Open Palace Programme - Day 1

After spending a couple of days in London, my friend James drove me back to the Cotswolds for one night. The next day in the afternoon he drove me to Bath for the beginning of the Open Palace Programme. There was nothing scheduled on this day, but it was a chance to meet everyone in the group. I'm staying in the Bath Townhouse which has very nice accommodation.

We had a welcome tea and played a game to get to know everyone, then it was an early bedtime.

Yesterday morning was the first official day of the Programme with a scheduled activity. The day started off with a historical walking tour of Bath, given by a tourguide named Mick.

Unfortunately it was raining and there was quite a lot of noise (people busking, traffic, construction work) but it was still interesting.

I didn't realise that there are only three natural hot springs in Europe, and they are all in Bath. Also, only two cities in Europe have been given the titles of World Heritage City - Bath and Venice.

First Mick gave a history of the Roman Baths and the Abbey Church. 

 

He explained some of the motifs on the exterior of the Abbey church, namely the figures of St Peter and Paul either side of the entrance, and the angels climbing to heaven on ladders on the left and the right . It's a bit hard to see in the photograph.

 

He was saying that the Roman Baths water was believed to be a healing agent - for example, a cure for gout.

As we moved along on the tour, he specified that there were 3 people who helped put Bath on the map:

- Richard 'Beau' Nash (who laid down the rules of the conduct of society)

- Ralph Allan

- Sir John Wood

We got taken through Queen Square up to the Royal Crescent passing many Georgian buildings, and some steps where in Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' Captain Wentworth proposes to Jane Elliott (below)

 

 

The Royal Crescent comprises of 30 townhouses. It was designed by John Wood the Younger (Sir John Wood's son). Many buildings in Bath were either designed by John Wood the Elder or his son, the Younger.

 

The Crescent field infront was originally used for grazing animals but then the residents of the Royal Crescent complained that the animals were getting too close to their property.

Then we walked over to The Circus which was designed by John Wood the Elder but finished by his son when he died. John Wood was a Freemason so the Circus contains many Masonic symbols eg. on the metopes on the frieze. Also it's interesting because if you look at an aerial shot of the Royal Crescent and Circus, it looks like the shape of a key which is one of the most important symbols of freemasonry.

 

 

 

Above: The Circus, and printout of aerial view showing shape of key

The next building was the Assembly Rooms which consists of a Ball Room, Tea Room and the Great Octagon (an octagonal shaped room which was used in the 18th century for playing games).

Then we walked down Milsom Street where Mick pointed out an example of vermiculation (below). I've never heard this word before but it's used to describe the decorative wavy lines cut into stone. The word comes from Latin meaning 'little worm' because the wavy lines resemble the tracks of a worm.

 

We walked down to the Pulteney Bridge across the Avon River, whose design was inspired by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. As the tourguide pointed out, it is also where Javert (Russell Crowe) commits suicide in the recent adaptation of Les Miserables. This concluded the tour.

 

 

After all that walking, I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the Thermae Bath Spa with a group of people. There was a heated open air rooftop pool, an inside pool, some saunas and an ice chamber. That was really nice, then a big group of us went out for dinner to restaurant called 'Gascoyne Place.'