Last Views of Bath

This last look around Bath gathers together a few of the casually random places we experienced as a way of rounding out our visit to Bath. On our walks to and from the crescents we passed several times through Queen Square which was the first speculative development by the architect John Wood, the Elder, who later lived in a house on the square. According to Wikipedia, Wood set out to restore Bath to what he believed was its former ancient glory as one of the most important and significant cities in Britain. In 1725 he developed an ambitious plan for his home town: “I began to turn my thoughts towards the improvement of the city by building.”

Wood’s grand plans for Bath were consistently hampered by the Corporation (council), churchmen, landowners and moneymen. Instead he approached Robert Gay, a barber surgeon from London, and the owner of the Barton Farm estate in the Manor of Walcot, outside the city walls. On these fields Wood established Bath’s architectural style, the basic principles of which were copied by all those architects who came after him.  With the Palladian buildings at Queen Square, Wood “set fresh standards for urban development in scale, boldness and social consequence”.

He understood that polite society enjoyed parading, and in order to do that Wood provided wide streets, with raised pavements, and a thoughtfully designed central garden. The formal garden was laid out with gravel pathways, low planting and was originally enclosed by a stone balustrade.

Today’s polite society continues to enjoy the same square; but the parading tends more towards boules, picnics and craft booths. Across from the square and a half block down Chapel Row we discovered Madrid, a new tapas bar. Located in a modest row house – as opposed to one of John Wood’s Georgian town homes – it takes advantage of being part of a row of up and coming businesses.

This charming sign is – unfortunately – not theirs, but the business next door. It’s a lovely example of the effectiveness of silhouette – though I didn’t get to see it at night when it might not be so clearly highlighted.

Madrid opens off the street in typical small-scale fashion but then blows open the rear of the restaurant to take advantage of the view and sunny southern exposure provided by the adjacent mid-block green courtyard.

Since we were there in August we took advantage of both the greenery and the umbrellas.

The small plates were perfect for lunch.

From the Queen Square neighborhood, the logical path to the train station took us through modern Bath’s (somewhat controversial) contribution to the city’s tradition of providing entertainment and shopping for visitors to the Baths and the Cathedral, the Southgate Shopping Center. Built just a few years ago, in a sort of mimic-Georgian style, it actually caused UNESCO to re-evaluate the City of Bath’s status as a world heritage site. A wrist slap was issued. It does look pretty ordinary, though they get a few points for using the traditional stone.

Many of the shopping streets have been reserved for pedestrians; and they wash through in waves of day-trippers to check out the latest fashions.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many shopping malls, the streets are not animated by restaurants and other functions that cause people to gather and pause. At the southern boundary of Southgate the buildings form a wall facing towards a major street and the train and bus stations.

Here’s a reminder of the big picture, looking in the opposite direction, with the stations and Southgate in the foreground.

The view from Southgate towards the stations feels a bit pasted together, though the functions themselves seem to work reasonably well – train station on the left, a connecting commercial building in the center, bus station far right.

At the upper track level the station provides a pretty typical experience

But the various views open to intriguing glimpses of the city and its surroundings. This one shows the River Avon passing beneath the station, unfortunately cut off from the city at this point by the bus station and commercial building – opportunity lost.

On the other hand, the commercial building opens to the station area at the upper level with a contemporary eco-restaurant and some themed sculpture.

Looking to the southeast the view from the platform displays some of the elements that makes Bath a successful city – compact housing neighborhoods, retention of open space and modest agricultural uses, wooded areas on steep slopes (without mega-mansions along the ridge lines), and a generally unobtrusive station platform.

This particular station did not have much in the way of architectural drama. The spaces and treatments were practical and practically expressed, including the ubiquitous tourist information i.

The arrival of the train juxtaposes its familiar modern form against the treed and steepled background.

This line of the former national system is run by Great Western. As I mentioned once before, it’s hard for us to judge whether the new arrangement works better for the traveler than the previous, more-integrated one. But then we’re from the U.S.; it all works pretty well compared to what we’re used to.

