomas Beckford bought a house in
Lansdown Crescent in 1822, eventually buying a further two houses in the Crescent to form his residence. Having acquired all the land between his home and the top of
Lansdown Hill, he created a garden over half a mile in length and built
Beckford's Tower at the top.
20th century
Between the evening of
25 April and the early morning of
27 April 1942 Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for
RAF raids on the German cities of
Lübeck and
Rostock. The three raids formed part of the
Luftwaffe campaign popularly known as the
Baedeker Blitz: they damaged or destroyed more than 19,000 buildings, and killed more than 400 people. Much damage was done to noteworthy buildings. Houses in the
Royal Crescent,
Circus and
Paragon were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms, while the south side of
Queen Square was destroyed. All have since been reconstructed.
Emperor
Haile Selassie I of
Ethiopia spent the five years of his exile at
Fairfield House in Bath.
Governance
Coat of arms of the City of Bath
The
Liberal Democrat Don Foster is the
Member of Parliament for
Bath. His election was perhaps the most notable result of the
1992 results, as
Chris Patten, the previous Member (and a
Cabinet Minister), played a major part, as
Conservative Party Chairman, in getting the government of
John Major re-elected, but failed to defend his marginal seat in Bath. Don Foster has been re-elected as the MP for Bath in every election since. His majority was significantly reduced from over 9000 in both the 1997 and 2001 general elections to 4638 in 2005.
[3]
Historically part of the county of
Somerset, Bath was made a
county borough in 1889, and has been independent of Somerset
county council control ever since. Bath came into
Avon when that
non-metropolitan county was created in 1974. Since the abolition of Avon in 1996, Bath has been the main centre of the
unitary authority of
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES). Bath remains, however, in the
ceremonial county of Somerset.
The City of Bath's ceremonial functions, including the
mayoralty – which can be traced back to 1230 – and control of the
coat of arms, are now maintained by the ''
Charter Trustees of the City of Bath''. The coat of arms includes two silver strips, which represent the
River Avon and the hot springs. The sword of
St. Paul is a link to
Bath Abbey. The supporters, a
lion and a
bear, stand on a bed of
acorns, a link to
Bladud, the subject of the Legend of Bath. The knight's helmet indicates a municipality and the
crown is that of
King Edgar, the first king of a united England, who was crowned in Bath in
973 on the site of the current abbey.
[4]
Electoral wards
The
electoral wards of the
Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within Bath are:
★ Abbey,
Bathwick,
Combe Down, Kingsmead, Lambridge,
Lansdown, Lyncombe,
Newbridge, Odd Down, Oldfield, Southdown,
Twerton, Walcot, Westmoreland,
Weston and Widcombe.
Geography
Situation and transport
Bath is located at . It is approximately 15 miles (25 km) south-east of the larger city and port of
Bristol, to which it is linked by the
A4 road, and is a similar distance south of the
M4 motorway. Its main railway station,
Bath Spa, lies on the
Great Western Railway, the
main line between
Bristol and
London, as well as on the
line linking
Cardiff with
Portsmouth.
Bath is connected to Bristol and the sea by the
River Avon, navigable via
locks by small boats. The river was connected to the
River Thames and London by the
Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810 via
Bath Locks; this waterway — closed for many years, but restored in the last years of the 20th century — is now popular among users of
narrow boats.
[5]
Physical geography
Bath is at the bottom of the Avon Valley, and near the southern edge of the
Cotswolds, a range of
limestone hills designated as an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hills that surround and make up the city have a maximum altitude of 238 m (780 ft) on the
Lansdown plateau. It has an area of 11 mile² (29 km²).
[6]
The surrounding hills give Bath its steep streets and make its buildings appear to climb the slopes. The
flood plain of the River Avon, which runs through the centre of the city, here has an altitude of 17 metres (56 ft). The river, once an unnavigable series of
braided streams broken up by
swamps and
ponds, has been managed by
weirs into a single channel. Nevertheless, periodic flooding, which shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city, was normal until major flood control works in the 1970s.
The city has the hottest
geothermal springs in the UK.
[7]
Three of these springs feed the
thermal baths.
Climate
In 2003 the annual mean temperature was 10.3
°C, with an average maximum of 14.2 °C and average minimum of 6.5 °C (50.5
°F, 57.5 °F and 43.7 °F, respectively). There were 1645 hours of sunshine, and 957
millimetres of rainfall. The temperatures, sunshine duration and rainfall are higher than the United Kingdom averages (which are 9.5 °C, or 49 °F, 1587 hours and 901.5 millimetres, respectively).
Demography
According to the
UK Government's
2001 census,
[8] Bath, together with North East Somerset (that is, more or less, the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), has a population of 169,040, with an average age of 39.9 (the national average being 38.6). According to the same statistics, the district is overwhelmingly populated by people of a white ethnic background at 97.2% — significantly higher than the national average of 90.9%. Other non-white ethnic groups in the district, in order of population size, are
multiracial at 1%, Asian at 0.5% and black at 0.5% (the national averages are 1.3%, 4.6% and 2.1%, respectively).
The district is largely
Christian at 71%, with no other religion reaching more than 0.5%. These figures generally compare with the national averages, though the
non-religious, at 19.5%, are significantly more prevalent than the national 14.8%. Since Bath is known for the restorative powers of its waters, it is interesting to note that only 7.4% of the population describe themselves as "not healthy" in the last 12 months, compared to a national average of 9.2%; only 15.8% of the inhabitants say they have had a long-term illness, as against 18.2% nationally.
Culture
During the 18th century, Bath became the leading centre of fashionable life in England. It was during this time that Bath's
Theatre Royal was built, as well as
architectural triumphs such as
Royal Crescent,
Lansdown Crescent,
[9] the
Royal Crescent,
[10] The Circus and
Pulteney Bridge.
[11]
Today, Bath has five
theatres —
Bath Theatre Royal,
Ustinov Studio, The Egg, the
Rondo Theatre, and the
Mission Theatre — and attracts internationally renowned companies and directors, including an annual season by
Sir Peter Hall. The city also has a long-standing musical tradition;
Bath Abbey[12] is home to the
Klais Organ and is the largest concert venue in the city, with about 20 concerts and 26 organ recitals each year. Another important concert venue is the
Forum, a 1700-seat
art deco building which originated as a cinema. The city holds the
Bath International Music Festival and
Mozartfest every year. Other festivals include the annual
Bath Film Festival,
Bath Literature Festival, the
Bath Fringe Festival and the
Bath Beer Festival.
The city is home to the
Victoria Art Gallery,
[13] the
Museum of East Asian Art, and
The Holburne Museum of Art,
[14] as well as numerous museums, among them
The Bath Postal Museum,
The Museum of Costume,
The Jane Austen Centre, the
William Herschel Museum and the
Roman Baths.
[15] The
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, now in Queen Square, and founded in 1824 on the base of a 1777 Society for the encouragement of Agriculture, Planting, Manufactures, Commerce and the Fine Arts, has an important collection and holds a rich and popular programme of talks and discussions. See 'Places of interest' below for details of many other places of artistic, cultural and historical interest.
There are numerous commercial art galleries and antique shops in Bath, which is one of the most important centres of the English antiques trade outside London.
For a list of churches in Bath, see
here. In addition to the churches listed,
Manvers Gospel Hall is located in the city centre.
Bath in the arts
Perhaps the best known resident of Bath was
Jane Austen, who lived in the city from 1801 until 1806. However, Jane Austen never liked the city, and wrote to her sister Cassandra, "It will be two years tomorrow since we left Bath for Clifton, with what happy feelings of escape." Despite these feelings, Bath has honoured her name with the Jane Austen Centre and a city walk. Austen's later ''
Northanger Abbey'' and ''
Persuasion'' are largely set in the city and feature descriptions of taking the waters, social life, and music recitals.
★
Thomas Gainsborough moved to Bath in 1759, where he first became fashionable. He moved to London in 1774.
★ Sir
Thomas Lawrence first became famous in the city, where he lived from 1782 to 1787.
★
Charles Dickens' novel ''
Pickwick Papers'' also features Bath, and satirises its social life. Pickwick takes the waters and his servant,
Sam Weller, comments that the water has "a very strong flavour o' warm flat irons", while the
Royal Crescent is the venue for a chase between two of the characters, Dowler and Winkle.
★
William Friese-Greene began experimenting with celluloid and motion pictures in his studio in Bath in the 1870s, developing some of the earliest movie camera technology there. He is credited as the inventor of cinematography.
★
Moyra Caldecott's novel
The Waters of Sul is set in Roman Bath in 72 AD.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play ''
The Rivals'' is also set in Bath.
★ In 2004, a
movie of
Thackeray's ''
Vanity Fair'' was largely filmed in Bath.
★
Roald Dahl's chilling
short-story, "
The Landlady" also takes place in the city of Bath.
