23rd June 1819, Bath and Clifton

Wednesday June 23rd………After Breakfast we amused ourselves by walking about the town and seeing the Parade, Crescents, Baths, Pump Rooms, Circus, &c. Milsom St is a second Bond St But at this time of the year very thin Bath is remarkably clean

on account of the streets being so safe and downhill that after a shower of rain they are almost immediately dry…. At about two o’Clock we proceeded through Bristol to the beautiful village of Clifton Bristol is a very large town but the houses are of brick

and not so regularly built as those of Bath. There are however some good streets with churches at the end of them which have a good effect. We dined at the Clifton Grand Hotel and in the evening went to the top of the Rocks where we were much struck

with the beautiful and romantic scenery around between the rocks is a charming valley at the bottom of which runs “the swift flowing Avon” I went down and walked by the side of the river whence we see the immense height of the rocks, which have a most

OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS

Bath’s Streets: Breakfast was normally early for the Copland family and on this Wednesday morning, which would probably have been a fine June morning at the height of Summer, they explored the heart of Georgian Bath. Below, an 1818 print of Pulteney Bridge:

1818: Pulteney Bridge – Print from: Egan's Walks through Bath, Artist & Engraver H S Storer, Publisher Sherwood & Co http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/9154

The Parade is probably what is known as North Parade today, being bounded on the north by the Parade Gardens, and both it and the smaller South Parade lead off Pierrepont Street and head eastward to the River Avon.

The Crescents “Some of the most popular architectural sights in Bath include the sweeping crescents of impressive terraced housing that are dotted around the city. These crescents offer a fascinating glimpse into the past, back to a time when Bath became a fashionable retreat for the upper echelons of 18th century society.” https://www.pritchards-bath.co.uk/news/baths-best-crescents/ Pritchards list and describe four classic crescents that were there in 1819, The Royal Crescent, which Lucy would most certainly have visited, the more highly elevated Lansdown Crescent giving a classic view over Georgian Bath, Camden Crescent (then known as Camden Place as found in Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’ where the Elliot family had lodgings) and Widcombe Crescent finished in 1808.

Visit Bath’s website https://visitbath.co.uk/listings/single/the-royal-crescent/ provides a number of photographs of The Royal Crescent, but the following by Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone) and found in in Wikipedia is free to publish here and entitled: “Royal Crescent .. viewed from a hot air balloon, on a dull September evening.” The back and front of the Crescent can be seen (the front has the columns). Notice how very different the back and front look.

The Royal Crescent is home to the five-star The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, a museum of Georgian life at No. 1 Royal Crescent, and private housing. It is also a popular location for films and period dramas. Jane Austen's Persuasion included many scenes shot at the Royal Crescent, and it also featured in the 2008 film The Duchess starring Keira Knightley.

Visit Bath tells us that “perhaps the most controversial moment in the Crescent’s history, however, occurred during the 1970s, when the resident of No. 22, Miss Annabel Wellesley-Colley, painted her front door yellow instead of the traditional white. Miss Wellesley-Colley had to fight two enforcement orders from Bath City Council and defend herself at a public enquiry, before it was finally declared that the door could remain yellow, which is just how you will see it today!”

The Baths, which archaeological evidence suggests have been used for curative purposes since Celtic times, were developed by the Romans, who called the city Aqua Sulis. It fell into disuse during the Dark Ages and, according to legend, the British king Bladud discovered the springs in 836BC and built Moorish baths there. Early in the 18th century this obscure legend was given prominence as a royal endorsement of the waters' qualities, with the embellishment that the spring had cured Bladud and his herd of pigs of leprosy through wallowing in the warm mud. The spring is now housed in 18th-century building, designed by John Wood, the Elder and John Wood, the Younger, father and son. Visitors drank the waters in the Grand Pump Room, which remains in use both for taking the waters and for social functions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)

1818: Prints of the Baths from Egan's Walks through Bath, Artist & Engraver H S Storer, Publisher Sherwood & Co http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/9168

This image by Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone), from Wikipedia, is of Bath Abbey’s West Front and the Roman Baths and Pump Room. The Roman Baths entrance is the building with 6 columns, immediately to the right of the Abbey. The Pump Room entrance is next right (below the hanging lamp).

Pump Rooms. The present building replaced an earlier one on the same site, designed by John Harvey at the request of Beau Nash, Bath's master of ceremonies, in 1706, before the discovery of Roman remains nearby. The main block, built of Bath stone, was begun by Thomas Baldwin, and the foundations of a Roman temple precinct were discovered during preparatory excavations. The North Colonnade of nine bays, with unfluted Ionic columns, was built by Baldwin in 1786–90 but when he was dismissed in 1791 for financial mismanagement John Palmer continued the scheme until its completion in 1799. The elevation on to Abbey Church Yard , with its centre piece of four engaged Corinthian columns with entablatures and pediment, has been designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Pump_Room,_Bath

1818: The Pump Room – Print from: Egan's Walks through Bath, Artist & Engraver H S Storer, Publisher Sherwood & Co

The Circus is one of the most impressive examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the city. The Circus comprises of three curved sections of townhouses, each a take on the Bath crescent in their own right, impeccably arranged so that whichever entrance a pedestrian might enter the arena from, they are guaranteed to be faced with a glorious, classical façade. Another excellent design from the architect John Wood the Elder, the Circus was based on the dimensions of Stonehenge as it is thought John Wood believed that Bath had been a chief centre of Druid activity in Britain. https://www.pritchards-bath.co.uk/news/baths-best-crescents/ The Circus is divided into three segments of equal length, with a lawn in the centre. Each segment faces one of the three entrances, ensuring a classical façade is always presented straight ahead. Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the Circus as one of his five choices for the 2006 BBC television documentary series Britain's Best Buildings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_(Bath)

