Attractions in Bath - West Country

Featured attractions

Abbey Church House

Bath’s sole surviving Elizabethan mansion has a fascinating history. For centuries the Master of St John’s Hospital had a house here. It was rebuilt along grander lines by Dr Robert Baker around 1590. His great chamber is still there, with...

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Abbey Green

The green is secretly Stuart. 17th-century houses built on the former courtyard of Bath Priory were later given a Georgian facelift. Here the greenery has taken over. 200 years ago it seemed a good idea to soften Georgian symmetry with...

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	Latest Bath Review
		For me Bath, probably more so than anywhere else in the United Kingdom, shows off the most of its history. From Roman baths to Georgian townhouses and cinemas and sporting arenas, Bath has the lot. Prices in some of the attractions can be a bit steep at times, but usually they are worth the admission price. - Tracy345
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Alfred House

The fancy Georgian ironwork of this house has survived intact. Now it even holds aloft a replica of a Georgian oil lamp. Notice the torch extinguishers. At night a gentleman could have his way through the streets lit by a...

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American Museum in Britain

The American Museum in Britain shows, largely in a series of Period Rooms, the development of American Decorative arts from its European roots to purely American styles such as Shaker or Pennsylvania German. There are also galleries devoted to Native...

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Assembly Rooms

In Jane Austen’s time these were known as the Upper Rooms, since there were other assembly rooms in the city centre. The wide-eyed heroine of Northanger Abbey was astonished by the crowd at her first ball there. Chandeliers glittered upon...

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BRLSI

Although the BRSLI did not move to Queen Square until 1932, the institution was founded over a century earlier. Its collection reflects the Victorian spirit of discovery. David Livingstone, intrepid explorer of Africa, was among those who lectured to this...

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Bath Abbey

Behold how it is good and pleasing. This is the exhortation in Latin across the doors of Bath Abbey. Millions come to do just that. Bath Abbey was once a great cathedral priory, dominating a tiny walled city. After the...

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Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults

Hidden away beneath the abbey, these vaults make up one of the most interesting collections in the city. There are great deals of artefacts and interesting documents, decorative and applied arts on display that have been part of the...

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Bath Literary Collection

Founded in 1824, this institution is one of the oldest and best respected in the city. The ethos behind the movement was to forward scientific and artistic thinking and the development of new ideas in both fields. The...

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Bath Postal Museum

Georgian Bath was the fountainhead of postal innovation. Ralph Allen came from a humble Cornish home to become Bath’s postmaster at only 19. He reformed the nation’s postal system by criss-crossing the country with a web of new routes. John...

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Bath Record Office

The Record Office is an institution in the city and provides a massive collection of historical records that relate to the history and the development of the city. The earliest records of the settlement are from the 12th Century,...

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Beckford’s Tower & Museum

Beckford’s Tower is a 120ft. neo-classical Italianate tower built in 1827 for William Beckford as a retreat which housed part of his art collection. Today it contains a museum collection of prints, paintings, objects and models. Open Easter...

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Beckford's Tower & Museum

One of the best loved monuments and museums in Bath and the surrounding areas, this interesting old piece of architecture is another reminder of the ancient history that Somerset has enjoyed. One will be quite impressed by the level...

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Bellott’s Hospital

This was the first hospital in Bath with regular medical staff. It was founded around 1608 for poor sick people coming to Bath for the waters. On the front is the coat of arms of the great Elizabethan statesman William...

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Bevil Grenville's Monument

Sir Bevil Grenville’s Monument stands on Landsdowne Hill in Bath and was erected to mark the heroism and courage of this man and his Cornish pikemen at the Battle of Landsdowne in 1643. The statue is constructed of ashlar...

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Building of Bath Museum

Georgian Bath grew at a phenomenal rate. The fashionable spa needed elegant housing for visitors and residents. The Building of Bath Museum explains its development and looks at the building of a Georgian house from cellar to attic, from masonry...

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Circus, The

The Circus was John Wood the elder’s masterpiece. It was a design of startling originality. Drawing his inspiration from antique models as far apart as the Coliseum and Stonehenge, he created a bold architectural statement all his own. Notice the...

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Cross Bath

Here bubbles up one of Bath’s smaller hot springs. By about 1700 the Cross Bath was ’the bathing place of pleasure’. More private than the King’s Bath, it was favoured by the beau monde. Musicians serenaded noted beauties from one...

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Dyrham Park

An outstanding example of a late 17th Century mansion house, Dryham stands amidst a lush deer park and gardens close to Bath. Internally, the house has an extensive collection of lavish paintings, pieces of furniture and decorative items that...