★ In August 2003 the
Three Tenors sang at a special concert to mark the opening of the
Thermae Bath Spa, a new hot water
spa in Bath City Centre; delays to the project meant the spa actually opened three years later on
August 7 2006.
Parks
Parade Gardens in July after a rain shower
The city has several
public parks, the main one being
Royal Victoria Park, a short walk from the centre of the city. It was opened in 1830 and has an area of 57 acres (231,000 m²).
[16] Several events are held in the park every year, including the
Bath International Music Festival, and it is favoured as a take-off site by
hot air balloon companies. The park features a
botanical garden, a large children's play park, and sports facilities, including
crazy golf,
bowls and
lawn tennis. Much of its area is
lawn; a notable feature is the way in which a
ha-ha segregates it from the
Royal Crescent, while giving the impression to a viewer from the Crescent of a greensward uninterrupted across the Park down to Royal Avenue.
Other parks in Bath include: Alexandra Park, which crowns a hill and overlooks the city; Parade Gardens, along the river front near the Abbey in the centre of the city; Sydney Gardens, known as a pleasure-garden in the 18th century; Henrietta Park; Hedgemead Park; and Alice Park. Jane Austen wrote of Sydney Gardens that "It would be pleasant to be near the Sydney Gardens. We could go into the Labyrinth every day." Alexandra, Alice and Henrietta parks were built into the growing city among the housing developments.
[17] There is also a linear park following the old Somerset and Dorset railway line.
Food
Sally Lunn's buns (a type of
teacake) have long been baked in Bath. They were first mentioned by that name in verses printed in a local newspaper, the ''Bath Chronicle'', in 1772. At that time they were eaten hot at public breakfasts in the city's Spring Gardens. They can be eaten with sweet or savoury toppings.
Visitors sometimes confuse ''Sally Lunn's buns with ''
Bath Buns'' — smaller, round, very sweet, very rich buns that were associated with the city following
The Great Exhibition. Bath Buns were originally topped with crushed 'comfits' created by dipping caraway seeds repeatedly in boiling sugar; but today seeds are added to a 'London Bath Bun' (a reference to the bun's promotion and sale at the Great Exhibition). The seeds may be replaced by crushed sugar granules or 'nibs'.
Bath has also lent its name to one other distinctive recipe — ''Bath Olivers'' — the dry baked biscuits invented by Dr William Oliver, physician to the
Mineral Water Hospital in 1740. Oliver was an early anti-obesity campaigner, writing a ''"Practical Essay on the Use and Abuse of warm Bathing in Gluty Cases"''. Local legend has it that he bequeathed the recipe for his low calorie biscuits to his coachman, a Mr Atkins, along with £100 and a hundred sacks of flour. Atkins subsequently opened a shop in Green Street, Bath and became a rich man on the proceeds. In more recent years Dr Oliver's efforts have been traduced by the introduction of a version of the biscuits with a plain chocolate coating.
''Bath chap'', the cheek and jawbones of the pig, salted and smoked is named after Bath, its place of origin.
[18].
Sport
The city's best known sporting team is
Bath Rugby, a
rugby union team which is currently in the
Guinness Premiership league and coached by Steve Meeham. It plays in black, blue and white kit with its sponsors' logo,
Helphire, on the front of the shirts. The team plays at the
Recreation Ground in the city, where it has been since the late 19th century, following its establishment in 1865. The team rose to national prestige during the 1980s, and it has remained one of the best rugby teams in the country. Its first major honour was winning the John Player Cup four years consecutively from 1984 until 1987. The team then led the Courage league for six consecutive seasons, from 1988/1989 until 1995/1996, during which time it also won the Pilkington Cup in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1996. It finally won the
Heineken Cup in the 1997/1998 season, and topped the Zürich (now Guinness) Premiership in 2003/2004.
The team's current
squad includes several members who also play in the
English national elite team including:
Steve Borthwick,
Lee Mears,
Matt Stevens,
Olly Barkley,
David Flatman and
Danny Grewcock.
Colston's Collegiate School,
Bristol has had a large input in the team over the past decade, providing current 1st XV squad members Barkley, Bell, Brooker, Crockett, Davey, Davis, Delve, Hawkins, Mears and Smith. The former England Rugby Team Manager
Andy Robinson used to play for Bath Rugby team and was Captain and later Coach. While in the Bath team, he was a Physical Education, Rugby and Mathematics teacher at
King Edward's School, North Road, Bath. Both of Robinson's predecessors,
Clive Woodward and
Jack Rowell, were also former Bath coaches and managers.
