Download Walcot Street South

Placemaking Areas
WALCOT STREET SOUTH
This area, which once formed part of the Roman town of Aquae Sulis, by Norman times had become part
of Bath’s northern external suburb - the parish of St.Michael’s Without - consisting of a regular series of
tenements laid out along the highway between the North Gate and the Walcot. Referred to as ‘the way that
leadeth to Walcot’, or simply, ‘Walcot Strete’, the southern end of the road, between the Gate and the
Church, later became known as Northgate Street. The boundary of Walcot parish was marked by a spring
known as Cornwell which flowed out across the road to the river through the site of the present Ladymead
House, but until the later 17th century the inhabited part of the Street only extended as far as the northern
boundary of the Corn Market. Beyond this was Ladymead and various other ‘closes of pasture’. On the
east side, the cottagers possessed long garden strips running steeply down to the river, providing useful
‘market gardens’ for livestock, fruit trees, teasels, &c., but otherwise having no particular connection with
the river. The settlement was evidently planned as a result of its position at the approach to the city,
similar to the Southgate suburb in the parish of St.James on the south side of Bath.
By the 14th century Bath had became well known for its cloth
industry, Walcot Street ‘besyde Bathe’ (where Chaucer’s Good
Wife of Bath would have lived) being the main production area,
although the records also indicate a wide variety of other trades in
that area. Even as the cloth industry abandoned the old guild
towns for the countryside during the 16th century, the largest
group of weavers connected with the city still held property in
Walcot Street in the early 17th century.
Above: Detail from the late 16th century Savile/Speed map,
showing Walcot Street
Below: Early 18th century painting of Cornwell House,
later Ladymead House (Victoria Art Gallery, Bath)
In the later 17th century however, as the number
of visitors to the Spa increased, the
redevelopment Bath was already beginning, and
by the early 18th century fine houses like
Cornwell House (now Ladymead House, built
about 1680) were appearing in Walcot Street on
the ‘closes of pasture’, although elsewhere
narrow ‘courts’ and yards containing cramped
back-to-back housing were also being built in the
gardens behind the old tenement frontages. The
street still retained its rural aspect, with fine
views, but was also developing into a ‘workingclass’ area, as noted by John Wood:
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‘Walcot Street …a noble high Strand … is about 18 Feet in Breadth, and contains 95 Houses. This
Strand by its Altitude and Position, in facing the Rising sun, becomes one of the finest Situations for
Building in, that Nature is capable of producing; and sorry I am to say that so charming a Tract of Land
should be sacrificed to antient and modern Ignorance; for so it is: For instead of finding it covered with
Habitations for the chief Citizens, its is filled, for the most part, with Hovels for the Refuse of the
People; and only Cornwell House now remains a Specimen of the Dwellings proper for it. There are,
however, some other Houses which ornament that Street, but they are few in Number to those that
disgrace it.’
Nevertheless, even before the improvements to the local roads by the Bath Turnpike Trust (established
1707), a large number of these tenements were being converted to inns to capitalise on the influx of
visitors via the London and Oxford Roads. These inns seem to have been respectable enough, with
stabling and ornamental riverside gardens at the rear, several having slips or watering places down to the
river. Many offered carrier or coaching services as road transport developed throughout the century.
Although the Avon had been made navigable to Bath in 1727, this did not extend above the town weir, so
this part of the river remained without commercial traffic, and tended to be used for pleasure purposes
upstream to Bathampton Weir, as illustrated in Thomas Robins’ drawings. Boswell was certainly satisfied
with his accommodation at the Pelican Inn at the upper end of the street when he stayed there in 1776.
Right: Thomas Robins’ View (about 1765) of
the Avon below Walcot Street looking towards
Bathwick village, taken from somewhere near
the lower end of Ladymead. The large slatted
building is possibly a brewery.
Below: Detail taken from the Buck brothers’
panorama of Bath of 1734, showing Walcot
Street between St.Michael’s Church and
Cornwell House.