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East Gate

Bath’s one remaining city gate is not easy to spot, unless you know exactly where to look. Go down Boat Stall Lane from Grand Parade and look down to your left. The gate is below modern ground level, which was...

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Fashion Museum

The Fashion Museum is one of the finest museums in bath and offers visitors the chance to study and observe the way that fashions have changed in this country and across the world throughout the ages. The collection is...

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Georgian City Centre, The

Even quite late in the 18th century, Stall Street was still crammed with shops and lodging houses which hid the spa buildings from passers-by. Sedan chairs carrying noble visitors had to be jostled down narrow lanes and passages to reach...

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Georgian Garden

When Bath Archaeological Trust had offices in a house at the Circus, the archaeologists investigated its garden. By an extraordinary chance the Georgian garden plan had been preserved beneath the modern one. They found the clear imprint of formal flower...

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Grapes

This house is older than it looks. 14 and 15 Westgate Street next door were once one house, given a grand face-lift around 1720. But the conversion was only skin-deep. On the upper floors are features from the early 1600s....

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Gravel Walk

Gravel Walk was the route for sedan chairs between the town centre and the spreading developments of the two John Woods. It was a mistake to try and alight without paying the fare. The chairman could open the top instead...

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Green Park

Bath is blessed with bursts of greenery almost round every corner. Georgian developments draped themselves over the green hills and meadows around the old city centre. Open spaces preserved a sense of connection with the countryside. The triangle of Green...

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Green Park Station

This former station was built in 1868-9 as a stop on the Midland Railway’s Bristol to Birmingham line. The last train ran in 1966. But the station was restored in the 1980s and cleverly converted to other uses. Green Park...

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Henrietta Park

This peaceful park lies in Bathwick, across the river from the city centre. Opened to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, it has an interesting variety of mature trees. Behind attractive wrought-iron gates is the calm oasis...

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Hot Bath

Like the nearby Cross Bath, this is an elegant Georgian miniature. John Wood the younger, architect of the grand Royal Crescent, focused here on a smaller scale. The compact, ingenious design made the best use of the cramped city centre...

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Hotbath Gallery

This gallery has developed a good name over the years and is somewhere that is worth visiting if you are interested in seeing some of the best artwork that is on display in the area. Carrying a relatively eclectic...

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Jane Austen Centre, The

At last, there is somewhere in Bath for all Jane Austen fans. The Jane Austen Centre is a permanent exhibition with knowledgeable guides featuring displays of her life and family: Georgian Bath; contemporary maps and unique photographic enlargements; elegant costumes;...

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John Judkyn Memorial

This museum was founded in 1965 in memory of John Judkyn, a prominent figure in work to bring closer together the people of Britain and the United States of America. The centre promotes an Anglo-American alliance and carries a...

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Little Theatre

This cinema was the brain-child of actress Consuelo de Reyes. Having already created a community arts centre nearby, she wanted a small theatre which could also be used as a cinema. She and her husband built the Little Theatre in...

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Museum of Bath at Work

Bath has long had an image as a city of leisure. So this museum may come as a surprise. Victorian Bath was a hive of industry. The core of the museum’s collection is a complete engineering works and fizzy-pop factory,...

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Museum of East Asian Art, The

A unique museum housing a fine collection of objects from all over East Asia, ranging in date from around 5000BC to the present day. The exquisite collection includes Chinese ceramics and metalware, Japanese lacquer and a range of South East...

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No. 1 Royal Crescent

No. 1 Royal Crescent is a grand townhouse of the late 18th Century with authentic furniture, paintings and carpets. On the ground floor are the study and dining room, and on the first floor a lady’s bedroom and drawing...

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North Parade Passage

Here we glimpse pre-Georgian Bath. A row of timber-framed houses was built in the 1620s along the edge of the former priory orchard. You would never guess it. Most have been completely rebuilt. The exception is Sally Lunn’s, where the...

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Parade Gardens

Bath in summer is a city of flowers. Time and again it has won the coveted Britain in Bloom trophy. Here the Parks Department shows off its skills. Each year there is a new floral sculpture in the Parade Gardens,...

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Prior Park Landscape Garden

This attractive 18th Century landscaped gardens are located within easy reach of the centre of Bath. ‘Capability’ Brown and the poet Alexander pope were both involved in the design and execution of this tremendous area of pastoral bliss....

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Pulteney Bridge

Pulteney Bridge is a rarity. It is one of only four in the world lined by shops on both sides. It was built for William Pulteney, whose wife had inherited rural Bathwick across the river from Bath. Pulteney could see...