Bath City F.C. and
Team Bath F.C. (affiliated with the
University of Bath) are the major
football teams. Bath City play in the
Conference South, while Team Bath play one division below in the
Southern Football League. In 2007, Bath City became champions of the Southern Football League, and were promoted. In 2002, Team Bath became the first university team to enter the
FA Cup in 120 years, and advanced through four qualifying rounds to the first round proper. Unlike the city's rugby team, Bath City have never attained an elite status in English football; its highest position has been seventh in the
Football Conference in the 1992/1993 season. The University's team was established in 1999, while the city team has existed since before 1908 (when it entered the
Western League).
Bath City F.C. play their games at Twerton Park. Current players include Scott Partridge, Jim Rollo, Lewis Hogg and former South African international goalkeeper Paul Evans.
Cricket is played at the
Bath Cricket Club, located, like the rugby Recreation Ground, east of the river, near
Pulteney Bridge. The cricket ground is the venue for the annual
Bath Cricket Festival which sees
Somerset County Cricket Club play several games.
Bath also has a thriving biking community, with places for biking including Royal Victoria Park, 'The Tumps' in Odd Down, the jumps on top of Lansdown, and Prior Park. Places for biking near Bath include Brown's Folly in Batheaston and Box Woods, in Box.
The
Recreation Ground is also home to
Bath Croquet Club, which was re-formed in 1976 and is affiliated with the South West Federation of
Croquet Clubs.
TeamBath is the umbrella name for all of the
University of Bath sports teams, including the aforementioned football club. Other sports for which TeamBath is noted are
athletics,
badminton,
basketball,
bob skeleton,
bobsleigh,
hockey,
judo,
modern pentathlon,
netball,
rugby,
swimming,
tennis,
triathlon and
volleyball.
Bath is also the home of the
Bath American Football Club, which has been playing
American Football in the city since 2001. It caters for Youth and Junior levels of play.
The
Bath Half Marathon is run annually through the city streets, with over 10,000 runners.
[19] The City of Bath Triathlon takes place annually at the
University of Bath.
The city has one major skate park; Victoria Skatepark, located near inside the Victoria play park vicinity, and just a few 100 meters away from the Royal Cresent. It features 1 vertical ramp, 1 medium sized ramp, 1 spine, 1 block and a few other bits of park course.
Industry
Today, Bath's once-important manufacturing sector is much diminished, but it has notable software, publishing and service-oriented industries, in addition to tourism. Its main employers are the
National Health Service, the two universities and the Bath and North East Somerset Council, as well as the
Ministry of Defence, although a number of MOD offices formerly in Bath have now moved to
Bristol. In the private sector, the magazine publisher
Future Publishing is one of Bath's bigger employers. The firm publishes over 100 magazines, including many in the computer and video gaming sector. Others include
Helphire Group plc, an Accident Management Company specialising in non-fault motor accidents, and
Buro Happold. The city contains many small single-shop or restaurant-based businesses which serve niche markets and are primarily supported by tourism.
Tourism
Bath's principal industry is
tourism, with visits mainly falling into the categories of
heritage tourism and
cultural tourism. All significant stages of the
history of England are represented within the city, from the
Roman Baths (including their significant
Celtic presence), to
Bath Abbey and the
Royal Crescent, to
Thermae Bath Spa in the 2000s.
The size of the tourist industry is reflected in the almost 300 places of accommodation—including over 80
hotels, and over 180
bed and breakfasts—many of which are located in
Georgian buildings and have five-star ratings. There are also two campsites located very close to the city centre. The city also contains approximately 100 restaurants, and a similar number of
public houses and
bars. Several companies offer
open-top bus tours around the city, as well as tours on foot and on the river.
While many tourists come to Bath to see the city in general, some are attracted to particular aspects of the city, such as the
Jane Austen landmarks or the
Roman Baths.
The Spa
Since 2006, with the opening of
Thermae Bath Spa, the city has attempted to recapture its historical position as the only town in the
United Kingdom offering visitors the opportunity to bathe in naturally heated spring waters.
Hotels in Bath
Twinned towns
Bath has four
twinned towns:
★
Aix-en-Provence,
France
★
Alkmaar,
Netherlands
★
Braunschweig,
Germany
★
Kaposvár,
Hungary
Bath also has a partnership agreement with
Beppu, Japan and is a sister city to
Manly, Australia.