We check our tickets. On the advice of our travel guide at Rick Steves, we had bought rail passes for four trips, the idea being to use them on the longest stretches and just pay for the short hops and bus rides with cash – worked out quite well

We check the time and destination.

London Paddington Station – and then Heathrow – here we come !

See you on the next trip

Mark and Jane

 

 

On the Water

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway from Bath to Reading with an overall length of 87 miles, made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal.

The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section. The idea of an east to west waterway link across southern England was first mentioned in  Elizabethan times, between 1558 and 1603, to take advantage of the proximity of the rivers Avon and Thames, only 3 miles apart at their closest (see map above).  From Bristol to Bath the waterway follows the natural course of the River Avon before the canal links it to the River Kennet at Newbury, and from there to Reading on the River Thames. In all, the waterway incorporates 105 locks, one set of them quite dramatic.

The two river stretches were made navigable in the early 18th century, and the 57-mile canal section was constructed between 1794 and 1810. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the canal gradually fell into disuse after the opening of the Great Western Railway.  The opening of the Great Western Railway in 1841 removed much of the canal’s traffic, even though the canal company lowered tariffs.  In 1852 the railway company took over the canal’s operation, levying high tolls at every toll point and reducing the amount spent on maintenance, essentially putting the canal out of business. In the latter half of the 20th century the canal was restored in stages, largely by volunteers. The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust was formed in 1962 to restore the canal from Reading to Bristol as a through navigation and as a public amenity. After decades of dereliction and much restoration work, it was fully reopened in 1990. The Kennet and Avon Canal has been developed as a popular heritage tourism destination for boating, canoeing, fishing, walking and cycling, and is also important for wildlife conservation. (Wikipedia summary)

The portion shown in our illustrated map covers the very last segment – running top to bottom along the right hand side of the map below – where the canal enters Bath and flows into the River Avon.

In today’s highly built-up context this outlet to the river seems quite modest, even hidden away; but it must have been prominent in its prime years. Here is the point at which it emerges into the River Avon.

And here, some of the highway and railroad infrastructure under which it passes

on its way to the first lock.

As a non-profit recreational waterway, the canal relies on those who use it to run it. This involves turning valves to release water from the locks and opening and closing lock doors in the correct sequence. In this first view two canal barges are entering the top of the lock from the upstream end. The locks are sized to handle just two of these (relatively) standard sized barges at a time. The fellow in the red shirt is waiting for both barges to be in and for the far lock doors to be swung shut before he can let the water out of the lock chamber.

Here the water level has taken the barges about half way down.

In this view the barges are all the way down and the downstream doors have been opened so they can exit to the river.

The last barge exits, and

some of the crew stays behind to close the doors and close the valves so the lock chamber fills again. There’s a lot of inertia in that water; and I could see that most of the time it took two people to slowly push the arm and close the gate.

Obviously locks work most efficiently when there are barges waiting at the lower end to be raised up as the lock is filled; but on this day everyone seemed to be headed downstream, so there was a lot of waiting at the top between turns. As I walked upstream I passed lots of evidence that living along the canal, even with its flow of tourists and vacationers, generally fell into the plus side of urban life. Here are a few examples, the first looking somewhat like a warehouse renovated into a studio.

These homes appeared to have been built in the back yards of the rowhouses in the background. They incorporated gardens as a transition to the canal.

Here’s one that combined a lush garden with seating at the water and a boat dock.

This example felt like a mini-Venetian home, with its floor just barely above the water level. I suspect, from the water streaks on the stone, that it’s not very pleasant during a heavy rain period when the canal is less placid.

I’m assuming that the canal came first here. This seems like a case where someone was determined to prove something to someone.

A little farther along I came to the concession building that arranges for the rentals. It appeared that most people rent the barges for a week or two. The accommodations seemed quite comfortable, including a living/dining area, a couple of bedrooms and lots of outdoor deck area.

If the lifestyle appeals, you can always buy one of your own

This one was for sale for $20,000

Maybe next time.

