Sights in Bath
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
No.1 Royal Crescent
Superbly restored to the minutest detail of its 1770 magnificence, the grand Palladian town house No 1 Royal Crescent is well worth visiting to see how people lived during Bath's glory days; staff dressed in period costume complete the effect.
The crowning glory of Georgian Bath and the city's most prestigious address, Royal Crescent, is a semicircular terrace of magnificent houses decorated with a continuous façade of Ionic columns. Designed by John Wood the Younger (1728-82) and built between 1767 and 1775, the houses would have originally been rented by the season by wealthy socialites.
A walk along Brock St leads to The Circus, a magnificent circle of 30 houses. Plaq…
reviewed
-
B
Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey was built between 1499 and 1616, making it the last great medieval church raised in England. The nave's wonderful fan vaulting was erected in the 19th century. The most striking feature of the abbey's exterior is the west facade, where angels climb up and down stone ladders, commemorating a dream of the founder, Bishop Oliver King.
The abbey boasts the second largest collection of wall monuments after Westminster Abbey. Among those buried here are Sir Isaac Pitman, who devised the Pitman method of shorthand, and Beau Nash. Also worth a look are the choir stalls, carved with mythical beasts.
On the abbey's southern side, steps lead down to the small Heritage Vau…
reviewed
-
C
Circus
Inspired by the Roman Colosseum, the Circus is another Georgian masterpiece of Wood the Elder's design. Arranged over three equal terraces, the 30 mansions overlook a garden populated by plane trees; a German bomb fell into the square in 1942 and demolished several houses, although they've since been rebuilt in seamless style. Look out for plaques to Thomas Gainsborough, Clive of India and David Livingstone, all former Circus residents.
reviewed
-
D
Museum of Costume
In the basement is the Museum of Costume, which houses a huge wardrobe of vintage outfits including some lavish 18th-century embroidered waistcoats, a collection of 500 handbags and several whalebone corsets which are, frankly, alarming.
reviewed
-
E
Roman Baths
The Roman Baths now comprise one of the best-preserved ancient Roman spas in the world. Unfortunately, they're also a must-see item on everyone's itinerary, and the summertime crowds can reach titanic proportions - to avoid the worst crush, visit as early or late in the day as possible, and steer clear of July and August - sightseeing in a camera-wielding human stampede isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Assuming you manage to get in, you'll be handed an audioguide (narrated by actress Juliet Stevenson and author Bill Bryson), or you can hang around for one of the hourly tours. The centrepiece of the complex is the magnificent Great Bath a huge 1.6m-deep hot pool, lined wit…
reviewed
-
F
Thermae Bath Spa
Larking about in the Roman Baths might be off the agenda, but thankfully you can still sample the city's curative waters at the Thermae Bath Spa. Incorporating the old Cross Bath into a shell of Georgian stone, stainless steel and plate glass, the ferociously modern building has ruffled the feathers of many Bathonian purists, but whatever you make of the architecture, the hot springs themselves are a treat.
Packages range from a dip in one of the heated pools (choose from the Cross Bath or the New Royal Bath, which includes a choice of pools, steam rooms and waterfall shower) to exotic treatments including peat baths, body cocoons, Vichy showers and the ominous-sounding '…
reviewed
-
G
Jane Austen Centre
Though Bath only features in two Jane Austen novels (Persuasion and Northanger Abbey), for many people the city is the quintessential Austenesque setting, the perfect place for dashing young beaus to sweep retiring young dilettantes off their feet. Austen lived in the city from 1801 to 1806, residing at various houses including No 4 Sydney Pl (marked by a blue plaque opposite the Holburne Museum).
The Jane Austen Centre explores the author's connections with the city through costumed guides, pictorial prints and Austen-themed exhibits - there's even a Regency tearoom and a gift shop stocked with lace parasols. But sorry ladies - no sign of Mr Darcy…
reviewed
-
H
Herschel Museum of Astronomy
The classical composer turned telescope maker William Herschel lived in a town house on King St, now the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. Herschel's achievements included the discovery of Uranus in 1781 and the construction of several pioneering telescopes, including a gargantuan 40ft (12m) refractor built in 1785.
Unfortunately the reality never quite lived up to the design: the mirror quickly fogged up and the elaborate mechanics, which required several operators who communicated via a speaking tube, ultimately proved unworkable. His 7ft (2m) models were more successful - a replica of one can be seen in the museum's lobby.
reviewed
-
I
American Museum
Commemorating everything from the Puritan pioneers to the Wild West frontier, the American Museum houses a huge collection of Stateside artefacts in the grand environs of Claverton Manor. Established in 1961, the museum's displays range from First Nation handiwork to vintage revolvers, pioneers' maps and a collection of American quilts.
You can also stroll around 15 period-themed rooms, including a New Orleans plantation villa, a Shaker room and a flashy 18th-century parlour room from a Maryland farmhouse. Bus 18 and most university buses stop nearby.
reviewed
-
J
Assembly Rooms
The city's glorious Assembly Rooms were built in 1771 under the supervision of Beau Nash. Chamber concerts, card games and public balls were held in the gloriously furnished rooms, and welcomed many famous visitors including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Haydn and Strauss. You can stroll around the card room, tearoom and ballroom, all lit by their spectacular 18th-century chandeliers (one of which nearly crushed the artist Thomas Gainsborough in 1771).
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Holburne Museum
Sir William Holburne, the 18th-century aristocrat, aesthete and art fanatic, amassed a huge collection, which now forms the Holburne Museum , beautifully situated in the tree-shaded Sydney Gardens. Works by Turner, Gaudi, Stubbs and Thomas Gainsborough litter the palatial rooms, supplemented by a hoard of majolica, porcelain and portrait miniatures (look out for one of Beau Nash).
reviewed
-
L
Building of Bath Museum
For the back-story on Bath, head for the Building of Bath Museum, which traces the city's evolution from a sleepy spa town into one of the centres of Georgian society. Its eclectic displays detail everything from how to build a Georgian sash window to a guide to the most fashionable wallpapers of 18th-century society.
reviewed
-
M
Victoria Art Gallery
More glorious artwork lines the walls of the Victoria Art Gallery the city's main art museum. There are fine canvases by Gainsborough, Turner and Sickert, as well as biting Georgian caricatures from the pens of James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson.
reviewed
-
N
Museum of East Asian Art
The Museum of East Asian Art has a collection of over 2000 artefacts gathered from Cambodia, Japan, China and other parts of Southeast Asia, including Japanese sculptures, ornate hand fans and bamboo carvings.
reviewed
-
O
Bath Visitor Centre
Across the street from the Thermae Bath are treatment rooms above the old Hot Bath, while the Hetling Pump Room houses a Bath Visitor Centre exploring the history of Bath bathing.
reviewed
-
P
Georgian Garden
To the south of the Circus is the restored Georgian Garden, with formal terraces, period plants and gravel walkways, tidied everyday using an original 19th-century roller.
reviewed
-
Q
Vaults Heritage Museum
On Bath Abbey's southern side, the Vaults Heritage Museum contains fine stone bosses, statuary and other archaeological artefacts.
reviewed