Transport
Bath is served by the
Bath Spa railway station (designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel), which has regular connections to
London Paddington,
Bristol Temple Meads,
Cardiff Central,
Swansea,
Exeter,
Plymouth and
Penzance (see
Great Western Main Line), and also
Westbury,
Warminster,
Salisbury,
Southampton,
Portsmouth and
Brighton (see
Wessex Main Line). Services are provided by
First Great Western. There is a suburban station on the main line,
Oldfield Park, which has a limited commuter service to Bristol. The charming
Green Park station was once operated by the
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, whose line (always steam driven) climbed over the Mendips and served many towns and villages on its 71 mile run to Bournemouth; sadly this most splendid example of an English rural line was closed by
Beeching in March 1966, with few remaining signs of its existence, but its Bath
station building survives and now houses a number of shops.
Bath has three full time
Park and Ride sites, Odd Down, Lansdown and Newbridge, with a Saturdays only site at the University of Bath.
Although Bath does not have an airport, the city is not far from
Bristol International Airport (approximately 18 miles), which may be reached by
car and by
bus or taxi, and by rail via Bristol Temple Meads or Nailsea and Backwell.
National Express operates
coach services from Bath to a number of cities. Internally, Bath has a number of bus routes run by the
First Group, with services to surrounding towns and cities. There are two other companies running open top double-decker bus tours around the city.
Architecture
Fan vaulting over the
nave at
Bath Abbey, Bath, England. Made from local Bath stone, this is a Victorian restoration (made in the 1860s) of the original roof from 1608
Of Bath's notable buildings,
Bath Abbey is one of the most striking. Originally a
Norman church on earlier foundations, it was rebuilt in the early 16th century and transformed into a
late Perpendicular fantasy of
flying buttresses with crocketed
pinnacles decorating a crenellated and pierced
parapet. The choir and transepts have a fine
fan vault by
Robert and
William Vertue, who worked on the vault at
King's College Chapel, Cambridge and designed similar vaulting in the
Henry VII chapel at
Westminster Abbey. The nave was given a matching vault in the 19th century. The building is lit by 52 windows.
The dominant style of architecture in Bath is
Georgian; this evolved from the
Palladian revival style which became popular in the early 18th century. Many of the prominent architects of the day were employed in the development of the city, and as a result Bath has many fine terraces. However, the original purpose of much of Bath's fine architecture is concealed by the honey-coloured classical facades; in an
era before the advent of the luxury
hotel, these apparently elegant residences were frequently purpose-built lodging houses, where visitors could hire a room, a floor, or (according to their means) an entire house for the duration of their visit, and be waited on by the house's communal
servants. One example of this kind of aspirational deception is found on the north side of Queen Square. This development was designed to appear from the front as a single residence of palatial proportions, but inside seven more modest residences were concealed.
"
The Circus" is one of the most splendid examples of town planning in the city. Three long, curved terraces designed by the elder
John Wood form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the
Colosseum in
Rome. Like the Coliseum, the three facades have a different order of architecture on each floor:
Doric on the ground level, then
Ionic on the
piano nobile and finishing with
Corinthian on the upper floor, the style of the building thus becoming progressively more ornate as it rises. Wood never lived to see his unique example of town planning completed, as he died five days after personally laying the foundation stone on
May 18 1754.
The best known of Bath's terraces is the
Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger
John Wood. But all is not what it seems; while Wood designed the great curved facade of what appears to be about 30 houses with Ionic
columns on a rusticated ground floor, that was the extent of his input. Each purchaser bought a certain length of the facade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is sometimes one. This system of elegant town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. This "''all to the front and no rear''" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath.
Around 1770 the eminent
neoclassical architect
Robert Adam designed
Pulteney Bridge, using as the prototype for the three-arched bridge spanning the Avon an original, but unused, design by
Palladio for the
Rialto Bridge in
Venice. Thus, Pulteney Bridge became not just a means of crossing the river, but also a shopping arcade. Along with the Rialto Bridge, is one of the very few surviving bridges in Europe to serve this dual purpose. It has been substantially altered since it was built. The bridge was named after Frances and
William Pulteney, the owners of the Bathwick estate for which the bridge provided a link to the rest of Bath.
The heart of the Georgian city was the
Pump Room, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by
Thomas Baldwin, a local builder who was responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in
Argyle Street. Baldwin rose rapidly, becoming a leader in Bath's architectural history. In 1776 he was made the chief
City Surveyor, and in 1780 became
Bath City Architect. In
1776 he designed the Bath
Guildhall, where his design of the interior produced what is considered one of the finest neo-classical interiors in the country.