Also by by Adrian Pingstone, this image, above, shows one section of The Circus. Below is a 1818 print contemporary to Lucy’s visit:

1818: Part of the Royal Circus – Print from: Egan's Walks through Bath, Artist & Engraver H S Storer, Publisher Sherwood & Co http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/9234

The Coplands most certainly would have visited the Assembly Rooms, shown below in Egan's Walks through Bath, 1818:

Milsom Street was built in 1762 by Thomas Lightholder. The buildings were originally grand town houses, but most are now used as shops, offices and banks. Most have three storeys with mansard roofs and Corinthian columns. As a fashionable Georgian thoroughfare, Milsom Street is quoted in several of the works of Jane Austen, including Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milsom_Street,_Bath

This photograph, by geograph.org.uk in Wikipedia, illustrates its slight incline, shared with most Bath streets, which prompted Lucy to comment “Bath is remarkably clean on account of the streets being so safe and downhill that after a shower of rain they are almost immediately dry.

Bristol: The Coplands passed through Bristol on their way to Clifton. The Bath Road passes by Temple Gate, seen in the 1808 print, below:

1808: Temple Gate, by E Bird, Engraved by James Heath, Published by John Agg, from John Corry & John Evans The History of Bristol, Civil and Ecclesiastical Temple Gate, Bristol. http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/11507

They may well have seen the industrial side of Bristol:

1809: View of Bristol from Pile Hill, by E Bird, Engraved by James Heath, Published by John Agg, from John Corry & John Evans The History of Bristol, Civil and Ecclesiastical http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/15828

At Clifton they would have had views over Bristol:

Circa 1816:Bristol seen from Clifton Wood, by G Holmes, Engraved William Angus, Published by W. Sheppard, Exchange, Bristol from John Corry & John Evans The History of Bristol, Civil and Ecclesiastical. http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/11510

Clifton is one of the oldest and most affluent areas of the city of Bristol, much of it having been built with profits from tobacco and the slave trade. Situated to the west of Bristol city centre, it was at one time a separate settlement but became attached to Bristol by continuous development during the Georgian era and was formally incorporated into the city in the 1830s.

1871: Royal Promenade, Clifton from Views of Clifton, Engraved by Rock & Co http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/7171

Bristol & Avon Family History Society have a detailed history of Clifton, which predated the City of Bristol with an Iron Age settlement, at https://www.bafhs.org.uk/bafhs-parishes/other-bafhs-parishes/72-clifton The Spa at Hotwell would have been active in Lucy’s time, though it was to decline shortly afterwards. We are told by the BAFHS that Clifton’s “Dowry Square probably has the strangest associations of any street in Bristol, deserving a place in the affections of literacy types, drinkers, dentists, and drug addicts. Here, in 1812, the economic migrant Jacob SCHWEPPE opened his fizz factory. Here Dr Thomas BEDDOES ran his clinic, attempting to cure consumption by intruding cows into patients’ bedrooms. He and his assistant Humphrey DAVY did much for the gaiety of nations by producing nitrous oxide, popular amongst the intelligentsia as a recreational drug. Another assistant Peter ROGET compiled the Thesaurus.”

Contemporary Prints overlooking Hotwells, below:

BAFH continue: “In the 1780s, Clifton village itself started to expand, beginning with a few gracefully landscaped roads around Boyce’s Avenue, followed by The Mall and then spreading down the hill in a positive cascade of magnificent terraces. Unfortunately this enthusiastic building programme was interrupted by the Napoleonic Wars and the crash of 1793, leaving many houses half-built and roofless. Within twenty years, however, Clifton had recovered and the great terraces and crescents on the hillside were all complete. Most splendid of all is Royal York Crescent, which is reputedly the longest terrace of its type in Europe and is most sought-after addresses, with views over the Floating Harbour to the countryside beyond.” This is the Clifton that Lucy so admired.

Royal York Crescent, Clifton, Artist & Engraver W Willis, published John Harris, Bristol. http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/2309

Clifton Grand Hotel was bought by the Clifton Club in 1850. Their website provides the history: The hotel had been commissioned in 1807 by John Lewis Auriol, a senior merchant of The East India Company. Auriol built the hotel on his return to England sparing no cost on its opulent interiors. Local architect J H Hirst, who at that time was overseeing the construction of the Fine Arts Academy adjacent to The Victoria Rooms, took on the role of altering the hotel into the new Club. https://www.thecliftonclub.co.uk/about/

The Clifton Club - https://www.thecliftonclub.co.uk/the-club/

Exterior view of the Clifton Club, previously the Clifton Grand Hotel https://www.thecliftonclub.co.uk/the-club/

The Clifton Club’s website provides pictures of their interior rooms which have been tastefully recreated at https://www.thecliftonclub.co.uk/the-club/the-venue/

Below is a plate bearing the image of the Clifton Grand Hotel, possibly contemporary to Lucy’s visit, kindly sent to us by a private collector.

Clifton Rocks lie on the Eastern aspect of the Avon Gorge. Here Brunel’s suspension bridge the Clifton Rocks Railway would be built in Victorian times but in Lucy’s time it would have provided a stupendous view down the Avon Gorge

Clifton as it is today: Princess Victoria Street:-

2004: Princess Victoria Street in Clifton, by Rbrwr at English Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clifton_-_Princess_Victoria_Street_(750px… — 2004: Princess Victoria Street in Clifton, by Rbrwr at English Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clifton_-_Princess_Victoria_Street_(750px).jpg

Can you help us?

Old Regency Prints or Pictures and maps of the Old Coaching Routes: Any illustrations of what Lucy would have seen in 1819 will bring our research alive. Any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and sites will enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought.

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