Tom Stephenson
Saturday 13 April 2024
Long hot Summer?
Sunday 7 April 2024
Saturday 6 April 2024
Sun
I thought I would capture this rare moment of sunshine to remind myself what it looked like - what it felt like, even.
The original Guildhall is the centre building and the two wings either side are late Victorian additions. They demolished some picturesque 18th century houses to add them.
In the good old days, felons would be tried in the court inside and a gallows would be erected outside in the street roughly where the bus stop is now, so that the citizens could watch justice being done.
To the right, there was a lovely covered market hall similar to the ones in places like Malmesbury and Tetbury, but it was demolished by the Georgians who did not like references to the past spoiling their vision of a Palladian city.
The Victorians completely rebuilt the Abbey, altering most of the 16th and 17th century features.
Now we have the Hilton Hotel. They used to say that the Hilton had the best views of central Bath because the only place you could not see it was from the inside.
The restaurants opposite the Guildhall have been taken over by Albanians, because they are the only people who can afford to run them. They park their Mercedes supercars in front of it because they can afford the parking tickets as well.