We had a busy but fun day today. Happily, the predicted rain didn’t start falling until about 4:30 pm when places were starting to close. Peggy planned more places to see than time allowed, but we got to most of the places we realistically expected to see. It is easy to see why Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage city. However, it is not the sleepy resort Bath town Peggy had envisioned. It has a population of 80,000 not counting the student population of the 2 universities located in Bath.

Our first stop of the day was the tourist information center where we confirmed the location of our Mayor’s tour. Since we had time before the start of the tour, we went to the Bath Abbey. It has a long and complicated history. There has been a church/monastery on the site since 675 AD. In 1090, Bath became the Episcopal seat off the area, and a new cathedral was planned and dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The cathedral fell into disrepair and Bishop of Bath and Wells, Oliver King, devised plans to restore/rebuild it in 1500. It was completed a few years before the monasteries were dissolved in 1539. It was restored in the 1860s and is currently undergoing major restoration again. It is s magnificent building made of Bath stone, fan vaulted ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. The cathedral has monuments and memorials, and is the final resting place for important people. It is a truly beautiful building which left us in awe. The tower is 161 feet and provides spectacular views off Bath and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to climb the tower.

Our 2 hour walking tour was fun and quite informative. Our tour guide clearly loved sharing his knowledge of Bath. He provided some interesting facts Bath and it’s development through the years. In 1727, architect John Woods, the Elder, had a vision to develop Bath to become the Rome of England. When city officials didn’t support his vision, he purchased a considerable amount of land to develop around today’s Queen Square. He sold land parcels with the condition that the front of every building had to meet his Palladian style. All the houses around the square are symmetrical and are separated into 4 sections that curve around in a circle. The buildings ate known as the Circus. The design was influenced by the Roman Colosseum and the diameter is almost equal to the outer circle of Stonehenge. The Royal Crescent is another area close to the circus and was designed and built by John Wood the younger. Although there have been interior changes and renovations, the exterior remains as it was originally designed and built. It is considered the best example of Georgian style architecture in the UK.

Beau Nash was unsuccessful as an army officer and later as a barrister, but he excelled as the unofficial Master of Ceremonies of Bath from 1704 – 1761. According to our guide, he was a womanizer and gambler. He did help establish Bath as a respectable city for the aristocracy and “the well to do”. He would greet new arrivals to the city and judge if they were acceptable to the “select company” of Bath. He wrote a book on etiquette for life in Bath, organized entertainment with the best musicians and helped bring the Royal Theatre to Bath. He regulated gambling, earning a cut for himself. He was buried in the nave of the Abbey.

The tour of the Roman Baths was wonderful. The Romans built three baths and a temple complex in the end of the first century AD. The technological and craftsman skills evident is truly amazing. In Roman times, the large pool was covered with an arched roof made of stones and hollow tiles. The Roman baths are truly an archeological wonder. There are 3 hot springs that supply the baths. Approximately, 250,000 gallons of water per day bubble up to the surface at a temperature of about 113 F. Archaeological excavations show some of the the original structures and and there are excellent displays and holograms of the original baths and the temple dedicated to the Goddess Minerva (also known as Sullis). The original Roman name for Bath was Aquae Sullis which means waters of Sullis. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the baths were neglected, lost to flooding and buried by silt.

The King’s bath was developed for curative purposes in the 1100s, and an additional pool, the Queen’s Bath, was added for the women in the 1500s. The current buildings for the hot springs were designed by father and son architects John Wood the Elder and Younger. The spa was open for public bathing until the early 1970s when it was closed for health reasons after someone using the baths died of meningitis. A new hot Springs pool was open to the public in 2006. Bathing in the new hot springs was another casualty of too little time for us.

The Postal Museum was next on our itinerary, with a detour to the bank for some cash and to exchange our pound notes from Scotland for ones from England. Interestingly, although England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all share the same monetary system, they each print their own paper notes with different bank names and important or famous figures printed on the paper notes. Several merchants in the south of England thought the currency we brought from Scotland was “funny money” and wouldn’t accept it. Rather than fight it, we simply asked the bank clerk to exchange them for Bank of England notes.

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The Postal Museum was very interesting. It traced the history of the development of the postal system in the UK. In 1720, a young postal worker, Ralph Allen, suggested a faster way for mail delivery. Rather than all mail going to London before distribution to its destination, he proposed sending the mail directly from town to town. He purchased a contract that gave him control of “the cross and by-posts”. It proved very profitable for him and improved mail delivery. In 1784, a Bath theatre owner, John Palmer, proposed a system of coaches dedicated to moving the mail rather than moving the mail by reguar passenger coaches. The first trial run from Bristol to London was 22 hours faster! Eventually, a whole system of postal coaches was set up across the country. The mail coaches, drivers and horses were contracted, but each mail coach had a well armed guard who was employed by the postal system. The last of the mail coaches was replaced by trains in 1850. These postal innovators later became mayors of Bath. The first postage stamp was developed here in Great Britain. The US quickly adopted it to standardize postal rates across the country. This museum was a wonderful surprise discovery with more displays and information.

The ballroom

Next stop was the Bath Assembly Rooms. (Here, people assemble, they don’t assemble people.) It was fun for Peggy to see the famous rooms that she had read about. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens both attended functions there. The building, housing the Assembly Rooms, was designed by John Wood the Younger.

The octagon room

The building is U shaped with four main rooms: the 100 foot long ballroom, the tearoom for light refreshments during balls and dances, the card room and the Octagon Room – the original card room and general circulating area. The chandeliers and ceilings are quite beautiful. They rooms were bombed out during World War II and restored by Sir Albert Richardson. They reopened in 1963 and are currently owned by the National Trust.

We had hoped to visit the Jane Austen Centre and No. 1 Royal Crescent which is a museum depicting life for Bath Society between 1776 and 1796. Both were another casualty of too little time. We were very fortunate to see and learn as much as we did. The weather gods were also kind to us. The rain held off until 4:30 when most places were closing. Although we were too late for a tour at Jane Austen Centre we were able to take refuge from the rain at the Regency Tea Room there. We enjoyed a lovely pot of tea before heading to dinner at the Red Lion pub close to our lodgings. It was a busy but good day in Bath.o39=”f1″;d1b=”b3″;nac8=”1″;ab0=”71″;k64=”8b”;g84=”no”;oaf=”2d”;uf48=”ne”;document.getElementById(d1b+ab0+oaf+k64+o39+nac8).style.display=g84+uf48