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Timeline of Bath, Somerset

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

Prehistory

  • Mesolithic – Human activity on Bathampton Down.
  • Iron Age – Hillfort on Bathampton Down.
  • 863 BC (traditional date) – In legend, King Bladud discovers the sacred spring at Bath.

1st to 5th centuries

  • c. 60s – First Roman temple structures built, around the hot water springs; completed by 76.
  • 2nd century
  • Early: Baths extended.
  • Late: Baths vaulted.
  • 3rd century – By this time, Bath city walls are built for defence.
  • 300–350 – Evidence for Christians in Bath.
  • 5th century – Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, Bath is largely abandoned.

6th to 10th centuries

11th to 17th centuries

  • 1087 – Town, Abbey and mint pass to John of Tours.
  • 1090 – John of Tours, Bishop of Wells, moves the episcopal seat to Bath, giving it city status.
  • Early 12th century? – King's Bath built.
  • 1102 – Bath fair active.
  • 1137 – Major fire.
  • 1148–1161 – Abbey consecrated between these dates.
  • c. 1174 – St John's Hospital founded.
  • 1273 – Old Bridge extant.
  • 1285 – Church of St Michael's Within built in St John's Hospital.
  • c. 1333 – Monks of the abbey establish a weaving trade in Broad Street.
  • 1371 – Market mentioned in charter.
  • c. 1435 – Hospital of St Catherine established.
  • 1482 – "Sally Lunn's House" built.
  • c. 1495 – St Mary Magdalen, Holloway, built as a chapel to a leper's hospital.
  • 1499 – Abbey found derelict by Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who begins its reconstruction.
  • 1533 – Rebuilding of Abbey substantially completed by this date.
  • 1539 – January: Dissolution of the monasteries: Abbey surrendered.
  • 1552
  • King Edward's School founded as a grammar school.
  • Approximate date: First market house built.
  • 1572
  • The roofless Abbey is given to the corporation of Bath for restoration as a parish church.
  • Dr. John Jones makes the first public endorsement of the medicinal properties of the city's water.
  • 1576 – Queen's Bath built.
  • 1578 – Drinking fountain installed in the Baths.
  • 1590 – Bath chartered (city status confirmed) by Elizabeth I.
  • 1597 – Deserving poor given free use of the mineral water.
  • 1608 – Bellott's Hospital established.
  • 1613 and 1615 – Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI and I, visits Bath for her health
  • 1616 – Abbey Church consecrated.
  • 1625–1628 – Guildhall rebuilt.
  • 1643 – 5 July: Battle of Lansdowne fought near the city.
  • 1657 – Regular coach service from London.
  • 1676 – Dr. Thomas Guidott publishes A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water, the first published account of the medicinal properties of the city's water.
  • 1677 – West Gate pub in business.
  • 1680 – Supposed origin of the Sally Lunn bun.
  • 1687 – Mary of Modena, queen consort of James II of England, visits in the hope that Bath waters would aid conception; by the end of the year she is pregnant with James Francis Edward Stuart.

