Widcombe, Bath

Last updated

Widcombe
Widcombe Crescent Bath.jpg
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Widcombe
Location within Somerset
Population5,770 (2011.Ward) [1]
OS grid reference ST754642
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BATH
Postcode district BA2
Dialling code 01225
Police Avon and Somerset
Fire Avon
Ambulance South Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Somerset
51°22′34″N2°21′07″W / 51.376°N 2.352°W / 51.376; -2.352

Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon.

Contents

The electoral ward was merged with Lyncombe at the boundary changes effected at the elections held on 2 May 2019; [2] the two places have historically been connected (refer to the Lyncombe article).

History

Widcombe was part of the hundred of Bath Forum. [3] [4]

In 1877 Halfpenny Bridge, a pedestrian toll bridge, across the River Avon from Bath Spa railway station to Widcombe collapsed with the loss of about 10 lives amongst a large crowd going to the Bath and West Agricultural show. [5] [6] [7]

Architecture

Widcombe Parade is a commercial street lined with a mix of Georgian and Victorian buildings located near the Halfpenny Bridge, with buildings dating back as far as 1750. [8] The area has been through many changes over the years, altered to improve traffic movement, removing an entire row of terraced houses at the west end of Widcombe Parade with the development of Rossiter Road as part of the main thoroughfare skirting the city centre of Bath.

St. Matthew's Church, built 1846–1847, with one of the tallest spires in Bath, is positioned to be viewed at the east end of Widcombe Parade.

Widcombe Manor House is a grade I listed manor house built in 1656. It is located on Church Street adjacent to St Thomas à Beckett Church.

Crowe Hall is a Georgian house. It is a Grade II listed building, [9] and the gardens are on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. [10] It was built around 1780 for Brigadier Crowe. It has had a succession of owners since who each adapted and renovated the building. A serious fire in 1926 destroyed a lot of the fabric of the building and further restoration was required. [11] The house is surrounded by several hectares of sloping gardens, below Prior Park, which are terraced and include a rock garden and grotto. [12]

Widcombe Crescent is a terrace of 14 Georgian houses built in 1808 by Thomas Baldwin, and designated a Grade I listed building. [13]

Canal

Widcombe is where the Kennet and Avon Canal meets the River Avon. Bath Locks are a series of locks, just south of Pulteney Bridge, which climb through Widcombe. Alongside the bottom lock [14] is a side pond and pumping station which pumps water up the locks to replace that used each time the lock is opened. [15] The next stage of Bath Deep Lock is numbered 8/9 as two locks were combined when the canal was restored in May, 1976. A road bridge carrying the A36, constructed while the canal was in a state of disrepair passes over the original site of the lower lock. [16] The new chamber has a depth of 19 ft 5ins, making it Britain's second deepest canal lock. [17] Just above the 'deep lock' is an area of water enabling the lock to refill and above this is Wash House Lock (number 10), [18] and soon after by Abbey View Lock (number 11), a grade II listed building [19] by which there is another pumping station and in quick succession Pulteney Lock (12) and Bath top Lock (13). [20] Above the top lock the canal passes through Sydney Gardens where it passes through two tunnels [21] [22] and under two cast iron footbridges dating from 1800. Cleveland Tunnel is 173 feet long and runs under Cleveland House, the former headquarters of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. This is now a grade II* listed building. [23] Many of the bridges over the canal are also listed buildings. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]

Southcot

Southcot Burial Ground is a small former cemetery, now owned by the Bath Preservation Trust, who manage it for its wildlife and heritage. [30]

Geography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath, Somerset</span> City in Somerset, England

Bath is a city and unparished area in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Avon, Bristol</span> River in the south west of England

The River Avon is a river in the southwest of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word afon, meaning 'river'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennet and Avon Canal</span> Canal in southern England

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of 87 miles (140 km), made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorset and Somerset Canal</span> Partially-built and abandoned canal in South-West England

The Dorset and Somerset Canal was a proposed canal in southwestern England. The main line was intended to link Poole, Dorset with the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. A branch was to go from the main line at Frome to the southern reaches of the Somerset coalfield at Nettlebridge. Construction of the branch started in 1786, using boat lifts rather than locks to cope with changes of level, but the company ran out of money and the canal was abandoned in 1803, never to be completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claverton Pumping Station</span> Pumping station in Somerset, England

Claverton Pumping Station in the village of Claverton, in the English county of Somerset, pumps water from the River Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal using power from the flow of the river. It is a Grade I listed building, having been upgraded from Grade II in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somerset Coal Canal</span> Canal in Somerset, England

The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield access east toward London. The longest arm was 10.6 miles (17.1 km) long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saltford Lock</span> Canal lock on the River Avon, England

Saltford Lock is a canal lock situated on the River Avon, at the village of Saltford, between Bristol and Bath, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weston Lock</span>

Weston Lock is a canal lock situated on the River Avon, on the western outskirts of Bath, England, in what now forms the Newbridge suburb of Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Locks</span>

Bath Locks are a series of locks, now six locks, situated at the start of the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Bath, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caen Hill Locks</span> Flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Caen Hill Locks are a flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Rowde and Devizes in Wiltshire, England.

