Timeline of Bath, Somerset

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

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

1st to 5th centuries

• c. 60s - first Roman temple structures built, around the hot water springs.
• 3rd century - by this time, Bath's defensive walls are built.

6th to 10th centuries

• 577 - the Battle of Deorham: Bath is captured by the West Saxons.^[1] and, being north of the River Avon, then falls within the Saxon petty-kingdom of the Hwicce.
• 628 - following the Battle of Cirencester, the Hwicce come under the rule of the kingdom of Mercia.
• 878 - Bath becomes a royal borough (burh) of Alfred the Great, in his kingdom of Wessex (and also in the county of Somerset).^[1]
• c. 900 – market active.^[2]
• 973 – Edgar crowned King of England at Bath Abbey.^[3]

11th to 17th centuries

• 1102 – Bath fair active.^[2]
• 1174 – St John's Hospital founded (approximate date).
• 1553 – Grammar school founded.^[4]
• 1590 – Bath chartered.^[5]
• 1616 – Abbey Church consecrated.^[6]
• 1625 – Guildhall rebuilt.^[7]
• 1643 – 5 July: Battle of Lansdowne fought near town.

18th century

View of Bath, 18th century

• 1704 – Pump-room built.^[8]
• 1705 – Theatre built.^[7]
• 1717 – Green Street developed (approximate date).^[9]
• 1721 – Blue coat school founded.^[4]
• 1724 – James Leake (bookseller) in business.^[10][11]
• 1727
  • Lansdown Tower erected.
  • River Avon made navigable to Bristol
• 1728 – St John's Hospital building constructed.^[4]
• 1734
  • Virgin Mary Chapel built near Queen Square.^[7]
  • Royal visit.^[5]
• 1738
  • Royal visit.^[5]
  • Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (The Min) founded^[12]
• 1742
  • Ralph Allen elected mayor.
  • William Frederick (bookseller) in business.^[10]
  • Prior Park (residence) built.^[9]
• 1750 Old Orchard Street Theatre opens^[13]
• 1755
  • Bath Advertiser newspaper begins publication.^[14]
  • Roman Bath rediscovered.^[15][16]
• 1760 – Gay Street developed.^[17]
• 1768 – King's Circus built.
• 1770 – Pulteney Bridge constructed (approximate date).^[17]
• 1771 – Assembly Rooms built.^[4]
• 1774 – Royal Crescent buildings constructed.
• 1777 – Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce founded.^[18]
• 1778 – Guildhall built.
• 1779 – Philosophical Society founded.^[19]
• 1780
  • Roman Great Bath rediscovered.^[16]
  • 13 June: Anti-Catholic unrest.^[15]
  • Oxford Row built (approximate date).^[9]
• 1790 – Bath Improvement Act passed by Parliament.^[9]
• 1792 – Lansdown Course races begin.^[20]
• 1795 – Harmonic Society formed.^[21]
• 1797 – Grand Pump Room built.^[4]
• 1798
  • Sydney Gardens open.^[21]
  • Christ Church dedicated.
• 1799 – Philosophical society established.^[4]

19th century

Map of the city, drawn in 1818.

• 1800
  • S.W. Simms (bookseller) in business.^[22]
  • Jewish congregation formed (approximate date).^[23]
• 1805
  • Penitentiary established.^[4]
  • Theatre Royal^[4] and Barker's Picture Gallery open.^[24]
• 1810 –
  • Lancasterian Free School established.^[24]
  • Kennet and Avon Canal completed ^[25]
• 1815 – Cleveland Pools opened^[26]
• 1817 – Atkinson & Tucker (booksellers) in business.^[22]
• 1819 – Masonic Hall dedicated.^[24]
• 1824 – Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution founded^[27]
• 1825 – Mechanics Institute opens.^[21]
• 1827
  • Partis College built.^[9]
  • Cleveland Bridge opened^[28]
• 1830
  • Victoria Park opens.
  • Prior Park College established.
• 1832 – Sydney Buildings constructed.^[9]
• 1837 – Victoria Column erected.^[29]
• 1847 – Commercial Reading Room and Tottenham Library founded.^[21]
• 1852 – Bath School of Art founded.
• 1855 – Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, and Bath Quartet Society^[20] established.
• 1869 – Midland Railway's Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line begins operating.
• 1874 – Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway begins operating.
• 1878 – Bath College opens.^[20]
• 1880 – Tram begins operating.
• 1881 – Population: 52,557.^[30]
• 1882 – Holburne Museum of Art established.
• 1888 – Bath Photographic Society formed.^[31]
• 1889 – Bath becomes a county borough.
• 1896 – Bath Municipal Technical College and Bath City Secondary School established.

