Georgian Summer: Bath in the Eighteenth Century

When Samuel Pepys visited Bath in 1668 the city consisted of no more than 250 houses with a population of less than 1200, and was renowned as much for its innumerable and importunate beggars as for the nude mixed bathing that took place in its Baths.

During the eighteenth century, in a span of less than a generation, it became the centre of the fashionable world, and in its architectural beauty and achievement was compared with Florence. This change was due mainly to three men who, by chance, all came to reside in Bath at the same time: Ralph Allen the businessman, John Wood the architect, and the gambler Beau Nash, who between them created the particular social and architectural magnificence of Bath in its heyday. It is this coincidence that forms the starting point for this new study of eighteenth-century Bath: its architecture, social background and its literary and artistic manifesta-tions. After tracing briefly the history of Bath from its establishment as a Roman spa, David Gadd makes a detailed study of the creation of Georgian Bath, under the inspiration of Wood with his grandiose plans to make it the Rome of England; the reformed social structure created by Nash; and the results of the business acumen of Ralph Allen.

The author describes the artistic life encouraged in Bath by patrons such as Ralph Allen-whose literary circle included Pope and Fielding-and the sophisticated audience that was there to appreciate it. Illustrated throughout with photographs, maps, engravings and cartoons, the book concludes with a brief discussion of the plans to preserve the architectural splendour of the city.

David Gadd retired as Director of Army Education in 1965 and has been a Governor of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He lives near Bath and spent three years working on the city archives compiling this informative account of a unique city.