John Pinch was an architect working mainly in the city of Bath, England. He was surveyor to the Pulteney and Darlington estate and responsible for many of the later Georgian buildings in Bath, especially in Bathwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Matthew's Church, Widcombe</span> Building in Bath, England

St Matthew's Church in Widcombe is an Anglican church located on Cambridge Place in Widcombe, the southeastern section of Bath, Somerset. Built 1846-1847 principally to designs by Bath City Architect George Phillips Manners, it is situated above the Widcombe Locks of the Kennet and Avon Canal and opposite the Church Room Institute on Cambridge Place. It is one of two churches in the parish of Widcombe, the other being the much older St Thomas à Becket. The bells of St Matthew's were taken from St Becket's in 1847, possibly by force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset</span>

Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996, following the abolition of the County of Avon, which had existed since 1974. Part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset occupies an area of 220 square miles (570 km2), two-thirds of which is green belt. It stretches from the outskirts of Bristol, south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border. The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district, but BANES also covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and the Chew Valley. The area has a population of 170,000, about half of whom live in Bath, making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buildings and architecture of Bath</span> Permanent structures including significant examples of English architecture from the Roman Baths

The buildings and architecture of Bath, a city in Somerset in the south west of England, reveal significant examples of the architecture of England, from the Roman Baths, to the present day. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, largely because of its architectural history and the way in which the city landscape draws together public and private buildings and spaces. The many examples of Palladian architecture are purposefully integrated with the urban spaces to provide "picturesque aestheticism". In 2021, the city was added to a second World Heritage Site, a group of historic spa towns across Europe known as the "Great Spas of Europe". Bath is the only entire city in Britain to achieve World Heritage status, and is a popular tourist destination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Abbey Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Bath and North East Somerset, UK

The Anglican Bath Abbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul, was laid out by noted cemetery designer and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) between 1843 and 1844 on a picturesque hillside site overlooking Bath, Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyncombe, Bath</span> Electoral ward in Bath, United Kingdom

Lyncombe is a district and electoral ward in Bath, Somerset, and a former parish in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. In the mid-19th century the parish was formed when the parish of Widcombe and Lyncombe was split in two, but it was abolished in the late 1960s. The village of Lyncombe existed since at least the Saxon period prior to becoming part of the City of Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Gardens</span> Public open space in Bath, England

Sydney Gardens is a public open space at the end of Great Pulteney Street in Bath, Somerset, England. The gardens are the only remaining eighteenth-century pleasure gardens in the country. They are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Bath, Somerset</span> History

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Bath, Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Gardens Tunnels</span> Canal tunnels in Britain

The Sydney Gardens Tunnels are two canal tunnels on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Bath, UK. The No. 1 Tunnel brings the canal into Sydney Gardens from the south and the No. 2 Tunnel exits the gardens to the north. Both tunnels are Grade II* listed, and are two of three on the waterway—the third being the Bruce Tunnel in Wiltshire.

References

  1. ↑ "Ward population 2011" . Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Bath and North East Somerset Council District Council Elections
  3. ↑ Reverend John Collinson (1791). The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset. Vol. 1. p. 97. ISBN   978-1-171-40217-6.
  4. ↑ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Sly, Nicola (2010). A grim almanac of Somerset. Stroud: History Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN   9780752458144.
  6. ↑ "Kennet and Avon canal's history made into audio story". BBC. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Nanette South Clark (17 May 2010). "The Fall of the Widcombe Bridge over the Avon -- June 6, 1877". An Engineer's Aspect. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Tyte, William (1898). History of Lyncombe & Widcombe, with Personal Recollections of the Parish in the Thirties. Bath Chronicle and Bath Pictorial Offices.
  9. ↑ Historic England. "Crowe Hall (1395762)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  10. ↑ Historic England. "Crowe Hall (1000548)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  11. ↑ Edwards, Adam (12 March 2010). "Property in Somerset: Crowe Hall for sale". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Historic England. "Grotto below south terrace at Crowe Hall (1405720)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  13. ↑ Historic England. "Number 1 to 14 (444033)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  14. ↑ Historic England. "Bath Bottom Lock (442708)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 19 October 2012.
  15. ↑ Historic England. "former engine house (442710)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 21 October 2012.
  16. ↑ Historic England. "Second Lock (442716)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 16 November 2007.
  17. ↑ "Deepest Canal Locks in England". Pennine Waterways. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
  18. ↑ Historic England. "Wash House Lock (442711)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
  19. ↑ Historic England. "Abbey View Lock (442714)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 10 October 2007.
  20. ↑ Historic England. "Top Lock (442717)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 2 December 2007.
  21. ↑ Historic England. "Tunnel under Beckford Road (442754)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 27 November 2007.
  22. ↑ Historic England. "Tunnel under Cleveland House and Sydney Road (442751)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
  23. ↑ Historic England. "Cleveland House (443799)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 12 October 2012.
  24. ↑ Historic England. "Footbridge Adjoining Top Lock (442749)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 16 November 2007.
  25. ↑ Historic England. "Footbridge adjoining Wash House Lock (442712)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 18 November 2007.
  26. ↑ Historic England. "Footbridge over Canal (442752)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 14 October 2007.
  27. ↑ Historic England. "Canal Bridge (444245)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  28. ↑ Historic England. "Bridge over Canal (442753)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  29. ↑ Historic England. "Canal Bridge (Pulteney Gardens) (442713)". Images of England . Archived from the original on 22 November 2007.
  30. ↑ Bath Preservation Trust Heritage open day at Southcot Burial Ground]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.