Meetings Programme

Venue: Beckford's Tower 06:00 PM

Speaker: Dr Amy Frost

Synopsis: A visit to Beckford's Tower following the completion of its £3.9million conservation and interpretation project, exploring the newly excavated Grotto Tunnel, Tower vault and new museum displays telling the story of William Beckford’s life, collections and involvement in transatlantic slavery.

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 07:30 PM

Speaker: Kay Ross

Synopsis: Explore the lost gardens of the Georgian city of Bath, examining both the archaeological and archival evidence that has been left behind. Bath’s gardens disappeared beneath the spread of later 18th century development, but where were they and what did they look like? Were they used as pleasure gardens, as kitchen gardens, or a mix of both? Who were the gardeners who designed and maintained them and who supplied the plants? From an elaborate terraced riverside garden to the narrow plots behind the City’s terraces and squares, the talk will reveal these lost urban gems.

Recording of Meeting: View or Download Recording

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 07:30 PM

Speaker: Christina Hilsenrath

Synopsis: Hidden behind high stone walls in Combe Down lies a Jewish Burial Ground, a site of historical significance little known even to many long term residents of the city. Yet in the nineteenth century Bath was home to a small but notable Jewish community of physicians, artists, craftsmen, and traders, reflecting both the opportunities and challenges of provincial Jewish life in Britain. In this talk, Christina Hilsenrath will present findings from four years of extensive archival, genealogical, and material research undertaken for her book Jews in Bath: A Community and their Burial Ground, 1700–1945. Offering the first detailed account of Bath’s Jewish history, and one of the very few comprehensive studies of an English provincial Jewish community, her talk will explore the history of the Burial Ground and the lives of the individuals and families who worshipped, worked, and were buried in Bath.

Recording of Meeting: View or Download Recording

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 07:30 PM

Speaker: Suzanne Keyte

Synopsis: King Edward’s (or KES as it is commonly known) is the oldest school in Bath. Established in 1552 by a letters patent signed by Edward VI, it decreed that ‘for the future there should and will be one grammar school in the said City of Bath which will be called the free grammar school of King Edward VI which is for the teaching, education and instructions of boys and young men in grammar, to continue for ever.’ The school has undergone many changes since this time, including teaching more subjects than grammar and the admittance of girls! Join KES archivist Suzanne Keyte as she explains the history of the school, it’s buildings and the scandal of the lost legacy.

Recording of Meeting: View or Download Recording

Venue: St Nicholas Church Bathampton 07:30 PM

Speaker: Peter Hunt

Synopsis: St Nicholas' Church is, in many ways, a typical church for the area: medieval origins, Victorian rebuilding and still an active community today. In this talk, Peter Hunt - a local History teacher and member of the church - takes us through its dramatic and varied history, using this as a lens through which to visualise the ever-changing history of the church in England and to illustrate the sources through which such stories can be uncovered.

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 07:30 PM

Speaker: Jacqueline Burrows

Synopsis: The famous Bath & County Club was founded in 1858 and is still welcoming members to its elegant clubhouse at Queen’s Parade. At one time it was the most famous gentlemen’s club outside London, founded in the style of London clubs such as White’s and Boodles, and built from the rubble of Bath’s existing Tory clubs whose members fell out spectacularly during the notorious reform elections of the 1840s. Bath & County Club’s glittering balls were the most sought-after events in the city’s annual 19th century social calendar, and Club membership was highly prized. Club member Jacqueline’s talk gives a glimpse into the early days of the two main preceding clubs in Bath, the development of the Bath & County Club, and some of the characters and personalities who occupied its billiard tables, bars and dining rooms, as well as a few below-stairs goings-on.

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 07:30 PM

Speaker: Colin Fisher

Synopsis: The costs of the pleasures of visiting Bath in the Georgian period were not only the price of tickets to the balls, of tips for the Sedan chairmen and so on but also the external costs of the wealth that paid the bills. The talk explores these different costs through the visits of Jacob and Priscilla Franks, a wealthy couple from an Anglo-American-Jewish merchant family. The talk tracks their expenditure in Bath and how their amusements changed over time, as they grew older and the city changed as a resort. The Franks’ wealth was predicated on colonial power involving land speculation in America, diamond trading in India and particularly ownership of a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Bath was central to their family’s social networks and their acceptance within its society was aided, despite undercurrents of prejudice against Jews, by their conversion to Christianity.

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 06:30 PM

Speaker: Richard Williams

Synopsis: Our annual AGM, which starts at 6:30 with refreshments provided and is followed by the following talk: In October 2024 we, in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust, we launched the New Historical Map of Bath. This included the work on Elizabeth Holland and Mike Chapman who produced an accurate map of the city in 1641 based on deeds found in the Bath Record Office. The printed map was accompanied by a new website, BathHistoricalMaps. Since then the website has continued to be updated with the addition of Roman, Georgian maps and the introduction of a 1951 background layer. Parallel with the development of the web based map, Mike Arnold, who worked with Elizabeth Holland for many years until her death last year, has begun work on The Bath Gazetteer. The Gazetteer takes the considerable amount of material that Miss Holland collected from the 17th Century onwards and details the development of the city from 1641 to 1851. Although the final version of the Gazetteer is at least a year away, this meeting will reveal the extent of the work carried out by Mike and how this links with the maps on the BathHistoricalMaps website.

Venue: St Mary's Bathwick Church Hall 06:00 PM

Speaker: Various

Synopsis: Meet at the Magdalen Chapel Holloway to see the chapel and other local sites.

Venue: St Mary's Bitton 06:00 PM

Speaker: David Crellin

Synopsis: Please not that parking is available 5 minutes walk away in Golden Valley Lane (https://maps.app.goo.gl/RCqcSmrtRs8x3fZZ7)