Bath
=How to get there.=–Train from Paddington. Great Western Rly.
=Nearest Station.=–Bath.
=Distance from London.=–107 miles.
=Average Time.=–2-1/2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 17s. 10d. 11s. 2d. 8s. 11d.
Return 31s. 3d. 19s. 6d. 17s. 10d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"Empire Hotel,” “Pulteney Hotel,"
“York House Family Hotel,” “Royal Station Hotel,” “Railway
Hotel,” “Waldron’s Private Hotel,” etc.
=Alternative Route.=–Train from Waterloo. South-Western Railway.
Bath, one of the largest towns in Somersetshire, is beautifully situated
on the Avon in a wooded valley in the north-east of the county. The city
is of great antiquity, and was one of the most powerful Roman stations,
being at the intersection of two very important roads,–the Fosse Way,
which extended from the coast of Devonshire to the north-east coast of
Lincolnshire, and the Via Julia, the great road between London and
Wales. The story of the British king Bladud and his connection with Bath
is immortalised in the Pickwick Papers, but is more or less legendary;
however, as to the greatness of the city during the Roman occupation
there is ample evidence. Even in those times the great natural feature
of the place was its mineral waters, and in the first century the Romans
built some luxurious baths there, and now the extensive remains have
made the place notable. The Saxons quaintly named the city Akeman
Ceaster, or town of invalids.
In the original Abbey Church took place the coronation of King Edgar as
King of England by the famous St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
This church stands on the site of the old conventual church, on the spot
where once stood the Roman temple of Minerva. It was rebuilt in the
fifteenth century by Bishop Oliver King, and completed by Bishop
Montague at the beginning of the seventeenth century. On the west front
are sculptures representing the angels upon Jacob’s Ladder, and the
whole building teems with interest; but the original purity of its
architecture has been much marred by faulty and ignorant restoration.
Till the middle of the eighteenth century Bath covered no larger area
than that contained within the Roman walls, but Queen Anne and Prince
George of Denmark having conceived a great partiality for the place, and
the medicinal quality of the waters being much advocated, the city
rapidly grew in favour and size, until it reached its heyday in the time
of Beau Nash and the Prince Regent.
[Illustration: Photochrom Co., Ltd.
THE RESTORED ROMAN BATH AT BATH.
The bases of the columns are chiefly untouched Roman work.]
Continue...
Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
Guildford, Surrey •
Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
Canterbury and Its Cathedral •
Reculvers •
Oxford •
Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
Savernake Forest •
Ely Cathedral •
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire •
Winchelsea and Rye •
Blenheim Palace •
Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland •
Peterborough •
Southampton •
Helmingham Hall •
Stonehenge, Wiltshire •
Netley Abbey •
Salisbury and Its Cathedral •
Sandwich, Kent •
New Forest, Hampshire •
Osborne House •
Carisbrooke Castle •
Lutterworth •
Compton Wynyates •
Kenilworth Castle •
Belvoir Castle •
Bath •
Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers •
Warwick •
Gloucester and Its Cathedral •
Norfolk Broads •
Norwich Cathedral •
Lichfield •
Sherborne and Its Abbey Church •
Newark •
Wells and Its Cathedral •
Stratford-On-Avon •
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk •
Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire •
Corfe Castle •
Lincoln and Its Cathedral •
Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson •
Glastonbury Abbey •
Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire •
The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire •
Ludlow and Its Castle •
Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
Tewkesbury •
Exeter and Its Cathedral •
Market Drayton, Salop •
Chester •
Exmoor •
Knutsford •
Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey •
Knaresborough, Dripping Well •
Fountains Abbey •
Ripon Cathedral •
Dartmoor •
Haworth •
Rievaulx Abbey •
Brixham, Devon •
Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
![[Buy at Amazon]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006ADKOC.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg)