Bath Before the Georgians: A Self-Guided Medieval Walking Tour

(90 reviews)

Bath audio tour: Bath Before the Georgians: A Self-Guided Medieval Walking Tour

This is a 0.8mi walking tour.

It takes an average of 45 mins to complete.

Bath

The United Kingdom

$9.99

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About the Tour

Bath's honey-coloured streets hide 1,700 years of walled history beneath its famous Georgian façades. On this walking tour, you'll trace the footprint of the vanished medieval city walls. You'll also hear how Roman, Saxon, and Norman Bath shaped the streets you're walking today.

The tour starts at the Visitor Information Centre on Terrace Walk, an area once nicknamed 'Bog Island' after its buried Victorian public toilets. From there, you'll wind past Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House, reputedly Bath's oldest building, and through Abbey Green to Bath Abbey's Gothic west front. Along the way, you'll pass the site of the old Roman and medieval spa springs still worshipped as sacred by Celtic tribes two thousand years ago.

You'll walk the line of the old city wall itself, including its last standing fragment near Sawclose, and hear why a local pub called the Couer de Lion honours King Richard the Lionheart's royal charter. You'll also pass St Michael's Without, built outside the old north gate, before following the River Avon toward Parade Gardens, once the low-lying level of the Roman and medieval city. The tour ends back at the Abbey Hotel, where Bath's medieval story began.

On this 45-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

Learn why Sally Lunn's famous brioche bun recipe has stayed secret for over three hundred years
Spot the round opening once used to house a pet owl for keeping rats at bay
Hear how King Alfred the Great fortified Bath against Viking raiders in the 9th century
Discover the gap where Gascoyne Tower once guarded the city wall's north-west corner
Find out why Union Passage was built wide enough for an ox cart to turn around
See the Cross Bath and Hot Bath, still fed by springs flowing from rain that fell ten thousand years ago
Visit St John's Hospital, welcoming travelers to Bath for over eight hundred years

By the time you reach the Abbey Hotel, you'll understand exactly how Bath's ancient walls, now gone, still shape the city you've just walked through.

Tour Producer

Andrew Clark

2 tours

Hello, I’m Andy Clark, a Blue Badge tourist guide and owner of Avalon Heritage Tours, based in my home city of Bath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a career working in the world of technology in Academia and large multi-national companies, I have now found my true calling. I enjoy immensely meeting people from all over the world and showing them this country and especially the city of Bath, the place where I was born and grew up. Let’s go!

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Preview Location

Location 5

Bath Abbey: Churchyard

Let's stop here for a while.

You are now in the Abbey churchyard and depending on the time of day, this area can be incredibly busy and you may want to find a comfortable spot away from the crowds, or street musicians or large groups and individuals attracted to what is the... Let's stop here for a while.

You are now in the Abbey churchyard and depending on the time of day, this area can be incredibly busy and you may want to find a comfortable spot away from the crowds, or street musicians or large groups and individuals attracted to what is the primary meeting point in Bath.

In fact, try to imagine what it was like here over 2000 years ago with no buildings. You would have not been alone, as members from the local British Celtic tribe would also be here, praying with the language of the day, the Brythonic or British language, as this is the location of one of the three natural springs and where these people came to worship the Goddess of the magical, healing mineral-rich hot waters. She was known as SUL. However, in the year AD 43, the Roman empire came here they built a spa and temple complex around this sacred spring and worshipped their own deity MINERVA, but had the good sense to join her with the local goddess SUL and ended up with a joint goddess called SULIS MINERVA. They then created a city with a two-kilometre perimeter wall and this became known throughout the Roman empire as AQUA SULIS.

To have the best view, you should be standing close by, but with your back to the north range of buildings, just along from the Bath Aqua Glass shop which should be on your left, which incidentally makes superb blue glass objects, great for souvenirs.

By looking directly south across the square, back the way you came, you will see the 18th-century classical buildings, built over the remains of the Roman spa and temple, collectively known as the Roman Baths Museum, a must-see attraction for many visitors.

Now look to your left and up at the great west front of Bath Abbey church.

Can you see the beautiful carvings and symbolic messages?

They were created by the stonemasons of 500 years ago when this country was Roman Catholic, only to break away within a few years and to form the Church of England.

The inside of the church is also worth a visit. Although the church does not formally charge an entrance fee, a voluntary donation system is in place, so feel free to donate if you want to at the entrance desk.

If it's open and you're so inclined, there is an optional track about the interior of the church.

Enter the church and manually select the next track called "Inside Bath Abbey"

If you prefer not to go in, or the church is closed, you can also listen to the track out here if you like.

If you would rather keep moving now, then with your back to the church, continue walking across the churchyard, keeping the Roman Baths on your left. Go through the covered area of columns in front of you and continue across the open pedestrian area to another covered sidewalk.

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Major Landmarks

Terrace Walk
Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum
Abbey Green
Bath Abbey
Abbey Churchyard
The Roman Baths
Thermae Bath Spa
The Cross Bath
Hot Bath
Pulteney weir
The Little Theatre
Saw Close
Union Passage
Northumberland Place
Coeur De Lion
Great Pulteney Street
Grand Parade
Parade Gardens
Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
10 York St, Bath BA1 1NH, UK
Total distance

1km
Final location
N Parade, Bath BA1 1LF, UK
Distance back to start location

29.84m

Directions to Starting Point

Start: Bridgewater House, 2 Terrace Walk, City Centre, Bath, BA1 1LN, United Kingdom.

It is easily reached by walking a few hundred metres from both the railway and bus stations or if you are driving, a local car park called Southgate.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Abbey Church, Roman Baths Museum (including access to the washrooms if needed, even if you choose not to visit the museum), Parade Gardens, Sally Lunn's, Thermae Spa. While, for great coffee and cake, try Mokoko and for beautiful souvenirs, pop into Bath Aqua Glass, both located in the Abbey Churchyard.

Best time of day

Early morning to early evening. Most establishments in Bath are open everyday and to ensure access, the best time will be from around 0930 to 1700. However, many are open much longer. Be mindful of the Abbey schedule of services and events.

Precautions

Most of the route is free from motor vehicle traffic, but remember in England, cars etc drive on the left. Also, look out for uneven and old sidewalks and similar. Bath is a relatively safe place and does not normally suffer from pickpockets or similar crime. Sometimes, homeless people can ask for money!

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