20th century

• 1900 – Victoria Art Gallery & Reference Library opens.^[6][22]
• 1901
  • Empire Hotel in business.^[32]
  • Population: 49,839.^[5]
• 1904 – Electric tram begins operating.
• 1929 – Church of Our Lady & St Alphege built.
• 1932 – Royal United Hospital opens on Combe Park site.^[33]
• 1934 – Bath Preservation Trust founded.
• 1942 – 25–26 April: Aerial bombing by German forces.
• 1946 – City of Bath Bach Choir founded.
• 1948 – Bath Assembly (music festival) begins.
• 1963 – Museum of Costume founded.
• 1966 – University of Bath established.
• 1970 – June: Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music held.
• 1971 – Population: 84,670.^[34]
• 1974 – Bath becomes part of Avon non-metropolitan county.
• 1975 – Bath College of Higher Education established.
• 1981 – Bath Fringe Festival and Bath Half Marathon begin.
• 1986 – Bristol and Bath Railway Path laid out.
• 1991 – Population: 78,689.^[34]
• 1993 – Museum of East Asian Art opens.
• 1995 – Bath Literature Festival begins.
• 1996 – City becomes part of the Bath and North East Somerset non-metropolitan district.

• 1997 – Ustinov Studio (theatre) built.

21st century

• 2002 – Bath Times newspaper begins publication.^[14]
• 2005 – The Egg (Theatre) opens.
• 2006 – Thermae Bath Spa facility opens.
• 2007 – Bath Festival of Children's Literature begins.^[35]
• 2009 – Bath bus station and SouthGate shopping centre open.
• 2011 – October: Occupy Bath begins.

See also

• History of Bath, Somerset
• Timeline of Somerset history

References

1. Mayor of Bath Saxon Bath
2. Samantha Letters (2005), "Somerset", Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (Institute of Historical Research, Centre for Metropolitan History)
3. "Vikings and Anglo-Saxons". British History Timeline. BBC. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
4. Samuel Tymms (1832). "Somersetshire". Western Circuit. The Family Topographer: Being a Compendious Account of the ... Counties of England 2. London: J.B. Nichols and Son. OCLC 2127940.
5. "Bath", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424
6. "Bath", Great Britain (7th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1910
7. John Wood (1765). Description of Bath (2nd ed.). London: W. Bathoe.
8. George Henry Townsend (1867), "Bath", A Manual of Dates (2nd ed.), London: Frederick Warne & Co.
9. R.E.M. Peach (1893). Street-Lore of Bath. London: Simpkin, Marshall.
10. Ian Maxted (2006), "Somerset", British Book Trades: Topographical Listings, Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History, retrieved 12 September 2013
11. Paul Kaufman (1967). "The Community Library: A Chapter in English Social History". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 57. JSTOR 1006043.
12. "Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases". Bath Heritage. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
13. "Masonic Hall formerly Theatre". Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
14. "Bath (England) Newspapers". Main Catalogue. British Library. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
15. William Toone (1835). Chronological Historian ... of Great Britain (2nd ed.). London: J. Dowding.
16. William Page, ed. (1906), "Romano-British Somerset: Part 2, Bath", History of the County of Somerset, Victoria County History (University of London, Institute of Historical Research) 1
17. Mowbray Aston Green (1904), Eighteenth Century Architecture of Bath, Bath: G. Gregory, OCLC 1718577
18. Rules and orders of the Society Instituted at Bath, for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. 1777. OCLC 85861288.
19. H. Torrens (1990), "The Four Bath Philosophical Societies, 1779–1959", Proceedings of the 12th Congress of the British Society for the History of Medicine (Bath)
20. Handy Guide to Bath, Bath: Jolly & Son, 1900, OCLC 12987834
21. G.N. Wright (1864), Historic Guide to Bath, Bath: R.E. Peach, printer
22. James Clegg, ed. (1906), International Directory of Booksellers and Bibliophile's Manual
23. Roth, Cecil. "Bath." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 210. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Oct. 2013
24. Annals of Bath, from the year 1800 to the passing of the new municipal act, Bath: Printed by Mary Meyler and Son, 1838, OCLC 5258530
25. Allsop, Niall (1987). The Kennet & Avon Canal. Bath, UK: Millstream Books. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-948975-15-8.
26. Historic England. "Cleveland Baths  (Grade II*) (1396146)". National Heritage List for England.
27. "History". Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
28. "Cleveland Bridge". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
29. S.D. Major (1879). Notabilia of Bath. Bath: E.R. Blackett.
30. "Bath", Handbook for Travellers in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire (4th ed.), London: John Murray, 1882
31. "Photographic Societies of the British Isles and Colonies", International Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, New York: E. & H. T. Anthony & Company, 1891
32. "Small Talk of the Week", The Sketch, 18 December 1901
33. "A Potted History of the RUH". Royal United Hospital. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
34. "Population Statistics". Bath and North East Somerset District Council. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
35. "Bath Festival of Children's Literature". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2013.