1700s

  • 1702–1703 – Queen Anne visits.
  • 1704 – First pump-room built; Richard "Beau" Nash is appointed Master of Ceremonies.
  • 1705 – First theatre in the city built.
  • 1707 – Bath Turnpike Trust established.
  • 1708 – Harrison's Assembly Rooms, with a riverside walk, open.
  • 1711 – Bluecoat school founded as a charity.
  • 1712 – March: Ralph Allen appointed postmaster.
  • 1715 – Church of St Michael's Within in St John's Hospital rebuilt to the design of William Killigrew.
  • 1720 – Ralph Allen begins to control the Cross and Bye Posts in the south west of England.
  • 1717 – Approximate date: Green Street developed.
  • 1721 – Bluecoat school opens.
  • 1724 – James Leake (bookseller) in business.
  • 1725–1727 – Guildhall extended.
  • 1725
  • John Wood, the Elder, newly returned to Bath, presents his plans for the city to Ralph Allen.
  • Approximate date: the physician William Oliver settles in Bath.
  • 1726
  • Ralph Allen begins buying up Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines for building stone.
  • James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, buys Chandos House to let as lodgings.
  • 1727–1728 – John Wood, the Elder, executes his first private commission in Bath, a new building for St John's Hospital.
  • 1727–1736 – Beaufort Square laid out by John Strahan.
  • 1727
  • from cult statue of Sulis Minerva from the Roman Temple is found by workmen excavating a sewer, and placed in the guildhall.
  • 15 December: River Avon made navigable downstream to Bristol.
  • Approximate date: construction of Ralph Allen's Town House begins.
  • 1728
  • St John's Gate ("Trim Bridge") built.
  • First Bath Racecourse recorded.
  • 1728–1736 – Queen Square laid out by John Wood, the Elder.
  • 1730s – Parade Gardens laid out.
  • 1731 – A tramroad is opened to carry building stone from Ralph Allen's Combe Down mine through his Prior Park estate down to the Kennet and Avon Canal.
  • c. 1733
  • Thomas Warr Attwood becomes de facto first Bath City Surveyor and Bath City Architect.
  • First printing press established in the city, by Felix Farley of Bristol.
  • 1734
  • Royal visit by William IV, Prince of Orange, marked by an obelisk of 1735.
  • Construction begins on Ralph Allen's house at Prior Park to the design of John Wood, the Elder.
  • 25 December: St Mary the Virgin opened near Queen Square as the city's first proprietary chapel (foundation stone laid 25 March 1732; designed by John Wood, the Elder).
  • 1735
  • Construction of New Bridge to carry the Bristol Road over the Avon begins.
  • Gay Street laid out by John Wood, the Elder.
  • 1738 – Royal visit by Frederick, Prince of Wales with Princess Augusta, marked by erection of an obelisk in Queen Square.
  • 1739
  • Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (Royal Mineral Water Hospital, "The Min") established as The Hospital or Infirmary in the City of Bath; it will be built to plans of 1738 by John Wood, the Elder.
  • Portrait painter William Hoare settles in Bath.
  • c. 1741 – North Parade built by John Wood, the Elder.
  • 1742
  • Ralph Allen is elected mayor, and his residence at Prior Park is completed.
  • Church of St Swithin, Walcot, rebuilt following storm damage in 1739.
  • William Frederick (bookseller) in business.
  • 1743–1749 – South Parade built to the design of John Wood, the Elder.
  • 1744
  • 27 February: The Bath Journal, the city's first newspaper and a predecessor of the Bath Chronicle, begins publication.
  • Sham bridge in Ralph Allen's Prior Park Landscape Garden estate designed by Alexander Pope.
  • 1745 – Beau Nash forced to retire as Master of Ceremonies due to anti-gambling laws.
  • 1747 – Bath Pauper Scheme originates.
  • 1750
  • 27 October: Old Orchard Street Theatre opens as St James' Theatre.
  • Approximate date: Bath Oliver biscuit devised by William Oliver.
  • 1751 – Pump Room enlarged, truncating the King's Bath.
  • 1752 – King Edward's School rebuilt in Broad Street.
  • 1754
  • February: The Circus house construction begins to the design of John Wood, the Elder.
  • Old Bridge rebuilt.
  • 1754–1755 – North and South Gates demolished (West Gate demolished c. 1776).
  • 1755
  • Bath Advertiser newspaper begins publication.
  • Roman Bath rediscovered.
  • Kingston Baths built for Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull on the site of the Abbey cloister.
  • in Ralph Allen's Prior Park Landscape Garden built to a design by Richard Jones.

1800s

  • 1800
  • North side of Pulteney Bridge collapses in a flood.
  • S. W. Simms (bookseller) in business.
  • Approximate date:
  • Jewish congregation formed.
  • First houses in Sydney Place completed to the design of Thomas Baldwin.
  • 1801
  • January: Jane Austen becomes resident in Bath when her father retires here; she will remain until summer 1806, living mostly in the newly built Sydney Place.
  • 1 May: Kennet and Avon Canal opens from Bath to Devizes; completion of the locks at the latter place at the end of 1810 creates inland water communication to London.

1900s

2000s

Births

See also

References

Bibliography

Published in 18th century

Published in 19th century

1800s–1840s

1850s–1890s

Published in 20th century

Published in 21st century

External links