Bath Walkabout

After our tour of the historic center of Bath we decided to stretch our boundaries and see some of the less visited sights. From a bit of map research we discovered that in addition to the renowned Royal Crescent there were other crescent developments that made use of the same general land use approach. Near the top of the hill north of the city the Lansdown Crescent snakes its way across the slope.

Many of the housing features follow the pattern established by the Royal Crescent: a three-story formal front elevation and a symmetrical center to the composition as seen here – though in this case the center has actually been split into two residences which means that behind all that composition there’s a party wall running right up the middle.

Wrought iron gateways frame many of the entrances and define the beginning of the bridges that reach from the sidewalk to the front doors and over the daylight courtyards below. This technique took some trouble to execute up on the hill where the slope falls away, requiring that the street and sidewalk be built up on berm – though the earth for the berm probably came from the excavation for the lower level.

Towards the west end of crescent, the Lansdown design incorporates an access drive to the rear of the building for automobile and service access. This sort of thing would not have been allowed to disrupt the formality of the Royal Crescent; but as the form evolved into these less formal settings higher up on the hill, the practicalities of living in a very long building were allowed to affect the layout.

Though the serpentine concentrates less on formal composition it pays more attention to the view opportunities offered by the higher elevation. Here’s a photo that shows the slope along the front of the building.

And here a general sense of how this meadow frames the building.

But in certain areas (here just before the crescent) it’s clear that, especially from upper levels, there are attractive territorial views of housing and hills across the valley.

One offshoot of this exploration was the discovery of the neighborhood behind the crescent. Here, more modest housing opens to the back of the crescent (denied much of a view) at a dramatically different scale. Modest in scale, well built, urban – especially in its handling of cars – this housing shows how more contemporary citizens have filled in around Lansdown Crescent, taking advantage of the benefits of an attractive neighborhood while at the same time accepting limited views.

From this lofty setting we worked our way back down to the center of town and passed by the Parade Gardens, a public park and celebration space, backed by a large hotel.

To the east flows the River Avon where the relationship of the river to the city to the hills becomes clear.

A little closer view shows the Pulteney Bridge, consciously modeled after Florence’s Ponte Vecchio to include shops along Bridge street, where it passes over the river. I’m not sure what function the parabolic water steps provide, though it may have something to do with flood control or maintaining an area of quieter water above the bridge.

Bridge street changes to Great Pulteney Street, a severe, dramatic connection into east Bath

It focuses directly on the Holburne Museum, set in Sydney Gardens at the base of the east slopes of the city. This classic Bath building contains a surprise.

At the rear of the museum a new wing projects its very modern presence out into the gardens. I had a hard time reconciling the characters of the two parts of the building. To me the new needs to speak at least some of the language of the old – or, the separation between the two needs to be more dramatic so that they can each be appreciated for their own values – something along the lines of I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. Here, the new, finned facade crunches almost against the older stone.

It was obvious from walking through the building, though, that the new addition provides a number of features lacking in the older building such as modern elevators, ADA access, better display for small-scale craft artworks, and creature comforts such as a pleasant place to have lunch.

This much walking in a day deserves a reward – at least that’s our approach, and we’re sticking to it. Ours included a trip to our B+B hostess’s favorite restaurant, Hall & Woodhouse, set into a modest building just north of the historic center.

Nothing modest about the approach to the space inside though.

A large central opening and stair draws people up to a second level and from there to a roof garden which was pleasant on this August evening.

Here’s a look at happy hour food in this part of the world – shrimp, new potatoes, olives, dips, salad and adult beverages.

But the piece de resistance came from the insistence of the waitress that there were several good desserts but only one must-have dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding.

We think of this sort of thing as a cake; but having now eaten it, it’s hard to describe it as anything other than a pudding cake, with a texture that moves back and forth from one to the other in your mouth. We were so seduced that we attempted to make it at home after our trip with no real success; but we were then able to get the recipe by email from the chef at the restaurant. It turned out to be his grandmother’s recipe and includes a few regular ingredients – butter, sugar, flour, eggs, syrup, baking powder – but also some unexpected additions – molasses, dates (lots), tea, and vanilla. It was such a holiday hit that we’re now committed to make it every year !