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Pump Room

The Pump Room was the pulsing centre of the spa in its Georgian heyday. The glittering social life of the country’s premier resort revolved around it. Here those who did not care to bathe could drink the waters, gossip and...

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Queen Square Obelisk

Royalty has routinely come to Bath. But Bath has only to honour one with a monument for him to descend into obscurity. The Queen Square obelisk records the visit of Frederick, Prince of Wales. He never lived to be king....

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Queen’s Square

Queen Square was the first speculative development by Bath’s famed architect John Wood the elder. The palatial north façade was designed to give grandeur to the whole square. In reality a row of houses, the block was designed like a...

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Radstock Museum

This museum carries an extensive and fascinating history collection that brings to life the way that people have lived in this area for centuries. There is a Victorian schoolroom reconstruction, complete with an actor portraying a strict schoolteacher....

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Riverside Walk

On the Bathwick side of the Avon is this popular walk beside the river. You can watch the weir waterfall from an open-air cafe, feed the swans, admire the brightly-painted canal boats, or take a boat trip up or down...

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Roman Baths, The

This is the heart of Bath. The hot springs gave Bath its name and its purpose. Baths were essential to the Roman way of life. Every town had them. There togas would be thrown off and bodies blissfully surrendered to...

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Royal Crescent

The grandest of Bath’s many Georgian crescents; the Royal Crescent was built by John Wood the Younger between 1767 and 1774. It consists of thirty elegant mansions of freestone, uniformly built, and is justly considered one of the finest achievements...

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Royal Photographic Society

The Royal Photographic Society was founded in 1853 with the intention of promoting the art and science of photography. This mandate is one that it has stuck to right through to the modern day. The society is responsible...

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Royal Victoria Park

Victoria Park was created out of the old town common when Victoria was still a princess. Opened in 1830, it was in the vanguard of the Victorian public park movement. Spread out below the Royal Crescent, its 57 acres support...

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Saracen’s Head

This gabled front conjures up something of pre-Georgian Bath. According to the credible date carved on it, The Saracen’s Head was built in 1713 - the last year of the Stuart age. Inside a Stuart-style ceiling of 1960s vintage adds...

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Shire’s Yard

Heavy goods travelled by carrier in the 18th century. Carriers John and Walter Wiltshire had a wagon-yard here, now converted into a charming collection of shops and cafés. Wiltshire’s Flying Wagons rolled out every Wednesday and Sunday evening on their...

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Slug and Lettuce, The

This pub is housed in a former Georgian coaching inn, York House, later the Royal York Hotel. Victoria stayed there as a princess. The notice of its opening assured the nobility and gentry (with their sensitive noses) that the stables...

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St. Catherine’s Hospital

St. Catherine was the patron saint of Bath in the days when it was a clothmaking town. She was seen as a protectress of spinners. This almshouse was founded in the 15th century by wealthy clothmaker William Phillips, mayor and...

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St. John’s Hospital

St. John’s has been caring for the city’s needy since the 12th century. Bishop Reginald Fitzjocelyn founded the hospital for the poor of Bath, which in practice seemed to mean the elderly and infirm, who could not work. Today St...

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St. Michael’s Church

The Church of St. Michael is unique. The site has been a challenge to generations of architects. It is crammed between two streets. There is no space for the standard church with the altar at the east and tower at...

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Stanton Drew Stone Circles

The three stone circles and three-stone ‘cove’ of Stanton Drew are relatively little known outside of the immediate area, despite the fact they are the third largest prehistoric stone collection in the country. In recent times, studies of the...

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Stoney Littleton Long Barrow

The Stoney Littleton Long Barrow is located just outside of Bath in the Somerset countryside. It is a Neolithic chambered tomb with a series of different burial compartments. Originally John Skinner excavated the site in 1816, where he found...

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Sydney Gardens

This is the only one of Bath’s Georgian pleasure gardens to survive. When it opened in 1795 it was privately run and visitors paid an entrance fee. Now it is a public park with a hidden surprise. There are all...

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Theatre Royal Bath

One of Britain’s oldest and most beautiful theatres, the Georgian Theatre Royal offers year-round, top quality drama, comedy, opera, dance and frequent Sunday concerts, alongside festivals which include Bath Shakespeare Festival; Bath International Puppet Festival; and The Wild & Wacky...

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Victoria Art Gallery

Victoria had little love of Bath and never visited it as queen. Still her long reign was celebrated here. The art gallery named after her was begun in her Diamond Jubilee year of 1897. The Baroque dome is topped by...

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William Herschel Museum

A delightful Georgian town house and garden where astronomer Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. Restored and furnished in the style of the period, the museum now has a collection of astronomical & musical instruments and original astronomers workshop....

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