Indeed, about 1760 the City Council decided to create a fashionable riverside parade or terrace from the
Orange Grove northward towards Walcot, with ‘Balustrades or Rails to the same’, and in 1764 a plan was
ordered ‘.. to be taken of such part of the City lands which fronts the river from Orange Grove to
Wingrove’s Brewhouse, in order to improve the same by way of a Parade or otherwise’. Wingrove’s
brewhouse appears to have been on the premises of the ‘Hare and Hounds’ (later ‘Fox and Hounds’, next
door to the Pelican, mentioned above) in Walcot Street - opposite the steps leading up through Gracious
Court (later Broad Street Place) to the Upper Town. Part of this parade was designed to coincide with the
Council’s plans to build a new market and Town Hall on the east side of the High Street, together with the
proposal for a bridge by William Pulteney for access to the High Street across the river from Bathwick.
In 1775, soon after the building of Pulteney Bridge, the new market and part of the riverside ‘parade’
behind it (to be called New Market Row) were completed, and the Markets Committee ordered that ‘…
the Balustrade next the River be finished with Iron work as Mr.Lawrences on the opposite side or that on
the lower end of the Grove’. This refers to the balustrade in front of New Market Row, together with a
short ‘terras’ built by Pulteney on the opposite side of Bridge Street, between the last house (No.9) and the
end pavilion of the bridge, then in the possession of ‘Mr.Lawrence’. This terrace has since become
covered with shop extensions, leaving only the narrow passageway which now leads to the Podium
shopping precinct, but was then still intended to be continued northward as part of the riverside parade, the
whole to be provided with standardized balustrade railings. This is indicated in the renewal of the lease of
the Hare & Hounds in Walcot Street in the following year, which included a reservation of the garden at
the back ‘in case the ground should be wanted for a Terrace by the river’.
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Thomas Malton’s view of the north-western end of
Pulteney’s Bridge in 1779, showing the ‘terras’ next
to No.9 Bridge Street on the left.
The same site in 1822. The portico of the end pavilion of
the bridge been altered to a shop window, and the
‘terras’ is already occupied by a shop.
The Riverside Parade in front of Newmarket Row in 1785. The arches provided access to slaughterhouses (later stables)
in the vaults below the Parade, accessed by a riverside roadway. The latter was later covered with a gallery on pillars
for coach sheds (later used for a potato market) allowing the Grand Parade to be later extended outwards with a stone
balustrade.
However, despite a proposal in November 1785 to the Bath Improvements Committee from
Messrs.Heavens of the Lower Assembly Rooms for a Carriage Way from New Market Row to the Orange
Grove, plans to extend the ‘parade’ fell into abeyance, and a communication between these two points was
not achieved until the building of the Empire Hotel and Grand Parade more than a century later.
One of the reasons for this may have been the increase in commercial activity in Walcot Street at this
time, particularly after the construction in about 1770 of Sayce & Kelson’s famous ‘Northgate Brewery’
only a few yards upstream from the intended site of the Bridge. This became one of Bath’s most
successful industries, and by the mid 19th century the brewery was rated the largest in the West of
England. It was the first firm in Bath to employ steam power, an engine being ordered from Boulton &
Watt in 1797, the same year George Stothert opened a warehouse in the adjoining premises on the south
side of the brewery which the firm occupied until removal to the Newark Works in 1856. The brewery
building consisted of a massive six-storey block overlooking the river, masked from the street frontage by
four pre-existing inns (the Three Cups, the Boat, the Unicorn and the Packhorse) progressively taken over
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by the brewery. It quickly expanded, and in 1794 it took over the Pelican and Hare & Hounds premises
further upstream, where an equally massive malthouse was built on the riverside. The Northgate Brewery
relied on its position on the main road, and does not seem to have access to the river, but in the mid-19th
century it had its own private bridge which crossed to a further extension of the business in Grove Street
on the Bathwick side of the Avon, consisting of a low three-span timber structure supported on trestle
piers.
On the north side of the brewery
three tenements, St.Michael’s
Court, The Hen & Chicken Court
(named after another inn) and
Miller’s
Court,
containing
cramped industrial housing, were
presumably
occupied
by
employees of the brewery. The
plot between the last two was
converted to a cemetery in about
1800 for the enlargement of
St.Michael’s
Church
burial
ground on the opposite side of the
road. All this area, from
Stothert’s warehouse to the
cemetery, is now the site of the
present Podium Shopping Centre
and Central Library.
A panorama of Northgate Street, c.1850. The Northgate Brewery was hidden by the four premises to the left of
Stothert’s Ironmngery.
Long before these events however, a large riverside structure had already appeared on the southern
boundary of Ladymead by 1740, adjoining the site of the later Cornmarket. By 1792 this too had
developed into a massive brewery building, set up by James Racey, brewer in Batheaston and coal
merchant, and although the Ladymead brewery ceased production in 1807, it continued in use as a
maltings for the next century. In April 1809 the Council paid £500 for land ‘behind the houses in Walcot
Street’ to build a cattle market, previously in the Saw Close which had now become the principal Coal
Market. This land, which consisted of two large gardens on the south side of the Ladymead Brewery, was
converted to an open arena bounded on the east side with a large five-storey granary or store-house
backing onto the river. By September 1811 these works were complete when the vaults beneath the market
were leased to a grocer - an indication that wholesale vegetables were also marketed here, including
potatoes which were sold in the street until the 1830s. One of the houses on the west side fronting Walcot
Street which had served as a poor house for St.Michael’s parish was initially used for ‘the accommodation
of the persons attending the Cattle Market’, but in 1818 was rebuilt as a public house called the Duke of
Wellington’s Arms, with stables under the market. This lasted until 1845 when converted to shops, one of
which ran as the Cornmarket Coffee Tavern from about 1875 to the 1930s.
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Initially there were no cattle stalls in the market, but at some early stage ranges of open sheds were
provided along the three sides of the arena facing the store building. As a result of the 1851 City of Bath
Act which provided powers for the regulation of markets and fairs, the cattle sheds on the north side were
replaced in 1855 by a purpose-built two-storey arcaded Corn Market Hall for £1,000 by City Architect
George Manners. This was built with the intention of providing an alternative to the public house as a
place for market traders to conduct business, and an entrance was provided to the upper floor through
No.62 Walcot Street, facing the road. In 1854 the two seasonal cattle fairs in the High Street, the Cherry
Fair and Orange Fair, dating back to the Middle Ages, were also removed to the Cattle Market and the
roadway outside.
The Show ring of the Cattle Market, c.1906
A view of Ladymead, c.1906, with overspill from the
Cattle Market, or possibly one of the last street fairs
With the arrival of the Great Western Railway however, Walcot Street was already beginning to lose its
importance, becoming a decayed area of public houses, shops and light industry, and for the next hundred
years there were few changes. In 1868 even the Northgate Brewery ceased production, although the
building remained, mostly used as a builders’ yard and premises from the 1870s, and in the 20th century
as an auction rooms and furnishing warehouse. On the north side of the building, formerly the site of the
Packhorse inn, the slip to the river was acquired in the 1880s for the City Boating Station, run by the Bath
Boating Co.Ltd., owners of the Villa Fields boating station above Cleveland Bridge. Beyond that, on the
north side of St.Michael’s burial ground, the Bethel Baptist Chapel was built in 1880 on the site of an
earlier house. The Pelican Malthouse remained, together with the inn (renamed the Three Cups in 1841)
and the Fox and Hounds. In 1904 the Ladymead malthouse was taken over as a depot and generating
station for the new electric tramway system, together with adjoining iron foundry.
A view c.1905 of the Avon over the
roof of Pulteney Bridge, taken from
the Empire Hotel.
The large building with the chimney
is the newly-built tram depot and
foundry.
The next building downstream is the
store-house of the Cattle Market, the
narrow gabled building below being
the end of the Parson’s Court
slaughterhouses. Next to that is the
large malt-house of the Pelican, with
three ventilators.
To the left the tenements still have
their gardens adjoining the river as
far as Miller’s Court (out of view).
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Redevelopment of the area was already being proposed by the Corporation in 1935, including demolition
of the east side of Walcot Street between Northgate Street and the Tram Depot. By 1938 the occupants at
the northern end, such as the Pelican/Three Cups were already being located temporarily elsewhere by the
City Improvements Committee pending the construction of new premises, together with new amenities
such as a bus station (replacing the tramway system, closed in 1939), with a bridge over to Grove Street,
and public toilets.
Walcot Street in the 1930s. ‘A’ marks the Pelican/Three
Cups, ‘B’ is the Fox & Hounds. In the distance the
entrance to the Cattle Market can just be seen.
Northgate Street, 1930s. The central block of building
fronted the Northgate Brewery. All the buildings in
this view are now occupied by the Podium Precinct.
Although some demolition seems to have taken place around the Cattle Market (which continued to be
much used), further decisions were held up by the war and new proposals, such as Abercrombie’s Plan for
Bath of 1944 and the Buchanan tunnel through Walcot. Abercrombie’s Report envisage the replacement
of the east side of Walcot Street with a neo-Georgian block stretching from St.Michael’s Church to
Cleveland Bridge, bringing back the idea of a road and walkway alongside the river. The boating station
was proposed in the plan to be sited on the opposite side of the river in Grove Street.
Demolition continued after the war
however, and by 1953 the whole area from
the Cattle Market was cleared as far as
St.Michael’s cemetery. By the 1970s the
remainder, including the Northgate
Brewery had also been cleared for the
building of the Hilton Hotel and multistorey car park. However it was many
years before the shopping centre was
completed, leaving an empty viewing
platform on the roof of the car park –
hence the term ‘Podium’.
Above left: Aerial view of the Walcot
Street area in the late 1930s, before the
start of demolition for redevelopment.
Left: The proposed plan for Walcot
Street depicted in the Abercrombie
report of 1944.
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MAP REGRESSION
Harcourt Masters’ map of Bath, 1795, the first to show details of the Walcot Street area:
Opposite St.Michael’s Church, the garden with the oval flower bed, above the Northgate
Brewery, was taken over for a cemetery soon after this date. Adjoining the Ladymead Brewery
at the top, the two large gardens taken over for the Cattle Market are still visible. Below them is
Parson’s Yard and the Malthouse of the Pelican and Fox and Hounds.
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Map of the Parish of St.Michael in 1811, by George P.Manners, showing the new Cattle
Market (not yet provided with sheds) and Storehouse by the River.
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Cotterell and Spackman’s map of 1852/3 for the Corporation. The Cornmarket has not yet
been built, but the Cattle Market is here shown with surrounding cattle sheds. Note the two
parallel lines crossing the river on the damaged portion of the map, representing the
Northgate Brewery bridge over to Grove Street.
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Detail from the OS 1:500 map sheets of 1885. New features include the Boating Station on the
north side of the former Northgate Brewery, and the Bethel Baptist Chapel on the north side of
St.Michael’s Burial Ground. The Cornmarket building is shown here, and the buildings in
Parson’s Yard are marked as Slaughterhouses, possibly removed here when the old
slaughterhouses in Boatstall Lane were demolished in the 1870s.
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From the OS 25 inch map of Bath in the late
1930s, before the start of clearance in Walcot
Street. Here the tram depot is still in operation,
but the Storehouse in the Cattle Market has been
demolished and replaced with cattle sheds.
The same area on the OS 1:1250 map of 1953, showing
clearance around the Cattle Market, Parson’s Yard, and part
of the Pelican premises. Various other buildings have been
allowed to fall in ruin.
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