Bath's hidden history

Bath is a gem of a place to visit any time of the year with so many things to do amongst it’s stunning architecture - many people I speak to on the tour tell me “I wish I’d booked more than a day” - so be warned! 🎇

This is an over 18 tour. 

Join me on this fascinating walk as we reimagine the Roman town and the later monastery grounds. I will paint for you the splendour and grandeur of the place, and how to peel back the layers of history to see what is still visible. .

This is an illustrated amusing tour that I have aimed at grown-ups - due to some of the content and pace I do not accept children on the tour.

While I'm not a historian, I am a keen local, with an unusual background of being raised alongside the sort of people who lived in the glorious houses of Bath,, so come along as we find the lesser-known and older parts of the city.

In the first part of the tour I will endeavour to paint a picture of two periods in Bath’s history - how Bath looked before the massive rebuilding of the city in the 18th century, and Anglo-Saxon Bath with its delightful monastery and huge gatehouses and walls.

We discover what we can still see of the Anglo Saxon monastery and the grand Tudor houses, as we follow the route of the ancient walls and see the original Roman and Saxon layout.

The second part of the tour looks at the challenges faced developing the land across the river, and the magnificent job the Georgians did to overcome them, then we explore a delightful green space behind the Holburne Museum and learn about its colourful history.

We start by walking the line of the wall, south through the site the monastery orchards,
then onto the southern line of the city wall to where the pretty Southgate once stood.

From there we explore the history surrounding the sacred hot springs and the grand buildings and society that surrounded them.

Further around we see where the massive Westgate once dominated the skyline, where Elizabeth the first would stay. Continuing to the northern wall, we find a piece of the original mediaeval wall still intact.

As we complete the circuit of the walls we move to the Northgate, and then the only Gatehouse still partly intact, the very lovely 14th century Eastgate.

Now we take a look at what was once called Bath New Town, where the fabulously wealthy Pulteney family created a massive extension to the city by building luxurious homes on their farmland.

Walking Great Pulteney Street to the end we walk through a place loved by Jane Austin,, the Sydney Pleasure Gardens before we finish the at canal.