Further reading

Published in the 18th century

• New Bath Guide, or, Useful Pocket-Companion. Bath: Printed by C. Pope, for W. Taylor. c. 1765.
  • New Bath Guide, or, Useful Pocket-Companion (New ed.). Bath: Printed by R. Cruttwell for W. Taylor. 1789.
• Christopher Anstey (1766), New Bath Guide: or, Memoirs of the Blunderhead Family (3rd ed.), London: J. Dodsley (satirical poem)
• Daniel Defoe; Samuel Richardson (1778), "(Bath)", A Tour Through the Island of Great Britain (8th ed.), London: J.F. and C. Rivington
• Philip Thicknesse (1778), New Prose Bath Guide, for the Year 1778, London: Printed for the author
• John Collinson (1791), "Bath", History and Antiqutities of the County of Somerset 1, Bath: Printed by R. Cruttwell
• New Bath Directory, for the Year, 1792. Bath: W. Gye.
• Archibald Robertson (1792), "Modern Bath", Topographical Survey of the Great Road from London to Bath and Bristol, London, OCLC 1633468

Published in the 19th century

1800s-1840s

• Richard Warner (1801). History of Bath. Bath. OCLC 5837002.
• John Claude Nattes (1806). Bath, illustrated by a series of views. London: W. Miller and W. Sheppard. OCLC 32851779.
• Joseph Nightingale (1813), "Bath", Beauties of England and Wales 13 (1), London: J. Harris
• Historic and Local New Bath Guide (4th ed.). Bath: C. Duffield. c. 1815.
• Pierce Egan (1819), Walks Through Bath, Bath: Meyler and Son
• James Dugdale (1819), "Somersetshire: Bath", New British Traveller 4, London: J. Robins and Co.
• Gye's Bath Directory. Bath: W. Gye. 1819.
• Robert Watt (1824). "Bath". Bibliotheca Britannica 3. Edinburgh: A. Constable. OCLC 961753.
• David Brewster, ed. (1830). "Bath". Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Edinburgh: William Blackwood.
• "Bath", Great Western Railway Guide, London: James Wyld, 1839, OCLC 12922212
• Thomas Bartlett (1841). "Bath". New Tablet of Memory; or, Chronicle of Remarkable Events. London: Thomas Kelly.
• "Bath", Mogg's Great Western Railway and Windsor, Bath, and Bristol Guide, London: Edward Mogg, 1841
• Hunt & Co.'s Directory & Court Guide for the Cities of Bath, Bristol, & Wells. 1848.

1850s-1890s

• "Bath". Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Ireland. London: W.J. Adams. 1860.
• John Earle (1864), A guide to the knowledge of Bath, ancient and modern, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green
• "Bath (Somerset)". Where Shall We Go?: A Guide to the Healthiest and Most Beautiful Watering Places in the British Islands (4th ed.). Edinburgh: A. and C. Black. 1866.
• William Henry Overall, ed. (1870), "Bath, Somerset", Dictionary of Chronology, London: William Tegg, OCLC 2613202
• "Some Literary Ramblings about Bath: 3", Cornhill Magazine 28, July 1873
• James Tunstall (1876), Rambles about Bath and its neighbourhood (6th ed.), London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., OCLC 12987741
• John Parker Anderson (1881), "Somersetshire: Bath", Book of British Topography: a Classified Catalogue of the Topographical Works in the Library of the British Museum Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, London: W. Satchell
• R.E.M. Peach (1883–1884), Historic houses in Bath, and their associations, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., OCLC 5463468 v.2
• Concise Guide to Bath. Bath: R.B. Cater. 1885.
• R.E.M. Peach (1888). Bath, Old and New. London.
• British Association for the Advancement of Science (1888), J.W. Morris, ed., Handbook to Bath, Bath: I. Pitman and Sons
• J.G. Douglas Kerr (1898), Popular Guide to the Use of the Bath Waters (12th ed.), Bath: Bath Herald
• Bijou Guide to Bath, Bath: Tylee & Co., 1890, OCLC 12987828
• Charles Gross (1897). "Bath". Bibliography of British Municipal History. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Published in the 20th century

• Emanuel Green (1902), Bibliotheca Somersetensis, 1: Bath Books, Taunton: Barnicott and Pearce, OCLC 7080200
• G.K. Fortescue, ed. (1902). "Bath". Subject Index of the Modern Works Added to the Library of the British Museum in the Years 1881–1900. London.
• William Tyte (1903), Bath in the Eighteenth Century, Bath: Chronicle Office
• Robert Donald, ed. (1908). "Bath". Municipal Year Book of the United Kingdom for 1908. London: Edward Lloyd.
• Adam Fergusson (1973). The Sack of Bath: a record and an indictment. Compton Russell. ISBN 9780859550024.
• Larry R. Ford (1978). "Continuity and Change in Historic Cities: Bath, Chester, and Norwich". Geographical Review 68. JSTOR 215046.
• R.S. Neale (1981). Bath 1680-1850: a social history. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 9780710006394.

Published in the 21st century

• Peter Borsay (2000). Image of Georgian Bath, 1700–2000. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198202652.
• Peter Borsay (2006). "Myth, Memory, and Place: Monmouth and Bath 1750–1900". Journal of Social History 39. JSTOR 3790298.

External links

• "Somerset", Historical Directories (UK: University of Leicester). Includes Bath directories, various dates.
• "Libraries and Archives: Local studies". Bath & North East Somerset Council.
• List of Mayors of Bath, 1230-

Coordinates: 51°23′N 2°22′W / 51.38°N 2.36°W