Our Visit with Ron & Maureen, Part III: Bath Abbey

Because the city of Bath was walled at the time (about 1090), the ecclesiastical domain of authority was moved there from the comparatively smaller settlement of Wells. This meant that the church building at Bath (then St. Peter's) was elevated to the status of Cathedral. Well, with all that increased status, it was decided that a bigger, more up-to-date building was in order. John of Tours got right on it, deciding to dedicate the new, larger cathedral to both Sts. Peter and Paul. Unfortunately, as does happen with big, complicated projects, this one was never finished. We can't be too hard on John of Tours. It's not that he lost interest, it's just that he died in 1122 with only the ambulatory completed. Five years later, there was a devastating fire. However, the project continued until completion in 1156. One would think that everyone would be satisfied with this grand new cathedral, but one would be wrong. It seems some later bishops really preferred the original location of Wells and over the years petitioned the various popes to move headquarters back there. Once this happened, the former cathedral at Bath began to deteriorate.

Oliver King (who was not really king, of course but...), the then current Bishop of Bath and Wells, visited Bath in 1499 and was shocked (shocked!), to find the old facility in ruins. After taking a year to cogitate about the situation, he decided to construct a much smaller building, which would be only as big as the nave of the previous Norman structure. Construction was completed prior to 1539. It features a cruciform floor plan and an atypical use of the Perpendicular form of Gothic architecture. The interior fan vaulting was designed by the same team (Robert & William Vertue) that designed similar vaulting for the Henry VII chapel, at Westminster Abbey.

In 1539, the (then) Bath Priory was "surrendered to the Crown" and pretty much anything of value was taken out. The building was left to decay. Do you see a pattern here? Ah, well, a mere 35 years later, Queen Elizabeth I expressed interest in restoring the church to act as the parish church of Bath.





They don't carve 'em like this anymore!





























Here's a peasant begging for alms.

You know, this symbolizes something, but I just can't remember what.


This fellow with the impressive beard is St. Peter (of the full length neck). On the other side of the door is St. Paul, who was actually too tall to fit in his nook (measure twice, cut once) and had to be shortened by removing his neck. Somehow we neglected to get a picture of him.


This mysterious person seems to be an ancient example of dancing with a lampshade on one's head.


There are a fair number of angels climbing the ladders at the Abbey, but there is one who has seen what's up there and decided to come back down (see below).

Above: Coming down the hard way.
Below: detail


Next: More Bath