Friday 9 November 2012

Hidden street remains hidden...


After all this time, we finally went down to the area beyond the little 17th century/medieval street in the above photo, but - and here's the drawback - the part of it which I most wanted to see was temporarily blocked off by scaffold, so we will have to make a return trip soon to go down into the darkness and look at the old front doors which lie behind the door at the end of this lane...

To recap, this is probably the last medieval street left intact in Bath, and it runs along the line of the city wall (long since demolished) to the right of this alley.  It has various names - 'Ducking-Stool Lane' being my favourite, since the lane and wall terminated at the river, about 200 feet the other side of that little door.

So... the unedited video below (taken on a crap camera by a crap operator) is a glimpse of everything else above it, which includes the first floor of the exterior street-wall (you can see the windows) and all the late Victorian building above it, currently undergoing restoration.

At one point, we are looking down onto the lane, now sandwiched tightly both sides with Georgian, 17th century, Victorian and modern building. This lane lead to the North Gate, long since demolished, and was the main route into Bath from the London direction.


21 comments:

  1. The Bath Albatross (at 1.32) has a very good aim!

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  2. These old cities like Bath and Lincoln and York are so lovely - I almost want to live there Tom - not sure about the tourists in the summer though.

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    1. I actually like tourists. Better than an empty, summer town.

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  3. Fascinating! The stories those walls could tell!

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    1. You can be sure that there were a few brothels down there.

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  4. I want to go and see it !!!!!!!!! It looks intriguing and even more so behind that door at the end of the lane. XXXX

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    1. I live right next to it, and this is as far as I have got - so far!

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    2. Oh ....... fair enough ........ you deserve to see it all first. Do you think that they might open it to the public one day like the one in Edinburgh ? XXXX

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    3. It's nowhere near as intact as the Edinburgh one, sadly. The developer is talking about allowing public access though.

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  5. I love the old buildings and feel very fortunate in bringing back from almost dead our 200 year old ruin of a house. I would love to know the farm's history, but don't know enough French to ask!

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  6. What is it going to be when it's restored, Tom? Lovely view over the Pulteney Bridge.

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    1. Retail and office space. The arse-end of Pulteney Bridge could do with a lick of paint, but in a way, it's refreshing to see a bit of crumble right in the city centre. As that street shows, things tend to survive when they are not 'restored' out of existence.

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  7. Quite. I hope the street does survive. Some lucky office workers are going to have a great place for a fag.

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  8. Do I detect a hint of a yaw, Iris?

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  9. No, sorry for the late response. I really am intrigued by all things old, especially the kind of things that you can't easily get at.

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  10. Now that sounded like I am interested in really old men who are kept in solitary confinement because they can't be trusted not to let their pants down in public. But you know what I meant.

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    1. You mean you don't mean that? I only let my pants down in private.

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