View allAll Photos Tagged bath
Gartholwg Camera Club : Bath Abbey
Although photography is allowed inside the Abbey, I was disappointed that I could not use a tripod - (that Health & Safety thing reared it's head again !)
I had to use my camera hand-held at a high ISO and then reduce noise 1st in ACR using a pre-set I have set up, then after the HDR process, I used Topaz 'De-Noise' on a very low setting. Had I been able to use a tripod with the camera at ISO 100, the images would have turned out much better (noise-wise !) IMHO.
Bath, UK. A lone street perfomer in a courtyard whistles a melody for his appreciative audience of one (me). Shot on Tri-X and printed in my darkroom at home.
Bath, England. Breathtaking examples of fashion from the eighteenth century. I live and breathe for this style of fashion...I was born in the wrong century...maybe this style of dress will become fashionable again...would anyone else love to wear these glorious gowns besides me?
Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough in 1889 which gave it administrative independence from its county, Somerset. The city became part of Avon when that county was created in 1974. Since 1996, when Avon was abolished, Bath has been the principal centre of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES).
The city was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans in AD 43, although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then. They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs. Edgar was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey in 973. Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone.
The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987. The city has a variety of theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues, which have helped to make it a major centre for tourism, with over one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. The city has two universities and several schools and colleges. There is a large service sector, and growing information and communication technologies and creative industries, providing employment for the population of Bath and the surrounding area.
Photograph taken from the chancel roof of Bath Abbey. The church with a spire is St Michael's (G. P Manners, 1835-7), the one on the horizon is St Stephen's, Lansdown (James Wilson, 1840-5). To the right of the Union Flag can be seen Camden Crescent.
We used to be bathed in one of these in front of the kitchen fire. Those were the days, water carried from the well, heated in the copper and then carried into the kitchen on bath night. Ok if you were first in, not so if you weren't.
Forum Theatre, Bath. Opened in 1934 and designed by W H Watkins, with A S Gray. The Forum followed the usual path of conversion to bingo in the 1960's, which failed fairly quickly, before becoming a church. A major, and spectacularly successful restoration was undertaken and the Forum is one of the most complete 1930's former cinemas in the UK. There is a very extensive use of the theatre for live shows and concerts in addition to the religious services held by the Bath City Church.
Bath, Somerset & Avon, England, Forum Cinema / Bath City Church
August 2016
The saunas, frigidarium and steam room give on to this room where spa treatments are given on the marble bench, there are also very attractive private rooms. Here is a bar dispensing infused water and spicy 18th century style hot chocolate.
We didn't take any of the spa treatments but the facilities were available to guests in the early morning and after the spa closed in the evening.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, reorganised in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries, it is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country.
The church is cruciform in plan, seating approximately 1,200 people. It is used for religious services, secular civic ceremonies, concerts and lectures.[1] The abbey is a Grade I listed building[2] and is an active place of worship, with hundreds of congregation members and hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
The building contains monuments to several notable people. It has two organs and a peal of ten bells.
Early history
In 675 Osric, King of the Hwicce, granted the Abbess Berta 100 hides near Bath for the establishment of a convent. This religious house later became a monastery under the patronage of the Bishop of Worcester. King Offa of Mercia successfully wrested "that most famous monastery at Bath"[3] from the bishop in 781. William of Malmesbury tells that Offa rebuilt the monastic church, which may have occupied the site of an earlier pagan temple, to such a standard that King Eadwig was impelled to describe it as being "marvellously built";[3] however, little is known about architecture of the first building on this site. Monasticism in England had lapsed by that time, but Eadwig's brother Edgar (who was crowned "King of the English" at the Abbey in 973[4]) began its revival on his accession to the throne in 959. He encouraged monks to adopt the Rule of St Benedict, which was introduced at Bath under Abbot Ælfheah (St. Alphege).
