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The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey Founded in the 7th century.
In 2008 I spent some time in Bath. For various reasons these photos later disappeared from my profile. I am stuck at home at the moment so I have chosen to re-instate them.
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When is a cathedral not a cathedral? Well, in this case, when it is Bath Abbey in Somerset. The abbey church of St Peter in Bath was once a Norman cathedral but later bishops preferred nearby Wells and the title slipped back to Wells by order of the Pope.
Bath can also lay claim to being one of the last monastic churches to be built in Britain, its reconstruction ending just a few years before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. As a late example of English Perpendicular it is also unusual in its proportions, its low aisles and nave arcades and high clerestory levels being the reverse of usual practice.
www.flickr.com/photos/barryslemmings/sets/72157628768507145/ to see the full set.
The site dates back to the pagan Romans and was part of the huge Roman bath complex which grew up around Britain's only active geo-thermal spring. In 675AD King Osric granted land to Abbess Berta to establish a convent here but this was later altered to a monastery. King Offa rebuilt the church in grand style but that is now lost.
Following the 1066 Norman Conquest of England John of Tours was made Bishop of Wells and Abbot of Bath in 1090. He preferred Bath and the cathedral switched there with the monastery becoming a priory. John of Tours planned a grand rebuild but died before it was completed. The half-finished cathedral was devastated by fire in 1137. Joint cathedral status was granted to Bath AND Wells in 1245 but later bishops preferred Wells and its handsome bishop's palace so Bath eventually lost its cathedral status.
Bath fell into disrepair and was ruinous by the time Oliver King was joint bishop in 1495-1503. He carried out much of the existing work including the east front, with its angels climbing up ladders to get to heaven, and the interior fan vaulting by Robert and William Vertue who had also designed similar work for the Henry VII chapel at Westminster Abbey.
The building was stripped and left a ruin during the Dissolution but in 1574 Queen Elizabeth I set up a national fund to pay for the restoration of St Peter's as the parish church of Bath. James Montague joint Bishop form 1608-1616 added £1000 worth of roofing work, His coat of arms appear on the handsome carved east doors.
Sir George Gilbert Scott added the fan vaulting to the nave in the 1860s but this merely completed the original work of Bishop King which had apparently been halted by lack of money.
As Bath was a fashionable health cure in the 18th century it contains an extraordinary number of 18th century memorials, often from non-residents who died in town while visiting. These include Untited States senator William Bingham who died here in 1804. Bingham was once the wealthiest man in the America; he had personally funded the Louisiana purchase by the US government in gold.
So once again Oliver and Felicity made the journey in to watch me run the Bath haf.
I wonder what I'll say when Oliver asks "why do you do run around in a big circle for so long daddy?"
Oliver and Felicity were there to see me across the line and it felt magical.
Really I wanted a photo of Oliver in some shorts or something but I kind of ran out of energy so this is Oliver looking at the medal saying "why do I want this daddy, where's the chocolate they give you!"
WARNING dull running info below
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The time for this year was 1:22:30, quite an improvement on last year and a new PB for me.