Great Pulteney Street, where he eventually lived, is another of his finest works: this wide
boulevard, constructed circa 1789 and over 1000 ft (300m) long and 100 ft (30m) wide, is one of England's most attractive thoroughfares, and is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.
Architecturally, Bath is one of the most balanced cities in England, and is an unusual example of coherent town planning combined with well-executed and diverse architectural styles. Nonetheless, in the 1960s and early 1970s some parts of Bath were unsympathetically redeveloped, resulting in the loss of some 18th and 19th century buildings. This process was largely halted by a popular campaign which drew strength from the publication of Adam Fergusson's ''The Sack of Bath''.
Education
Bath has two
universities,
The University of Bath and
Bath Spa University. The former was established in 1966 and has grown to become a leading university in the United Kingdom, present in many top 10 lists and rated as excellent, the highest rating on government scales, in 14 subjects. The university is known, academically, for the physical sciences,
mathematics, architecture, management and technology. It is also well known for its
sports, which it plays under the name
Team Bath. In football,
Team Bath F.C. was, in the 2002/2003 season, the first university team to reach the
FA Cup first round since 1880.
Bath Spa University was first granted degree-awarding powers in 1992 as a
university college (Bath Spa University College), before being granted
university status in August 2005. It has schools in the following subject areas: Art and Design, Education, English and Creative Studies, Historical and Cultural Studies, Music and the Performing Arts, and Social Sciences.
The city contains one
A-Level college,
City of Bath College, and several
sixth forms (schools which contain A-Level awarding departments) as part of both
state,
private, and
public schools.
Many notable people, such as
Sir Roger Bannister,
MP Ann Widdecombe, comedian
Bill Bailey,
theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh, singer and musician
Curt Smith, archaeologist
Helen Geake and
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, went to school in Bath.
Media
Bath has two main local newspapers, the ''
Bath Chronicle'' and the ''
Bath Times''. Both of these are published by ''
Bath Newspapers'' with joint sales of approximately 178,000 per week, although the Bath Times is a freely distributed paper that contains the highlights from the past week's editions of the Chronicle. The
BBC's ''Where I Live'' web site for Somerset has featured coverage of news and events within Bath since 2003.
[20]
The ''Bath Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper, published since 1760. Owned by the ''
Daily Mail'' newsgroup, it is a
tabloid newspaper with a circulation of 14,633 and a readership of 40,252.
[21] The ''Bath Times'' is a
free weekly newspaper, largely based around
advertising. Also a tabloid, it has a circulation of 29,946 and maintains a readership of some 44,577.
In addition to these, The University of Bath has its own newspaper publication called
impact, a
free fortnightly newspaper, written and edited entirely by students at the
University of Bath. It has a circulation of 3,000 and a readership of perhaps 10,000.
For television, Bath is served by the
BBC West studios based in
Bristol, and by
ITV West (formerly
HTV) with studios similarly in Bristol.
Radio stations broadcasting to the city include
Bath's GWR FM and the more locally-focused
Bath FM, as well as The University of Bath's
1449AM URB, a student-focused radio on campus and also available online
[24] and
Classic Gold 1260 a networked commercial radio station with local programs.
Places of interest
Notable Bathonians
Main articles: List of notable Bathonians
References
1. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10167607
2. http://www.janeausten.co.uk/
3. Guardian Unlimited
4. Arms of The City of Bath
5. The Kennet & Avon Canal, , Niall, Allsop, Millstream Book, 1987, ISBN 0-948975-15-6
6. Contaminated Land Inspection of the area surrounding Bath
7. There is no universal definition to distinguish a hot spring from another geothermal spring, though by several definitions, the Bath springs can be considered the only hot springs in the UK.
8. Office for National Statistics, Census 2001. ''Statistics about Bath''.
9. 1 to 20 Lansdown Crescent
10. Royal Crescent
11. Pulteney Bridge
12. Abbey Church
13. Victoria Art Gallery
14. Holburne of Menstrie Museum
15. Roman Baths Treatment Centre
16. Size and date of establishment of Victoria Park from [1]
17. Information on other parks from Historic Public Parks of Bath
18. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-Bathchap.html
19. Bath Half Marathon
20. BBC Somerset
21. Circulation and readership numbers from official website
External links
★
Bath Tourist Information
★
Wikitravel — Bath
★
Bath Park and Ride
★
Gildas and Bath: etymology
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