Norman Conquest to the Dissolution
Bath was ravaged in the power struggle between the sons of William the Conqueror following his death in 1087. The victor, William Rufus, granted the city to a royal physician, John of Tours, who became Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath.[5][6] Shortly after his consecration John bought Bath Abbey's grounds from the king,[6] as well as the city of Bath itself. Whether John paid Rufus for the town or whether he was given the town as a gift by the king is unclear.[7] The abbey had recently lost its abbot Alfsige, and was according to Domesday Book the owner of large estates in and near the town. It would have been the wealth of the abbey that attracted John to take over the monastery.[8] By acquiring the town of Bath, John also acquired the mint that was in the town.[9] In 1090 he transferred the seat, or administration, of the bishopric to Bath Abbey,[10][11] probably as an attempt to increase the revenues of his see. Bath was a rich abbey, and Wells had always been a poor diocese. By taking over the abbey, John increased his episcopal revenues.[12] William of Malmesbury portrays the moving of the episcopal seat as motivated by a desire for the lands of the abbey, but it was part of a pattern at the time of moving cathedral seats from small villages to larger towns.[7] When John moved his episcopal seat, he also took over the abbey of Bath as his cathedral chapter, turning his diocese into a bishopric served by monks instead of the canons located at Wells that had previously served the diocese.[13] John rebuilt the monastic church at Bath, which had been damaged during one of Robert de Mowbray's rebellions. Permission was given to move the see of Somerset from Wells – a comparatively small settlement – to the then walled city of Bath.[6][11] When this was effected in 1090, John became the first Bishop of Bath, and St Peter's was raised to cathedral status.[14] As the roles of bishop and abbot had been combined, the monastery became a priory, run by its prior. With the elevation of the abbey to cathedral status, it was felt that a larger, more up-to-date building was required. John of Tours planned a new cathedral on a grand scale, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but only the ambulatory was complete when he died in December 1122.[5] He was buried in the cathedral.[15] The most renowned scholar monk based in the abbey was Adelard of Bath, after his various travels he was back in the monastery by 1106.[16]
The half-finished cathedral was devastated by fire in 1137,[17] but work continued until about 1156; the completed building was approximately 330 feet (101 m) long. There were 40 monks on the roll in 1206.[18] Joint cathedral status was awarded by Pope Innocent IV to Bath and Wells in 1245. Roger of Salisbury was appointed the first Bishop of Bath and Wells, having been Bishop of Bath for a year previously. However, later bishops preferred Wells, the canons of which had successfully petitioned various popes down the years for Wells to regain cathedral status. Bath Cathedral gradually fell into disrepair. In 1485 the priory had 22 monks.[18] The existence of an ambulatory suggests a very large building, on a par with Durham Cathedral.
When Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells 1495–1503, visited Bath in 1499 he was shocked to find this famous church in ruins.[19][20] He also described lax discipline, idleness and a group of monks "all too eager to succumb to the temptations of the flesh".[18] He took a year to consider what action to take, before writing to the Prior of Bath in October 1500 to explain that a large amount of the priory income would be dedicated to rebuilding the cathedral.[21] Work probably began the following spring. Bishop King planned a smaller church, covering the area of the Norman nave only.[18] He did not live to see the result, but the restoration of the cathedral was completed just a few years before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.[22] The new church is not a typical example of the Perpendicular form of Gothic architecture; the low aisles and nave arcades and the very tall clerestory present the opposite balance to that which was usual in perpendicular churches. However, as this building was to serve as a monastic church, it was built to a cruciform plan, which had become relatively rare in parish churches of the time. The interior contains fine fan vaulting by Robert and William Vertue, who designed similar vaulting for the Henry VII chapel, at Westminster Abbey. The building has 52 windows, occupying about 80% of the wall space,[19] giving the interior an impression of lightness, and reflecting the different attitudes towards churchmanship shown by the clergy of the time and those of the 12th century.
Reformation and subsequent decline
Prior Holloway surrendered Bath Priory to the crown in January 1539. The church was stripped of lead, iron and glass and left to decay. In 1574, Queen Elizabeth I promoted the restoration of the church, to serve as the grand parish church of Bath. She ordered that a national fund should be set up to finance the work.[23] James Montague, the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608–1616, paid £1,000 for a new nave roof of timber lath construction; according to the inscription on his tomb, this was prompted after seeking shelter in the roofless nave during a thunderstorm. He is buried in an alabaster tomb in the north aisle.[24]
[edit] Modern renaissance
Major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s, funded by the rector, Charles Kemble. This included the installation of fan vaulting in the nave. That was not merely a fanciful aesthetic addition, but a completion of the original design.[25] Bishop King had arranged for the vaulting of the choir, to a design by William and Robert Vertue. There are clues in the stonework that King intended the vaulting to continue into the nave, but that this plan was abandoned, probably for reasons of cost. Work carried out in the 20th and 21st centuries included a full cleaning of the stonework and the reconstruction of the pipe organ by Klais Orgelbau of Bonn.
