Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/213

Rh BATH. 203 BATH. 1 -winter season, having an excellent band of music stioned in the gallery. The hot springs and public 1 ,hs are four in number, besides several private baths. ' cy are named the King's Bath, the Kingston or New ] ths, the Cross Bath, and the Hot Bath, and are all nr the centre of the old Roman city. The _Queen's Jth adjoins the King's, and is supplied from it. The i- -ing supplying the Hot Bathhasa temperature of 117, I- highest of all, and yields 128 gallons of water per j nute. The King's Bath is 114 (yielding 126 gallons), c charge nearly 1 8,5,000 gallons daily. The waters, when fiilysed, are found to contain carbonic acid gas 2-4 ihes, sulphate of lime 18 grains, chloride of sodium C. sulphate of soda 3'0, carbonate of lime 1'6, and s all quantities of silica and oxide of iron. The specific uvity is 1-002. The waters are valuable in cases c gout, rheumatism, palsy, diseases of the skin, and sofula affecting the joints. The King's Bath lias a } idsome colonnade, and the statue of the mythical f uder of the baths, King Bladud. It is supposed to bo i It on the site of the ancient Roman baths (as are also K 1 1 igston Baths, in Church-street), and took the name ! HIM' bears in the 13th century. The bath itself is 65 tit 10 inches long, by -10 feet 2 inches wide. Under the th Improvement Act, the corporation expended much m the repair of the baths, pump-rooms, and edifices ; and within the year 1855, the Cross Mhs, Kingston Baths, and the Queen's Private Baths, i irely restored. The assembly rooms, the scene q the principal amusements of the city, are situated at t east end of the Circus. They were completed in it burnt in 1820. They were afterwards rebuilt, MI a handsome suite of rooms, including a ball- 1 id-rooms, library, and refreshment-rooms, mag- i .cently furnished and decorated. The ball-room is 1 06 ! t in length and 43 feet in breadth. The theatre, which v koiied one of the finest provincial houses. There are > dub-houses, billiard-rooms, and two riding-schools. i cie is a race-course, 1J mile in circuit, on Lansdown i -1, told races take place twice in the year. Bath is not ct' any important manufacture, but it has a good <j leral trade. The manufacture of a coarse woollen cth, called Bath coating, was once carried on to a f at extent in the city, and gave employment, in the J h century, to sixty looms in one of its parishes alone. Iper-makrng is carried on in the vicinity. An abun- (. it supply of coal is obtained from beds a few miles c laut. The Avon is navigable to Bristol, and the and Avon canal connects the city with the '.. ames at Reading. The first charter of incorporation 3 granted to the city by Queen Elizabeth, on her .it to Bath in 1590, and has been modified from time '. lime, as circumstance* required. Under the Reform I Municipal Corporation Acts, Bath is divided into t(d in a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors, "<Lh the style of the "mayor, aldermen, and citi- ns of the city of Bath." It has exercised the elec- 1 e franchise from the reign of Edward I., returning f o members to parliament. The mayor is the retuming- ( cer. The limits of the municipal and parliamentary 1 -oughs, which are conterminous, include the original ly, covering 980 acres, and the parishes of Bathwick, " ncombe, Walcot, and Widcombe, comprising alto- j :her 3,534 acres. It has a revenue of above 23,000,
 * 1 the- Cross Bath 109. The lour springs together
 * icdin 1805, has been lately (1862) burnt, and was
 * ren wards, and the government of the borough is
 * sing from lands, the hot springs of the baths anil