Day trip to Bath for a boys day out with Ian, Nick, Tim, Gary, Peter, Steve, Andy and myself. Great day of eating, drinking and talking shit lol :-)
Memorial Quarter Peal rung for Private Albert Edwin Seers (Service no. 19409), 6th Bn, Dorsetshire Regiment; died 12 October 1918, aged 32; buried in Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt, France (XIII. D. 22.); Son of Mr. and Mrs. W H. Seers, of Bath; husband of Emilie Seers, of 23, Magdalen Avenue, Holloway, Bath:
www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/244619/SEERS,%20ALBER...
Alfred Seers was a member of the band at St Michael's. The performance record says that Pte Seers had been wounded in the German advance of March 1918 and that he composed the date touch rung here while he was recovering in hospital.
Bath, Som (St Michael). 21 October 1918, 1918 Grandsire Triples: Albert F Alexander 1, Thomas Hogsflesh 2, Frederick C Rich 3, Charles Goodenough 4, Charles W Bell 6, Richard J Cousins (C) 7, William J Prescott 8.
Occasional reports of change ringing in the Bath Chronicle demonstrate that A. E. Seers was heavily involved in Bath ringing in the pre-war period. His father, W. E. Seers was also a bell ringer, described in 1914 as instrumental in getting St Matthew's, Widcombe affiliated to the Association (Bath Chronicle, 31 January 1914, p. 9). Albert called his first 720 Bob Minor at St. Mark's, Widcombe in 1907 with J. H. Odey (another First World War casualty) ringing the Treble. Seers featured in various Bath ringing performances, including a "farewell peal" of Grandsire Triples rung at Colerne in 1916 by eight ringers, "all of whom have attested as married men under Lord Derby's Scheme." He also rang in Bath when on leave, including a quarter peal shortly before his death.
Bath Chronicle, Saturday, 14 September 1918, p. 16:
"A special peal at St. Saviours.
At the Church of St. Saviour on Sunday morning a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples, 1,260 changes, was rung in honour of the re-opening of the Men's Afternoon Services, in 41 minutes, by the following members of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers: Treble, Henry W. Brown; 2nd. Thomas Hogsflesh; 3rd, Horace Taylor; 4th, Albert E. Alexander; 5th, Albert Seers; 6th, Richard J. Cousins; 7th, Charles W. Bell; tenor, Herbert E. Holder; conducted by H. E. Holder. The ringer of the 5th is a Bath ringer home on leave from the trenches."
Oddly enough, five years before, Albert Seers and another Bath ringer (W. J. Prescott) happened to ring a peal at St Margaret's, Westminster at the wedding of Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier. This was reported in the Bath Chronicle of Thursday, 17 September 1908, p. 7:
"CHANGE RINGING.-- At St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, on Saturday evening in honour of the wedding of Mr. Winston Churchill and Miss Clementine Hozier, a peal of Stedman Caters, consisting of 5,003 changes, was rung in three hours twenty-eight minutes by the following members of the Middlesex County Association and London Diocesan Guild:-- Treble, H. Flanders; 2nd, J. J. Lamb; 3rd, F. G. Perrin; 4th, J. Cheeseman (conductor); 5th, A. E. Seers; 6th, W. J. Prescott; 7th, A. W. Coles; 8th, J. E. Davis; 9th, W. Pickworth; tenor, A. N. Hardy. The first peal on ten bells was by A. E. Seers, who, with W. J. Prescott are both members of the St. Mary's Company, Bathwick, Bath."
In 1950 (Bath Chronicle, 22 July 1950, p. 1), W. J. Prescott (by then Tower Master of Bath Abbey) explained that: "A party of us [Bath ringers] were going on a ringers' outing to London. We wrote to the secretary of the Diocesan Guild of Ringers and asked to ring at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, where Mr. Churchill was to be married," [...] We all thought it a great honour, of course, but I think much more of it now."
After Bath Abbey was dissolved in 1539 at the Reformation, it was looted and the church given to the parish. A simple roof was constructed over the nave and the stone-vaulted choir used for services. The church remained in this unfinished state until 1864.
Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to work on the building by the new rector, Charles Kemble, largely at his own expense. The most remarkable sight of the interior is the lace-like fan-vaulting of the nave. This was added by Scott in 1874 and modelled on the vault at the east end.