- ' market tolls. The population, according to the < isus of 1861, is 52,525, against 54,240 in 1851, show- i j a decrease in the decennial period of no less than 12, while the number of inhabited houses have in- ( -ased in the same period from 7, 744 to 8,021. Borough ,' sions are held quarterly, and courts of record ami oocea week. The guildhall, erected in 1775, is
 * rap-rooms, the cold springs of the water-works, and
 * pacious and elegant stone structure with a Corinthian
 * -tico, containing, besides numerous offices of the cor-

with the portraits of George III., Queen Charlotte, the Earls of Chatham and Camden, who once represented the city in parliament, besides other celebrities. Here is preserved the brass head of Minerva, dug up in 1727 in Stall-street, and the silver cup and salver presented by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to the corporation in 1734. At the back of the guildhall is the market-place, with a convenient market-house. The borough gaol stands about 1 mile from the city, and was built in 1842 at the cost of 23,000. The local police number about 80 strong. Bath is the seat of a Poor-law Union and a County Court district, the head of an excise district, a polling place for the county elections, and the head- quarters of the 2nd Somersetshire militia. The Union poorhouse is situated on a bill to the south of the city. Bath is, with Wells, the head of a dioc. in the prov. of Canterbury, including within its limits the entire county of Somerset. It is divided into the three archdeacs. of Bath, Wells, and Taunton; but the episcopal palace is situated at Wells. The living, a consolidated rect. known as the Abbey rect., is in the dioc. of Bath and Wells, of the vol. of 750, and in the patron, of Simeon's Trustees. The Abbey church, once cathedral, is a noble cruciform building in the perpen- dicular style of architecture, with a fine central tower 162 feet in height, and contains a peal of ten bells. The length of the church is 210 feet, and its breadth through the transepts 126 feet. It stands on the site of the old conventual church, on the spot where once stood the Roman temple of Minerva. It was rebuilt by Bishop Oliver King and Bishop Montague ; the work being com- menced by the former about the close of the loth century, and completed by the latter at the beginning of the 17th century. The original purity and simplicity of its architecture has been marred by faulty restorations. On the west front are sculptures representing Jacob's ladder, or, as some say, the dream by which Bishop King was called to rebuild the church. The windows are numerous and of largo dimensions ; that at the east end being square. A beautiful screen was erected in 1825, after a design by Mr. Manners, an architect of the city, under whose direction much was done subsequently towards restoring the church to its first simplicity. Near the altar is the oratory of Prior Bird, who died in 1525 a richly-ornamented chapel in tho Tudor stylo, which was exquisitely restored by Davis in 1833. A new organ was erected in 1838, by Mr. Smith, of Bristol, and which is said to be the fourth in size in the United Kingdom. The church contains a very large number of fine and interesting monuments, among which is conspi- cuous that of Bishop Montague, who died in 1618, and was interred here. The monuments include several works by Bacon, others by Flaxman, Nollekens, and Chantrey. The church dedicated to St. James was rebuilt in 1848, and contains sittings for 1,200 people. It is in the Italian style of architecture, with a noble clock tower and peal of eight bells. St. Michael's was rebuilt in-1837 ; it has a fine tower and spire, resembling Salis- bury cathedral. Its living is a rect. in the patron, of Simeon's Trustees. The parish church of Walcot, dedi- cated to St. Swithin, stands within the liberties of tho city; it was rebuilt in 1780. The living, val. 350, is in the gift of the Rev. S. H. AViddrington. Christ Church, a handsome structure in the perpendicular style, was built in 1798 ; it has a handsome Gothic altar- piece, and organ in the same style. The living is a cur. in the gift of the Rector of Walcot, within whose parish it is situated. St. Saviour's, Walcot, is a modem structure, opened for public worship on the 28th April, 1832. It contains 700 free sittings, and 400 rented seats. Its architecture is of the decorated style, and its beauty is almost unrivalled by any building of modem date in this part of the country. Tho body of the church is surrounded with graduated buttresses, surmounted with pinnacles ; the tower, 120 feet high, is divided into three stages, ornamented and embattled, and the roof is cano- pied and ornamented with bosses. The living is a rec' val. 390, in the gift of the Rev. Dr. Stamer. St. Matthew's, Widcombe, is a handsome new church, erected
 * -ation, a fine banqueting-hall, 80 feet by 40, hung